“You like pain,” he says.
“No. Not really. I’m not a masochist. But I like pain when it brings me closer to you.”
No truer words.
“When will we go back to New York?” I ask.
“I don’t know. I want to give you some time to continue to work through things before we go back to the club.”
“Oh, I wasn’t even talking about the club. Eugenie wants to meet with me again about a new social media campaign built around some of my hashtags. I need to talk to you about—” A yawn splits my face.
“You’re exhausted, and frankly, so am I. You can tell me all about Eugenie’s new brainchild in the morning. After our soak in the tub.”
“A bath?”
He nods. “A soak will help ease your soreness.”
“I’m not sore down there. Really.”
“Not now. You’re still on a high from the orgasm. You will be sore in the morning. Trust me.” He brushes his lips over mine. “Now go to sleep.”
“Mmm. Deal.” I close my eyes—
Only to shoot them open again when my phone buzzes.
“Ignore it,” Braden says.
“Ha! You know I can’t do that any more than you can.”
He chuckles. “I know.”
I rummage the phone out of my purse on the nightstand. Tessa. At this hour? “Hey, Tess,” I say into the phone, stifling another yawn.
“Skye?” Her voice is unusually high and squeaky.
“Yeah? Are you okay?”
“Not even slightly.” She chokes back a sob and then sneezes.
I jerk upward, eyes wide. “What’s the matter? Why are you crying?”
“Damn these allergies,” she says. “I need you. Please.”
“Okay, okay. Calm down. What do you need?”
“It’s Garrett. I… I slept with him.”
“Okay.”
“Why couldn’t you come to dinner with us? You knew what was going to happen.”
“Tess, I—”
“I needed you tonight.”
“Okay, okay. Calm down.” This is all very un-Tessalike. She must have it bad for Garrett. And I’m her BFF. I should know this.
“Where are you? I’ll come to you.”
“At my place. He left, Skye. He fucked me, and then he left.”
“Did you ask him to stay?”
“I did. He said he had an early meeting in the morning. But tomorrow’s Sunday. He lied to get out of spending the night with me. How could I have been so stupid as to let him in my bed again?”
Again, this isn’t like Tessa at all. “Are you drinking?”
She sniffles. “A little.”
Shit. Last time she did ecstasy. “Tell me you didn’t take anything else. Please.”
“No. Not yet. But I’m a mess. Can you come over?”
I’m bone tired, but… “Yeah. Sure.”
I hate the thought of leaving Braden’s bed, but I won’t let my best friend down. I’ve done enough of that recently.
But this is strange. Tessa doesn’t get this upset over men. What’s up with Garrett? When he broke her heart the first time, she did drugs, for God’s sake. I need to make sure she doesn’t go down that path again. Either she has it super bad for this guy, or…something else is going on. Something I’d know about if we hadn’t been arguing.
“I’ll be there as soon as I can. Hang in there, okay?”
“Thanks, Skye.”
“No need to thank me. Get a hold of yourself, and I’ll be there soon.” I shove the phone into my purse. “Braden, I need to leave. Tessa’s in a bad way.”
“I’ll drive you.”
“You don’t have to. I’ll call an Uber. Besides, you gave Christopher the night off.”
“I can drive, you know.”
I smile weakly. “Thank you. This means a lot to me. I’m so sorry. After our wonderful night.”
Braden dresses, and I head up to my bedroom and find something more comfortable than the green sheath I arrived in. A comfy cotton T-shirt and fleece joggers are perfect. When I descend, Braden is waiting for me at the elevator.
Fifteen minutes later, we pull up in front of Tessa’s building.
“You may as well go home,” I say. “I should stay with her tonight.”
He nods. “I’ll walk you up. It’s late.”
I kiss his cheek. “I’ll be okay.”
“I’m walking you up, Skye. It’s not up for debate.” He slides out of the car and opens the passenger door for me.
A few minutes later, I knock on Tessa’s door. She opens it, her face streaked with tears, and her eyes…strange, like one is looking the other way or something, but not quite.
Again, so not Tessa. She’s fond of Garrett, but she doesn’t fall apart over men.
“Hey,” she says weakly. “Hi, Braden.”
“Hello, Tessa.” He walks straight into her apartment, taking command. “What can we do for you?”
Shit. Just what Tessa doesn’t need right now. Braden Black trying to fix things. He finds solutions, but Tessa doesn’t want a solution. She wants to cry on her best friend’s shoulder.
“Braden…” I begin.
“Have you eaten?” he asks.
“I had dinner with Garrett.”
He picks up a nearly empty bottle of vodka. “How much of this have you had?”
“Braden…” I try again.
“A few shots,” Tessa replies.
I grab Braden’s arm and steer him out the door. “She doesn’t need to be interrogated,” I whisper. “Please, just go.”