I knock on Trevor and Cassandra’s door. There’s no answer. I see their cars though. They must be home. I knock again.
I suddenly hear laughter. I shake my head and smile. Those two are always laughing together. It’s remarkable.
The door opens and the two of them are standing there wrapped in a single blanket. They’re clearly naked, with him standing behind her, holding her. I’ve never appreciated a blanket more.
Trevor’s eyes widen when he sees me. “That food delivery guy looks a lot like my mom. Excuse me, sir, where’s our food?”
Despite my current emotional state, I can’t help but break into a smile at his absurdity. “Do you always answer the door naked for delivery guys?”
“Only the cute ones.” He then looks down, becoming fully aware of their state of undress. “Oooh. Awkward.”
Cassandra smiles as she turns her head back to him. “She knows we have sex, Secretariat.” She turns back to me. “I’m just not allowed to talk about it, right Melissa?” She gives me a huge grin.
Trevor mumbles, “At least I’m only having sex with one person.” Cassandra laughs. I just shake my head.
She slowly looks me up and down and notices that I’m in sweatpants and a sweatshirt. “What the hell? I’ve never seen you dressed like that. I didn’t know you owned casual clothes. Is everything okay?”
I shake my head and look at her. She subtly nods in understanding. She turns her head back. “Trevor, let’s go change. I need to talk to your mom.”
She screeches as he picks her up and carries her upstairs. Once they disappear into the house, I let myself in. It’s quiet. The twins must be napping.
Cassandra reappears a few minutes later fully clothed. She motions for us to go into her home office. We step in, and she closes the door.
We sit down on her sofas. “What’s wrong? What happened? Why do you look so… so… normal?” I can’t help but smile at that. I guess I do always dress nicely.
“He’s back.”
“Who’s back?”
“Declan.”
“Who?”
“Africa guy.” My friends continuously refer to him asAfrica guy.
Her eyes pop open. “Oh. Wow. Well, you obviously really liked him. Isn’t it a good thing? Maybe you can cure him of the blue balls you sent him off with.”
I shake my head and tears well in my eyes. “He’s hard to explain. He’s a loose cannon. Here I am, a few weeks into dating James. A responsible, stable, nice man. We’re slow playing things, but I’m definitely attracted to him. And then crazy comes barreling back through the door.Literallybarreling through my door. He practically kicked James out of my place.”
“James was there when you saw him?”
“James and I were kissing in my living room when he walked in. He basically threatened James and told James I was his girlfriend. I quickly made up an excuse to get James out before there was a fight. As soon as he left, Declan charged at me, roughly wiped my mouth clean of James, kissed me hard, and then shoved his hand down my pants and made me come in under a minute.”
Cassandra fans herself. “Wow. That sounds hot. I vote for him over Mr. Slow Play. How did you leave things?”
“He told me I needed to end things with James before he’ll consider anything with me. He left his cell phone number and then walked out just like last time. With me sitting on my couch panting for him.”
“Is that what you want to do? End things with James?”
“I don’t know. That’s why I’m here. I have this super stable, attractive, nice guy who’s clearly interested in me and treats me well. And then I have a madman who I honestly haven’t been able to get out of my mind for months, who tosses me around, says whatever’s on his mind without a filter, who’s bossy, insanely aggressive, and comes with a shit ton of baggage.”
“But you’re more attracted to him?”
I close my eyes for a moment. “Yes. My mind is telling me to do one thing. My body is telling me another. What should I do?”
“I’m not sure I’m the one you should be asking. You know the decision I eventually made. For years my mind told me that I shouldn’t have Trevor, but my body never got the memo.”
I nod my head in understanding. “Can I say something without you making it weird?”