“Uh-huh,” I mumbled as I marched on, practically halfway home, so Nash would probably follow me all the way there. Great.
“Will you just wait? Please?”
“Fine, Nash.” I immediately stopped and he had to backpedal. I crossed my arms over my chest. “What more is there really to say?”
“I don’t know.” He pushed his hands into his pockets, rocking back on his feet. “I guess if you’re really happy with him, we can just be friends. Maybe someday farther down the road, things for us will work out.” He shrugged his shoulders as my stomach dropped to my feet, knowing exactly what I needed to do, but not liking the fact whatsoever. Nash had been my friend for years, and even though we lost contact until recently, he was like family.
But sometimes even that didn’t matter.
“Nash, I’ve heard the ‘let’s just be friends’ thing out of your mouth so many times I’ve lost count. And things aren’t going to work between us ever. I’m sorry, but I just don’t have those kinds of feelings for you. I thought I did but I think just being back here around you confused the hell out of me.”
His lips formed a tight line as he shook his head and I sighed loudly knowing that he was going to be stubborn about this. “I don’t believe that, Della. We were happy before everything with Mariah happened. I know we weren’t together that long but—”
“Listen,” I interrupted him, my voice ringing out shrilly because he wasn’t getting my point. “Before you told me about Mariah, I was going to break up with you. The feelings just weren’t there, and I wanted Justin. So, I’m sorry. There will never be an us.”
He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Fine, then we can just be friends.”
“No.” I shook my head slowly and this time he was the one who looked like he had been slapped in the face. “We can’t. I can’t be dragged back and forth by you, one minute you’re fine with being just friends, and the next you’re wanting more. It’s not happening and I’m not dealing with it. Maybe someday, when you’re with someone that makes you happy and you make her happy, maybe then we can be friends again. But not now.”
I turned away from him, not wanting to see what his reaction would be. I hated that I had to hurt him like that, but what I said was exactly the truth. If I wanted a drama-free future with Justin, Nash couldn’t be a part of that equation. Sure, Justin never told me I couldn’t hang out with Nash, but I know he didn’t like it and if I put myself in his shoes, I probably wouldn’t like it either. So, no matter how hard it was for me to walk away from one of the best friends I ever had, I needed to do it.
And that time, he didn’t follow me.
“THERE. THAT’S PRETTY much everything besides a few boxes you can put in your car. So, explain to me again why you’re waiting until Monday to officially move in?”
Della rubbed a hand over her eyes, giving me a weak smile. Something was off about her today, but no matter how many times I had asked her, she just kept shrugging it off, saying she was worn out. “Well, I didn’t expect you to move everything after you got off of work. Aren’t you tired?”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I’m never too tired when it comes to you. Especially when you’re practically half-naked in my bedroom.” I grabbed her hips and she giggled when I pushed up the material of the tank top she was wearing that barely covered anything in the first place. That combined with the tiny ass shorts she wore had given me a constant hard on since the minute I showed up at her house to load everything I could into my car. “I could stay up all night long if you’ll just stay over.”
She shook her head before resting it on my chest. “You’ll have to wait one more night. I promised the girls we would have one more girls’ night before I moved out. So, you only have me for a few more hours.”
“Well, shit. Why didn’t you say something sooner? I would’ve gotten started before we even hit the front step.” I slid her tank top up and over her head in one tug, hissing loudly when I realized she wasn’t wearing a bra and the ladies were already standing at full attention. I slipped my fingers into the elastic of her shorts, bringing her body closer as I reached around to palm her ass, dipping my head down to catch each nipple between my teeth. She let out a faint whimper, but the blissful look on her face was definitely from pleasure. She buried her hands into my hair, gently tugging it to pull me even tighter against her.
“What are you doing?” she asked between pants and I smirked against her skin.
“Do you really even need to ask? I’m prioritizing my time.”
She giggled lightly but that quickly turned into a gasp when I spun her around and pushed her against the edge of the bed, that beautiful ass of hers staring straight up at me. I made quick work of those damn shorts that I had been dreaming about ripping off, dragging them down right along with her panties.
She looked over her shoulder at me, tipping her head back slightly. “Is someone in a hurry?”
“Fuck yes.” I took my own clothes off in record time and then reached around to cup her breasts, pushing my dick against the smooth skin of her ass while running my hands up the sides of her stomach, loving the feel of her silky skin against mine. I swear, each time just got even better with Della. Apparently, when we met, she had labeled me a man-whore, and I guess I kind of was. I never thought I would ever want to settle down with one girl. One girl to have sex with for the rest of my life? That sounded boring as shit at the time, but now? Now was different.
I pushed my knee in between her legs, spreading them farther apart, and she bent forward even more. I leaned over to rain a trail of kisses down her back before slowly entering her from behind, letting out a groan after I was fully in. It felt fucking fantastic.
“Oh my God,” she moaned, pushing her ass back into me, and I snaked an arm around her waist, pulling her even tighter against me. “Harder. Fuck me harder,” she murmured, burying her face in my comforter. I didn’t need to be told twice.
“If you insist.” I started to move faster and faster, in and out, harder and harder, at a pace that I didn’t think I was even capable of. She tried to keep up with me, but it was basically impossible, and I quickly felt her tightening around me, squeezing the shit out of my dick as she yelled out my name. I reached around to rub her clit, lengthening her orgasm and sending me over the edge as I exploded inside of her. “Jesus. I love you,” I murmured into her shoulder, wrapping my arms around her tightly.
“I’m glad you love Jesus,” she lazily replied, her eyes looking as if they were shut and she was about to fall asleep at any moment. Apparently, I had worn her out. “But I love you, too.”
I laughed lowly, loving this girl so much that I didn’t even know it was humanly possible. I slowly slid out of her, and after we were both cleaned up, we collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep wrapped up in each other. Fuck being a man-whore; this right here was the best feeling in the world. Hands down.
I woke up not knowing how long I had been passed out, but seeing Della’s pale blue eyes staring down at me, made me really not care. She bit down on her lip, her head leaning on her propped up elbow, one leg draped over mine. I couldn’t wait until I woke up to this every day. The only problem that I could see with it was my dick might possibly get broken. I mean, really, how could it not? I wanted her constantly whenever we were together, and now, that time would probably be doubled.
“I need to get going.” She traced a finger over my arm and I groaned.
“Then quit touching me, princess, or I’m not letting you go anywhere.”
“Oh, sorry.” She pulled her hand away, holding it up defensively as she rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “I’ll keep my hands to myself then.”
“That really doesn’t sound like a very good idea.” I made a grab for her and she moved to the edge of the bed, but not quickly enough. I wrapped her in my arms, not ready to let her leave. “C’mon don’t go yet.”
She pursed her lips at me. “You know, that puppy dog face is almost impossible to resist but…if I don’t show up
at the house, I’m pretty sure all three of them will come hunt me down and ruin all of our fun anyway. So….”
“Fine.” I loosened my arms and she brushed a kiss across my lips before crawling out of the bed and searching around the room for her clothes. “Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”
“What do you mean?” she asked after she pulled her tank top over her head and began combing her fingers through her hair.
“Don’t even bother playing dumb.” She looked away from me, bending down to put on her shorts, taking an extra-long time in doing so. “I know you, Della, better than I know myself.” I got off the bed, tipping her chin up when I reached her. “What’s wrong?” I repeated.
She huffed loudly, shaking her head. “It’s not a big deal, really. I just…you know I hung out with Nash last night, right?”
How could I forget? I had been driving myself to the edge of craziness last night thinking about it, but I hadn’t wanted to question her about it today. That would make it seem like I didn’t trust her and I did. It was him that I didn’t trust.
“Well…” And then she proceeded to tell me everything that went down. And then I began to get pissed off. And as she continued on, I started to get angry—beyond angry really, I didn’t even know what word could describe what I was feeling. I was shaking by the time she was finished, that’s how bad it was.
“I can’t believe that motherfucker said that to you. I’m going to beat the living shit out of him.” Somehow, through my livid state, I managed to stroke her hair and place a kiss on her nose. No matter how pissed I was, I still felt like I needed to soothe her. His words had hurt her to the core. And then he dropped the ‘let’s be friends’ bullshit again. I knew that was coming. Really, it didn’t surprise me. What surprised me the most was that Della stood up to him.
“I felt like a five-year-old telling him we can’t be friends anymore.” She rolled her eyes, swiping at a couple of tears, and I wiped off one that she missed with my thumb. “So is this where you tell me ‘I told you so.’”
“Never,” I said against her cheek. “This is where I go find that douchebag and beat the shit out of him.” I pulled on a pair of boxers and shorts, slipping a shirt over my head as I walked out of the bedroom. “C’mon, I’ll drop you off at home.”
“Justin,” she called out in a warning tone, trying to catch up with me. “Just leave Nash alone. He’s out of my life, so he doesn’t matter.”
“Della,” I replied through gritted teeth, picking up my keys and holding the door open for her. “What he said to you matters. I don’t give a fuck if he had one beer or twenty in him. No one talks to you like that. Ever.”
She groaned as she walked past me. “Don’t Justin. I’ll be mad at you forever.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’ll get over it.”
I CHECKED MY phone again, unable to stay focused on the movie the four of us agreed to watch while we sipped away on a very large pitcher of margaritas. I couldn’t stop thinking about what Justin was doing. We had a long talk on the way back to my house, and eventually, he promised to forget about Nash. I trusted him, but I wasn’t so sure that I could trust that he wouldn’t do anything to Nash. I know he was just upset and trying to protect me, but beating the shit out of Nash wasn’t going to solve anything.
“Need a refill?” I smiled at Mia, nodding my head as she filled my glass to the very top and then sat down next to me. “You know, I really am going to miss you, sis.”
“Oh, please, Mia. We never used that term when our parents were actually married, let’s not start using it now.”
“Della, such a buzzkill.” She reached forward, grabbing the bowl of popcorn and sat it between the two of us and we both started munching away. I never once thought I would be here with Mia like this. Callie and Zoey were getting along with her pretty well, too. I thought maybe after I told everyone that I was moving out that they might want Mia to move out, too, but she had somehow become an official roommate and friend, just like I had been. And it seemed to be doing her some good. When she wasn’t with Nate, she was here, not out at parties or bars. She even got a job at a tattoo shop in town. I never thought I would see the day that happened. I knew it wasn’t the best job in the world, but she seemed to like it, plus as she told me, there were added benefits to working with tattoo artists. She already added two tattoos to her body since she started working there, one on her wrist and one at the nape of her neck, in addition to the one on her stomach. She kept trying to convince me to come in and get one, but surprisingly that was something I hadn’t done when I was in my rebellious stage. As Justin liked to say, I had virgin skin.
We watched movies for the rest of the night, eating junk food, and painting each other’s nails. It was the perfect girls’ night to close-out my time as their roommate, but there would still be plenty of these to come. It wasn’t as if I was moving across the state or anything.
“Well.” I stood up, stretching after the last movie finished, swaying as the combination of margaritas and sleepiness hit me full on. “I’m going to head to bed.”
Zoey and Callie were both passed out on the couch already and Mia pouted her lips. “Fine, leave me all alone. I think I’m gonna watch one more before I head to bed.”
“Night.” I headed up the stairs and into my mostly empty bedroom. It was weird to see it like this, and a little sad, but I was excited about moving in with Justin. And also scared shitless. What if we got on each other’s nerves within the first week of living together? He said he loved having my mess around even though he was anal about his house being clean, but what if he got sick of it? I didn’t know if I could control my mess. I had started worrying a lot about his job recently, too. That definitely wasn’t a deal-breaker in our relationship, but I had a feeling I would be waiting nervously for him to come home from every shift.
Somehow, I managed to push that all out of my head, falling asleep nearly as soon as my head hit the pillow. Normally, I was a restless sleeper but I must have slept straight through the night, because the next thing I knew, someone was pounding on my door as Mia yelled my name.
“Calm down,” I muttered, rubbing a hand over my eyes that were caked with sleep.
My door popped open and Mia came to the edge of my bed, her phone in one hand, her mouth set in a deep frown. “My dad’s on the phone for you,” she said quietly.
“What?” My brows twisted in confusion. Gerald and I weren’t exactly BFFs. In fact, I didn’t think I had ever talked to him on the phone, and when we lived together, we rarely said more than ten words to each other at a time.
“Here.” She pushed the phone into my hand and sat down at the end of my bed.
“Hello?” It came out as more of a question as I sat up straighter and pressed a hand to my forehead. I felt a headache coming on, probably from being woken up so suddenly.
“Adelaide, dear.” He cleared his throat loudly. “I’m sorry to have woken you up, but I have some bad news.” He paused heavily and I sucked in a breath, holding it until he spoke again. “Your mother…Lillian…she’s gone.”
“Okay,” I dragged out. “I thought you two split up a while ago, Gerald. So what exactly is the big deal? Did she leave with that new guy she was talking about?”
“No, Adelaide. There was no other man that I’m aware of. I told her we were getting divorced and she moved into an apartment the next day. I couldn’t handle her any longer.” He sighed loudly, and I pressed my ear closer to the phone, wondering what exactly he was getting at. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be speaking that way of her, especially now. Apparently, your mother mixed a heavy dose of pills along with quite a bit of alcohol. The cleaning service that I hired found her early this morning.”
Leave it to my mom to do something like that. She almost always had a drink in her hand and a mini pharmacy in her medicine cabinet, but she never mixed the two together as far as I knew. “Okay, well did they have to pump her stomach or something? Is she still at the hospital?” Even after e
verything that happened between us, I hated to think that she was there alone. Apparently, Gerald could no longer stand her and there was no new man. I had no idea why she would have lied about that.
“Adelaide, you’re not understanding what I’m trying to say. Your mother isn’t at the hospital. The combination of the two killed her. She’s gone, my dear. I’m sorry.”
“What?” My voice cracked as I began shaking, Gerald’s words not actually seeming real. I looked down at Mia’s phone, confirming that it was him, making sure Mia wasn’t playing some sick joke on me. Mia rubbed my leg, prying the phone out of my hands and saying something to her dad before hanging the phone back up and turning her attention on me. A flurry of emotions hit me all at once; ones that I didn’t know even existed when it came to my mom. Tears escaped the brim of my eyes, rolling down my cheeks into puddles, and I didn’t even bother wiping them away because I knew they would just keep coming.
“Della, did you hear me?” I felt Mia’s hand on my shoulder, shaking me slightly and I snapped my head to the side, not even realizing she had moved up to sit next to me. She put one arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer, stroking my hair. “It’ll be all right.”
I’m really not sure how long we sat like that. I do know that having Mia there helped, though. She saved me from the mental breakdown I would have suffered if I‘d received the news when I was alone. I do know that by the time I finally glanced at the clock, it was too late to head to class. I had already missed one. Plus, that was about the last thing on my mind. It was racing with all sorts of different scenarios of how this could have happened to my mom. Did she do it on purpose? Was it an accident? Why had she lied about moving on from Gerald? Was she ashamed that he was the one that wanted the divorce? My whole body hurt.
“Why don’t you go take a bath? Those always help me feel a little better,” Mia suggested, giving me a weak smile as she wiped a tear away. Through everything, I really never even stopped to think about Mia’s feelings. Sure, her and my mom weren’t very close recently, but my mom had tried to help her in a weird way.
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