Page 157 of My Heart Still Beats
Okay? It’s not okay. Why would Skye evensaythat? I’m not even sure why I did it. Why it happened. “Why couldn’t you come to dinner with us? You knew what was going to happen.”
“Tess, I—”
“I needed you tonight.”
“Okay, okay. Calm down.” She pauses a moment. “Where are you? I’ll come to you.”
“At my place. He left, Skye. He fucked me, and then he left.”
“Did you ask him to stay?”
“I did. He said he had an early meeting in the morning. But tomorrow’s Sunday.” My whole body heaves. “He lied to get out of spending the night with me. How could I have been so stupid as to let him in my bed again?”
“Are you drinking?”
I sniffle and glance at the bottle of vodka. “A little.”
“Tell me you didn’t take anything else. Please.”
She’s thinking of the ecstasy. The pill that saidSky. Damn Betsy, anyway. I told her specifically not to tell Skye. “No. Not yet. But I’m a mess. Can you come over?”
“Yeah. Sure. I’ll be there as soon as I can. Hang in there, okay?”
“Thanks, Skye.”
“No need to thank me. Get hold of yourself, and I’ll be there soon.” She ends the call.
I stay on the couch. Can’t move. Or don’t want to move. But I find my leggings and force them over my legs and ass. Don’t want to have my ass hanging out when…
I don’t feel right. I know where I am. Who I am. But some of it is so fuzzy, and I feel…sick. Really sick.
Rita nudges me. I pet her soft head.
Then a knock, and Rita runs to the door barking. I swallow back nausea, gather my strength to rise, walk to the door, and open it.
It’s Skye. And she brought Braden, of course. The two of them are joined at the fucking hip.
“Hey,” I say weakly. “Hi, Braden.”
“Hello, Tessa.” Braden walks straight into my apartment. “What can we do for you?”
“Braden…” Skye begins, scooping up Rita and closing the door.
“Have you eaten?” Braden asks.
Right. He’s talking to me. “I had dinner with Garrett.”
He picks up my nearly empty bottle of vodka. “How much of this have you had?”
“Braden…” Skye again.
“A few shots,” I reply.
At least I think I did. I don’t even like vodka.
Skye grabs Braden’s arm and steers him out my door, whispering something to him. Probably something lovey-dovey.
Skye closes the door and turns to me. “Sorry about that.”
