My emotion-induced exhaustion still had its grip over me, and I fell back to the bed, closing my eyes against the growing darkness of the room. I had no idea how long I had been out, and I didn’t care. My brother kept his room darker anyway, so it would have been harder to tell with the lack of light coming in from the window.
Just as I was about to slip back into my unconsciousness, my phone rang again. Groggily, I pressed the green button and held the thing to my ear. “Herrow?”
“I take it I woke you up?” My brother’s voice pierced through my ear.
“Yeh,” I forced out.
“Well, that explains why you weren’t answering your phone. Wake up,” he said. “You owe me an explanation for not only the voicemail but for how it was left as well.”
Luke’s words reached deep into my mind and pulled on the most recent events. I groaned. “You shuck.”
“And you’re sounding more awake. You’ve finally moved on to two-word responses,” Luke added.
“You’re so funny,” I mumbled and sat up.
“Thank you for noticing!” he said, sounding sarcastic.
My brother was really starting to irritate me. I rolled to my back and tossed the blankets off of me. My clothes were twisted around my frame and I was not only massively grumpy from being woken up, but I was sore. My body felt like I had done a week’s worth of working out. Every muscle started to scream in protest.
I huffed out, “Are you done?”
He cleared his throat. “Yup. Are you ready to talk?”
“I don’t know,” I said, more awake. The longer I laid on my back, the more the ache went away.
“How do you not know?” he asked. “You already called me, so spill.”
I groaned. He wasn’t going to drop the subject until I filled him in. The problem was, I couldn’t entirely share the problem without sharing everything. That meant, having sex in his bed.
“Don’t freak out, okay?” I asked.
“How can I freak out if you’re not telling me anything?” he asked.
I blew out a raspberry and ran my fingers through my hair. “I slept with Guy.”
Luke made a sound that was close to a snort and a chuckle, but he was trying to hold them back. I pulled the phone away and glared at the phone. By the time I put the phone back to my ear, he was chuckling under his breath.
“Be nice,” I warned.
“I am being nice,” he said. “So, what’s the problem? Was it bad? Not entirely up to your standards or expectations?”
“No,” I said.
He sighed. “All right. Then tell me what exactly is wrong?”
I dug into my tale, leaving nothing out. Once I was done, Luke was quiet for several minutes.
“Are you going to say anything?” I asked.
“What would you like me to say?” he asked. “Guy’s the asshole. You deserve so much better.”
“Placating me isn’t helpful,” I said.
“Look,” he said through a deep sigh. “I wish I could tell you some great and sound advice, but I’ve got nothing. I’m sorry that happened to you, but maybe you should go down there and hear him out.”
“Never,” I snapped.
“Then I don’t know what to suggest,” he said, sounding irritated.