Bo is still in the middle of my bed, looking thoroughly fucked and exhausted. I’m almost scared to leave because I’m worried she’ll be gone when I get back and this all didn’t really happen.
Leaning over, I brush a piece of her hair away from her face. She stirs lightly, but she doesn’t wake up. I really don’t want to wake her up, but want her to know where I am in case she does wake up while I’m gone. The last thing I need is for her to wake up pissed off at me because she thinks I skipped out after just reconciling.
Headache.
“I have to run an important errand. I’ll be back within an hour or two,” I tell her softly.
“Mmmhmm,” is the only sound she makes. Just to be safe, I also leave a note on the dresser next to her Cinderella shoes.
It doesn’t take me long to reach the gym, but I’m still ten minutes late to meet Kode. I open the doors to find… nothing in my office that I was expecting. I jog back toward the counter to see Jane as she goes over the schedule.
“You opened this morning, right?” I ask her, checking my watch. “Did Kode swing by with any boxes yet? He told me to meet him here at six.”
She looks over at me and shakes her head. “Haven’t seen that pretty boy this morning.” Her muscles bulge when she flexes and adds, “He still won’t take me up on my offer. I think he’s intimidated.”
“He’s with someone else,” I remind her, wrinkling my nose when she kisses her bicep.
“He doesn’t know what he’s missing.”
Deciding to skip this conversation, I pull out my phone. I curse when I see several missed texts since last night, including one from Kode that came around midnight… Close to the time I had Bo pressed up against my dresser.
KODE: Shipment won’t be in until Monday morning because of a delay. Sorry it’s so late. Just saw the email and didn’t want you getting up early on a Saturday for no reason.
Shit.
I groan, hating myself for not checking my messages before leaving Bo in bed alone. I immediately regret checking any more of my messages, though.
VIV: Need help. My faucet just broke. It’s spraying water everywhere.
That message is from midnight, so she must have left just after me. And of course I didn’t see it, so her house is probably flooded right now. I read some of the others as I walk out, jogging toward Viv’s house. Fortunately, it isn’t too far away.
CODY: You still pissed at me? You wouldn’t even speak, and now you’ve disappeared.
Did everyone decide to text at midnight?
CODY: Did you move? Some dude just answered your apartment door and threatened to blow my brains out for waking him up at one in the morning. What the hell?
Cody is still an issue I have to deal with, but not right now. Right now, I have to be a brother and fix a faucet, then go back to my girl. That’s right; I’m being a brother. Or trying to be.
Viv isn’t so bad now that Dixon is gone. She’s still a sponge—mimicking Mom, Dad, or whoever else she’s closest to at the moment. But at least she’s no longer mimicking Dixon—whose ass is on the list to be kicked.
I decide to quit reading my messages in case there are others I don’t want to see. At least I can play innocent if I don’t know someone else needs something.
As soon as I reach Viv’s house, I knock on the door. Okay, maybe I pound on the door. I’m in a hurry.
She threw Dixon’s shit out—what little bit she didn’t burn—the day Bo called her. Wish I had been a brother then. I could have avoided going through hell if she’d felt comfortable in confiding in me.
I pound on th
e door again when no one answers. I’m on the verge of trying to climb through a window when the door swings open and a familiar voice catches me off guard.
“What the hell—Oh… Hey,” Dustin says, a grin slowly sliding on his face as he leans against the doorjamb. In nothing but a sheet wrapped around his waist. In my sister’s house.
Not sure if I’m supposed to be a brother and punch my best friend for being naked in my sister’s house or not.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I ask, confused.
“Fixed Viv’s pipes last night,” he tells me, waggling his eyebrows.