Chapter 15
Grace
Istepped into the apartment. It was pushing three, and I fully expected the living room to be dark when I opened the door. But Shay was on the couch, dozing, making it obvious that she had been waiting for me. It looked like she hadn’t even gotten ready for bed. I could only guess why.
A month ago, I wouldn’t have questioned it. Just chalked it up to her being my friend. Now, I didn’t know. Shay was still my friend. But it felt like if she’d waited up on me, it was because something terrible had happened. Something that was probably my fault.
I hope Darius is okay.
I went to the couch and shook her shoulder gently. It was enough to get her to glare at me before she sat up further and seemed to realize just where she was. “Girl,” she groaned and covered her face with her hands. Then she immediately worried with her hair. “Why are you home so late?”
“It’s Thursday. People start pre-gaming for the weekend,” I explained, though it was something she already knew. “We closelater. Why did you wait up for me?” I took a step back, not bothering to hide my worry. “Did something happen to Darius?”
“Oh.” She squinted at me before she waved it off. “He’s fine. He didn’t tell Mama. If he would have, she would have torn my ass up for playing with his feelings like that.” She huffed out and patted a hand on the cushion beside her. “I sent him a text apologizing to him, because it was the right thing to do.”
I sat down and eyed her. “Should I do the same thing?”
“He left me on read,” she admitted, “so there’s a good chance he might do the same thing. If you want to try, go ahead. Just don’t get caught up in your feelings if he says nothing to you.” She raised a hand. “You told him when we last saw him you will beg for forgiveness and he didn’t acknowledge it then. I think it’s better to just give him space.”
I nodded, though I didn’t like that answer. I kept hearing things I just didn’t like in this situation. I flopped back on the couch. “Why wait up for me?”
“Because I got a text from your brother,” she said as she fished out her phone. She showed me the text thread, the most recent being a simple greeting. She gave me a worried look. “Why is this boy texting me?”
I blinked at her, coming to a blank. Then the conversation with Kyle came back to me. “He asked if we told Darius about you and him,” I told her readily. “I said we didn’t. Maybe that has something to do with it?”
She squinted at me and looked down at her phone. “Because I didn’t tell my brother, he’s gonna holler at me?” She snorted. “He’s lost his damn mind.”
“Maybe he’s lonely,” I offered. “Considering what all of this did to him, he probably doesn’t have anyone to confide in.” I could sympathize with my brother. It just hammered home how everything I had done was horrible. “I’m an asshole.”
“Yeah,” she agreed. “But that’s never stopped you before.” At my glare, she chuckled. “If you are just now realizing how wrong all of this is, I don’t think there’s any coming back from this.” She shrugged. “With any of them.”
I rolled my eyes. “What I meant is he’s probably reaching out to you because he’s lonely.” I relaxed beside her on the couch. “Considering how you two talked at the beginning of all of this, I get it.”
Shay pursed her lips and looked away from me. “What do you think I should do?”
“What do you want to do?” I asked.
“It seems like a bad idea to answer it,” she admitted as she looked at her phone. “Especially after he just showed all his red flags like that.” She eyed me. “I don’t think I can handle a man putting his hands on me. Or replacing me so easily. I know I couldn’t do multiple men because I wouldn’t want a man doing multiple women.”
“I don’t know about Darius,” I said with a sigh, “but Adam and Cam aren’t seeing other women. The agreement before everything exploded was that we keep it between the four of us.”
Her brows went up. “Between the four of you? Is there something more than friendship between them?”
“What?”
“Are they fucking each other?” she asked. “Wait,” she raised her hand, “I don’t know how I feel about that, so I don’t know if I want to know.”
I opened my mouth to answer, then stalled out. I doubted there was anything going on between the four of them. But the idea planted had me wishing I hadn’t come home. I knew what it was like to be between the three of them. I could only imagine what it could be like.
“Stop,” Shay said with a huff. “You are a pervert. I can already tell where you went.”
“What?”
“You were picturing them making out,” she accused me, pointing a finger in my face. “I see it on your face.”
“Look,” I interrupted her, “it doesn’t make me a pervert. They are very attractive men. It’s completely understandable for me to get the distracted by the idea of them—”
“Stop it,” she snapped. “I don’t need that idea in my head.” She took a breath and sat forward. “I think I’m gonna message your brother.” She looked down at her phone. “It seems like a bad idea, but we wrecked things for him. It feels irresponsible to leave him on his own.”