“A mistake.” Okay, so that’s the version of her I’m getting today.
I purse my lips and blow out another puff through the side of my mouth.
“Right.” I shift my jaw and flick the end of my cigarette with my fourth finger. She blinks at me sleepily, eyes extra green from her smeared makeup, and dark freckles across her nose seemingly more prominent. I think we’re staring at each other for too long. This has got to stop.
Seducing her is never going to work if I keep fucking it up by acting like an affectionate puppy dog.
I twist away from her like I’d rather be anywhere else, and she ruffles the covers, sliding out of bed and grabbing her dress off the floor.
“Well, let’snotdo this again sometime.” She weakly attempts a joke, but I’m pissed even more because I could have just fucked her last night. I could tell she was close to letting me. Why the fuck did I think dragging this out would be a good idea? I say nothing as a breath another puff out of my nose, and she scoffs when I don’t respond.
“You really are an asshole, Adrik.” This throws me because all I’ve done is give her more patience than she deserves, and now she’s mad at me?
I twist around to see her almost at the door. “Fuck you, Esperanza.” She turns around, slight shock rippling across her face, like she doesn’t know how shitty she is for saying I’m anything but generous to her.
I think her eyes grow a bit bleary as a slightly pained grimace makes its way to the creases of her abnormally flawless face. “Fuck you too.” It’s a sad, weak sort of insult that almost hurts worse than her screaming back at me.
Why the fuck does it hurt?
She spins around on her heel and exits the room abruptly, slamming the door behind her. I ball up my fist and press it to my forehead before smacking it a few times, gritting my teeth as I do.
“Fuck.” I growl, shoving a hand angrily through my hair before taking another long drag, and shutting the window that’s begging to make me shiver considering I’m still only in my underwear.
There’s still blood on my hands so when I’ve finished my smoke, I go straight to the bathroom, take a hot shower and wash it away. Try to wash everything away. Her hands on my skin, lips pressed to mine. Her traces don’t deserve to linger on me. I won’t let them.
After my shower, I rummage through the closet and find a black heavy knit sweater with a built-in white collar and some Adidas track pants— you know, the black ones with the white stripes on the side? Not my usual go-to outfit, but I can’t walk around the house naked and I can’t put back on what I wore last night. Not a fucking chance— all bloodstained and crinkled on the floor.
I do grab them off the floor, though. And after slipping on some socks, I toss the clothes in the laundry shoot on the wall just before exiting the room. It’s dead silent in the house, but then again, it’s nearly 6 am, which means the boys will be gearing up for a shift in positions. Thankfully, it seems Espie has made it back to her room before that shit takes place. I'm sayingthankfullynot because I care about her saving face, but because her guys would have seen her walking about with her dress from last night in a night gown that is certainly not hers.
I swear, just thinking about her sets me on edge. This is by far the most frustrating woman I have ever tried to seduce. Every time it seems like we've made a couple of steps forward, all of a sudden, she’s running the opposite direction at high speed, cursing me as I try to pull her back. It’s fucking frustrating. I’m definitely more charming than she likes to give me credit for.
After I make it back to the hallway where our rooms are, I knock on Espie’s door. Not sure why it’s my immediate thought to make sure she wasn’t seen. If anything, our departure from one another moments ago should have been enough for me to let her suffer the rest of the day. But, here I am, knocking like a simpleton on the door, heart erratic and mind racing.
I keep knocking because no one is answering, and then finally the door swings open, and it’s Olive. She looks absolutely pissed. If she had a weapon right now, I swear by the look in her eyes that she would kill me on the spot.
“What thehell?” She grumbles, rubbing her large eyes with the backs of her hands.
“Hi, is Espie here?” I try to see around the corner, but she closes the door even further than it already is.
“Why do you want to know?”
Why doIwant to know? Hm. Well, let’s see, your sister spent the night with me and I want to make sure we don’t get caught before I can fuck her properly. Of course, I don’t fucking say that, instead I remember the stupid movie day I promised Espie and blurt that out to release the tension that was building with my pause.
“A movie day?” She repeats.
“Yes. Esperanza,” I try to look around the edge of the door, but she blocks my view. “She said you like old movies, and we’ve got a massive screen in the theater downstairs.”
“So, you decided that you would wake us both up before the sun has even risen to… what? Be a fucking asshole?”
“What? First your sister calls me that, now you.” I jab a hand in her direction, and she furrows her brows, confused.
“I— I thought you haven’t seen Espie yet…”
“I haven’t…”Fuck. “I was just saying, she’s called me that before.”
“Well, now I have too. Funny how that works.”
I sigh, not ready for this pointless conversation so early in the morning, or really any time of day for that matter. “Just, tell her I came by, will you?”