“Well, she’s lovely.” I roll my eyes.
“God, all I want to do right now is slap you, Aviana,” Briella growls. “I hate who you’ve become.”
“Well, you wouldn’t be the only one. I’ll get out of the way.”
I turn and walk out with my glass of water. Waverly follows me and, as we round the corner, she apologizes. “I didn’t realize that you didn’t want anyone to know, honey. I’m sorry, I thought maybe it would help her understand.”
I glance at Waverly. “She isn’t meant to understand. I don’t expect her to nor do I want her to. I just want to get Samson’s daughter back, finish my business, and be done with this part of my life.”
Waverly frowns. “Are you sure that’s what you really want?”
No.
“Yes.”
She nods. “Okay, well, I’m not here to argue with you about your own feelings. I would like to catch up again, if you’re up for it.”
I nod. “Sure, why not?”
She grins. “Perfect. Wait, have you got a phone?”
I shake my head. “Nope.”
“Lord, we’re going to get onto that today.”
I roll my eyes again, this time playfully. “Whatever you say, boss.”
Waverly laughs, throwing a hand up to say goodbye as she turns and walks out.
I smile.
I like her, and it has been a long time since I’ve had a friend.
The last people I trusted the most in this world was Cohen and Briella, but they’re not on my side anymore. I know I’m not treating Briella right, I’m not stupid enough to blame it on her, but I also know if I let myself get too close to her, everything is going to get messed up. That doesn’t mean when she looks at me with that horror in her eyes, that I don’t want to take it away, hug her, and tell her it’s okay, that I still love her.
I just can’t do that.
I shake my head, and the feelings that are swirling around in my chest, and then I move back to my room.
It’s nearly time, and I’m not sure I’m ready to face the music yet.
Will I ever be?
Once, I was so sure.
Now, not so much.
8THEN – COHEN
“Ugh,” Aviana groans next to me. “Cohen, you’re nasty.”
I chuckle and keep my eyes pointed up at the stars. It’s the perfect night, crystal clear and cool, the stars on display for the world to see. Any man in their right mind would have their woman here, fucking her slowly as they lie in the back of the truck. Not me, I’ve got Avi here and we’re drinking and lying on a sea of fucking blankets in the back of my truck, looking up at the stars.
Feels like I’ve known her forever when we’re here like this.
We talk so effortlessly. There is never a moment where we fall into any kind of awkward silence.
Our connection is natural.
The guys would fucking nut me if they saw me here with her like this.
Pussy, among other things, is what I’d be called.
“It ain’t nasty, plenty of people do it!”
“It’s a bumhole!”
I burst out laughing, my ribs aching from the sudden force.
We’re talking about anal sex, of all things. Samantha has been begging me to try it, but so far, I ain’t going there with her. When I told Aviana, she threw a lot of words around about what might be wrong with Samantha and perhaps she needed a therapist.
Fuck she makes me laugh.
She makes me laugh so fucking hard it hurts.
“You clean it first,” I say, through the deep belly laughs still rolling out of my body.
“I don’t care if you soak it in bleach, it’s not made for sex.”
I laugh harder.
She rolls to her side, a huge grin on her face, and slaps my shoulder. “You’re terrible, Cohen, stop laughing at me.”
“I would if you weren’t so fuckin’ funny.”
“Well, you want to tell me that Samantha is requesting anal sex and now I have those images in my brain that I simply cannot get out.”
“What images?”
She scrunches her face. “What if she ... poops on you?”
I laugh again, my abs aching from the feeling. It’s not a feeling I get often, hell, I can’t remember the last time I fucking laughed. All I know is it feels god damned incredible and if I could stay here, as pathetic as it sounds, forever ... I would.
God, I am a fucking pussy.
“She ain’t goin’ to poop on me because I’m not doin’ it with her.”
“With her? Who are you doing it with then?”
“Nobody,” I roar with laughter. “Fuck you’re crazy.”
She giggles. “You’re the crazy one. My god, how many women have you got.”
I wink at her. “Plenty.”
“Poor Samantha.”
I roll back over so I’m facing the stars again. If I keep talking to her, my laughter won’t stop. That’s a good thing, but fuck it hurts.
“She and I ain’t forever.”
Aviana lies on her back again, too. “Well, why are you with her?”
“We’ve been over this.”
“For sex, yes, but it seems like a waste of time.”
“Everyone has relationships that they know aren’t forever. Spose’ you could call them learning curves. You know, they’re what teach you who you want to be and what you want from the person you’re with.”
“Seems unfair.”
“Probably is, but it’s how the world works. We all have a past, people who we learn from, until we find that person and, when we do, we know it’s forever.”
“Your forever person,” she murmurs. “How do you suppose you know they’re forever?”
“Don’t know, I think you just know.”
“Have you ever thought you found your forever person?” she asks me.
I don’t look at her, because if I do she’ll see it in my face. She’ll see that everything in my body is screaming ‘yeah’. When I think of my forever, her face comes into my mind and it scares the hell out of me. I don’t know why it’s there or where it came from, we’re only friends and have only been so for a couple of weeks. How in that time my body has decided
