I heard it again.
It was coming from Reid’s’ room.
And the fucker had left his door open.
After a third moan echoed through the apartment I walked over to his door, intent on closing it, when I saw what was going on. Reid was on his back, with a girl riding him, her long midnight black hair cascading down her bare back.
Reid lifted his head, and spotted me at the door. Wrong timing, and I was sure he thought I was taking a peek. “Dane! What the fuck man!” He bellowed. The girls’ head turned and my jaw dropped.
“Jade???”
“Dane, get the fuck out!”
I quickly shut the door, standing open-mouthed. There was a commotion on the other side and I stepped aside just in time to remove myself from Jade’s path. She was half dressed, completely flustered and…angry?
“Have you ever heard of knocking?” She snapped, flying past me while trying to put her shoes on. I was still speechless.
“I…I…” I sputtered. “The door was open!”
“So you thought you’d watch like some kind of pervert?”
Reid barreled past me, heading straight for Jade. “Wait, you can’t leave. We still have to talk!”
“Ha!” Laughed Jade. “I’m not talking while he is here,” she glared hatefully, “I’m going back next door.”
“Me?” I asked incredulously. “Why are you upset with me? You’re the one caught screwing my best friend!”
“Kind of ironic, don’t you think?” She bit back. Her words took a minute to sink, but when they did, I realized why she was angry with me, and it had nothing to do with what I’d just walked in on.
“She told you,” I said under my breath. Unfortunately Jade still heard me.
“Yes, she did, and you know what, Dane? You don’t deserve her. You never did.”
Jade turned to leave, but I stopped her with a hand on her arm.
“That’s rich,” I sneered, allowing my anger from earlier to make an appearance. “She’s already moved on.”
Jade’s brows dipped into a frown, and she shook my hand off her arm. “What makes you think that?”
“I saw her, this afternoon. She was already with some other guy. She looked real broken up about us when he had his arms around her.” My voice dripped with sarcasm.
Jade reared back, and looked at me like I’d lost my mind. I was starting to feel like I had.
“Will one of you care to tell me what the fuck is going on?” Reid interjected.
We both ignored him, and then Jade spoke. “The guy you saw her with is a very good friend of hers, who drove all the way here from Madison, Georgia, to check up on her because her grandparents are worried about her. She’s a fucking mess because of you, and you just had to make it a whole lot worse by asking our roommate on a date. You know, I would have rooted for you, but you royally fucked up the best thing that could have happened to you.”
Jade turned her head towards Reid. “I’ll call you tomorrow, okay? I have some things to work out.”
Then she left, leaving both Reid and I dumbfounded.
Reid rubbed his hand down his face, and dressed in only a pair of his boxer briefs he really looked ridiculous.
“Fuck,” he muttered. “That was…”
“Yeah,” I sighed.
“You want to tell me what the fuck just happened?”
I looked at my best friend, and decided it was time for a chat. I needed to get some of this shit off my chest before it completely consumed me. I’d fucked up, and anyone could tell me how to fix it, it was Reid.
“Grab a beer,” I said, turning towards the living room. “It’s going to be a long night.”
CHAPTER THIR TY-FOUR
Kennedy
I DIDN’T KNOW whether I wanted to scream, cry, throw something, or curl up into the fetal position and wait for…I don’t know what.
My bedroom door opened, and I knew it was Jade before she said anything. She lifted my comforter, and climbed into bed behind me.
“He kissed her,” I said, not bothering to turn around. “He kissed her in front of me, like he wanted me to see it.”
Jade brought her arm around my waist, and gave my hand a squeeze. “I have to tell you something.”
I twisted my head so that I could see her face, frowning when I saw her hesitation. She was chewing on her bottom lip, a sure telltale sign that I wasn’t going to like whatever it was she needed to tell me.
“He did it on purpose. He only asked Ashley out because he saw you with Beau earlier and assumed you’d just moved on.”
I turned my head towards my window, the moon casting muted light on the outside world. I’d spent many nights watching Dane sleep while the moonlight danced on his body. He’d looked so peaceful, so still. It was hard to believe he was the same guy who’d not only asked my roommate out, but kissed her too when he knew I was watching, just to hurt me.
“I’m not sure it matters anymore,” I replied. I wanted to fight back, I really did, but I didn’t have it in me to keep going back-and-forth with Dane.
“Wait,” I looked at Jade from over my shoulder, “How do you know that’s why he did it?”
“Uh,” she winced, “He told me about seeing you with Beau, and I kind of put two and two together.”
“When did you talk to him?”
“It was about an hour ago,” she replied. I wanted to ask her what she was doing next door, but decided better of it. I had a feeling she wouldn’t have told me anyway, since it most likely included Reid, and whole lot of non-talking activities. I didn’t want to fall asleep with that knowledge in my head.
I closed my eyes, and prayed that I would fall asleep soon. I wanted this night to be over.
“You know, he’ll come around eventually,” said Jade. Her voice was soft, and she spoke carefully as if I was about to break into a million pieces. What she hadn’t realized yet was that I’d already done that. I didn’t reply, for fear that if I opened my mouth I’d end up telling her how desperately I wanted more with Dane, how I felt like half my soul was missing when he wasn’t with me, and how my body responded to him like it had found its’ mate. I didn’t want anyone to know that. Once I said it, there would be no going back, no retracting words already spoken. It needed to be kept inside. Safe from a world that wouldn’t understand the road I’d travelled to get to Dane, to find the man he was inside, and discover that once-in-a-lifetime kind of love that had stemmed from a lifetime of hate.
WHEN I STIRRED the following morning, the first thing I noticed was that it was raining outside. The sky flashed with lightening, and the sky thundered loudly. It was the perfect metaphor really.
I was still nowhere near finding absolution from all that had transpired with, and after Dane, but at least the world outside matched what I was feeling inside. I didn’t have to pretend and put out a sunny disposition when the last thing I was feeling was ‘sunny’.
The second thing I noticed was that Jade was gone. It was only seven thirty a.m. and that was early for her considering our classes were over. I put my robe on, tied my hair up, and headed into the kitchen to find some food. I heard a commotion outside the front door and just as I stepped towards it Jade stumbled in.
“Have you seen the news?” She asked breathlessly.
“No, why? Why are you so wet?”
“You need to see something,” she replied, ignoring my second question. I trailed behind her as she turned on our television and flicked through to the news channels.
My father’s name, and image started popping up, followed by pictures of Dane’s father. Jade turned the volume up, and then I listened to what the reporter was saying.
“What started out as a run of the mill land dispute between Brighton’s two long-standing feuding families has now become a public blood bath between Anthony Monroe, and Derek Winters. Winters, who is the plaintiff, has resulted to some rather underhanded tactics in the courtroom in attempt to get the defendant to buckle under the pressure…”