“What?” she demands with a high-pitched squeak getting everyone’s attention from the beach. “That’s ridiculous. She deserves what she got and more. She beat you up and told my brother he was having a kid. Hell, I would have got in on that action if Rivers wasn’t holding me in his steel, freaking grip. I mean, just once I would have liked to feel her face beneath my fist.”
“You did feel her face beneath your fist,” I remind her, referring to how she pummelled her in the student parking lot at school, right after Noah took her down.
“Yeah, that clearly wasn’t enough,” she tells me. “Please don’t tell me you feel guilt over it?”
I shake my head. “No, not guilt. I…I don’t think I can explain it. I guess, I just thought it would feel better. She hurt me and all I’ve thought about for the past few weeks was making her suffer and when it finally happened, I couldn’t give a shit. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it was great watching her go down, but I thought it would make me feel better.”
Tully reaches across and takes my hand before curling into my side. “It doesn’t work like that,” she tells me. “Not for people who have a good conscience. For people like Monica, hurting others and watching them being torn down is what gives them life. They thrive off other people’s pain. But people like you, it doesn’t work that way. Seeing others suffer, no matter if they’re good or bad, it doesn’t sit well with you and that just goes to show that you have a bigger heart than you even realize. You did what you needed to do to move on and that’s it. It wasn’t supposed to feel good. It wasn’t supposed to get you hot. It was supposed to show Monica that she can’t fuck with the people of Haven Falls and get away with it, and that’s exactly what happened.”
I let out a heavy sigh. “Where would I be without you?”
“Probably tied up in a basement somewhere for Noah to use as his sex slave.”
“Ewwww,” I laugh, but then…being tied up by Noah doesn’t sound so bad.
“Do you feel better?” she questions with hope.
“Only a smidge.”
“Well, would it make you feel better to know that Rivers ruined me for other guys? I can’t cum anymore.”
I spin around to face her better. “What? What do you mean you can’t cum anymore?”
“I can’t cum,” she repeats. “Every time I try to get off…nothing. Nada. No sexy time. No ‘gasm train. No scream out, earth shattering, toe curling, sex for me.”
“What?” I laugh. “Why the hell not?”
“Because all I can think about is him. Every time I…you know, his stupid face pops into my head and, usually, that was the only thing that would work for me, but now all I can think about is how much better it was when he was the one doing it, and, you know… the piercing. Then… it just doesn’t happen. I haven’t cum for weeks. It’s fucking killing me. I need to get off.”
“Well, your brother does this one thing and it gets me-”
“Stop,” she screams. “I cannot hear what my brother does to get you off.”
“Sorry,” I laugh, shrugging my shoulders. “I was just trying to help.”
“That’s not the kind of help I need.”
“Well, it’s not like I’m about to offer to do it myself.”
Tully lets out a frustrated groan and slams her hands down in the sand. “I tried with someone else. It didn’t work.”
“Wait. What? You slept with someone?” I grunt out. I mean, she’s no stranger to sleeping with random guys, but since Rivers, it’s kind of been a ‘no go’ zone.
She scrunches up her face as guilt comes over her. “Yeah. I was just so mad at Rivers for pushing me away and I just needed to hurt him like he hurt me.”
“Does he know?”
She shakes her head. “No, and I don’t intend for him to find out. I mean, I know I’ve been putting on a show of flirting with every guy I find, but he knows it means nothing. I was just trying to get under his skin and I figured he’d come around eventually, but he never did and it was killing me.”
I wrap my arm around her. “I’m sorry,” I murmur. “I couldn’t imagine being in your position. It must really suck.”
“It sure does,” she sighs. “I just…out of all the guys I could have chosen, why did it have to be Spencer?”
“What?” I shriek. “You slept with Spencer?”
She cringes before a laugh slips out. “Yeah, at Kaylah’s party last weekend. I got there before you did, and I’d just had another fight with Rivers, and it just…. Arghhhhhh. I can’t believe I did it again. Spence was there trying to avoid Candice and we were just talking and drinking and before I knew it, we were up in Nate Ryder’s bedroom fucking. I mean, you’d think being in his room would be enough to get me off, but nothing. I’m fucking broken. Rivers broke my pussy.”