A frantic pounding on the door interrupted her thoughts about Benn. Kate flew in, barely dressed, in faded, yoga pants, a cami, and fuzzy socks - no shoes, throwing herself onto Waverly’s sofa. Her hair haphazardly up in a messy bun, mascara streaking down her face, as she sobbed.
Waverly had never, since meeting her, seen Kate this upset. Hurrying to the sofa, she held her, rocking and trying to sooth her with comforting words. Kate was hiccuping, crying so hard that when she tried to get an explanation from her, she was only able to understand a few curse words, and Benn’s name said repeatedly.
Her mind searching for the cause, she recalled that Kate had been out of sorts for the last few days, Waverly had noticed at the time, assuming it was PMS, she had stopped to pick up her favorite latte and Dove dark chocolates for her. This was clearly more than just PMS.
“Kate, honey, it will be alright. Try to take a breath, tell me what is it, what happened?”
Waverly stroked her back soothingly, praying that Kate’s mother and father were okay.
“I, I,” Kate took in a choking breath, “I slept with Benn, Way. And, and, now he hates me and now... Now we‘ll never even be friends anymore.”
Kate. And. Benn. Sex. Waverly shook her head trying to eliminate the visuals trying to pop into her head.
“I wondered if something was going on between you two. Kate, it will be okay. Stop now, it’s okay. It‘s not the first time that good friends have had random, drunk, sex. It was a one-time thing. You’ll both, put it behind you, and I’ll help. You know I will.”
Pulling back from her arms, to look at Waverly with eyes red rimmed and face blotchy, Kate sputtered out, “It wasn’t just once, It was a lot. Like, a lot, a lot. He’s amazing, like a machine. Way, sex with Benn is...”
“BLAH, BLAH, BLAH.”
Waverly quickly shoved both of her hands over Kate’s mouth.
“I want to help Kate, but, do not tell me about Benn in bed. Ever.”
She reached over to grab a handful of tissues, handing Kate one.
“Okay, so, more than once. Two or three times, whatever. We’ll all get through it, Kate. You, me, Benn. We’ll just all go back to being friends, okay?”
Reaching out to wipe away her tears, Kate turned her head, avoiding eye contact. She waited. No reply from Kate.
“Oh my God, Kate! How did this happen... When – ?”
Kate fell over onto her sofa, pulling herself into a fetal position.
“I think I love him, Way, I didn’t mean to...”
Her apartment door flew open banging against her wall with a slam, startling them both, Johnthedoorman, was so not getting a big bonus this year, and Walker was right, she really should stop leaving her door ajar.
Benn stomped in, shouting, “Where is she? Kate? I know you’re here!”
Kate, crying hard again, sat up, shouted a ‘fuck you’ to Benn, then darted off to Waverly’s bedroom, slamming the door. Waverly was shocked, Benn, her Benn, shouting? Benn was in track pants, cheap rubber flip flops and a wrinkled faded Van Morrison tee shirt, his hair was rumpled and his face was beet red.
“I have to talk to her now, Way. She’s wrong. Whatever she told you, she’s wrong,” Benn bit out angrily, his eyes were wild, and there were several scratches on his shoulder. She did not want to know.
Not wanting to take sides, when Benn stepped toward her, Waverly quickly stepped aside, realizing that she had been blocking the way to her bedroom where Kate was now hiding.
Then she panicked, unsure of what the correct protocol was when you just found out that, behind your back, your two best friends had been having sex. She figured it would be best to get the hell out of there, especially if there was any chance that the topic of sex would come up again. Grabbing her laptop and handbag, she hustled to the door, stopping to call out to them,
“I’m going to head out, maybe hang at the coffee shop for a while and give you guys some privacy. And, if you’re going to...umm.... Do what you have been doing, please, please, use my guest room. Okay, bye then.”
CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
Walker’s flight had been canceled, rescheduled for 8:00 a.m. the next morning, usually, he would have flipped out at the inconvenience, but this time, he was pretty fucking thrilled about it. Now, sitting in a cab, on his way to surprise Waverly, tapping his foot impatiently, as the cab driver snailed through the maze of traffic. His mind wandered to Waverly, as it always seemed to now, Waverly in those little shorts she loved, working and singing. Her voice was horrid, she couldn’t hit a single note. She might be the only person on earth who was completely tone deaf but loved to sing - loudly. It did make him laugh, not out loud, though, she didn’t seem to be aware of how bad she was, and he didn’t want to hurt her feelings. At least she didn’t sing in the shower anymore, he had found ways of putting an end to that. She had informed him that she would be working at home tonight, pulling out his phone, he thought about texting her, but if he surprised her, he would get to see her smile.
Waverly had a smile just for him. It wasn’t the friendly smile she showed everyone, his smile was softer, her eyes sparkled a little brighter, with a sense of awe, he liked to think. A tough businessman, through and through, he enjoyed winning, beating his opponent, taking the necessary hits, and getting back up to fight again. But, nothing, had ever made him feel like a hero, the way he did when she smiled his smile.
Looking out the window, into restaurants, bars, at people walking down the street, holding hands with their person. Now he had a person. Couples, families, they had their person, did they all feel this, he wondered, this feeling of contentment? Did they have a person they trusted? He trusted Waverly, and he wasn’t a person who trusted easily. He trusted and valued her honesty, it was remarkably refreshing, particularly in the world that he came from. In his experience, polite always trumped honest, which made it difficult to ever really know, or trust someone. Past women in his life, had only played games, in business he played his fair share of games, it was an unfortunate and necessary evil, but not in his personal life.
Until now, women had only been about the chase for him, and of course, getting off. With Waverly, the chase never ended, it was an endless, intriguing chase, where she bested him at every turn. He wanted to pin her down, she was un-pin-down-able, he wanted to bend her to his will, other than when he was fucking her, she was unbendable. If he tried to predict her next move, it would be spontaneously, unpredictable.
Her spontaneous nature and unpredictability drove him wild for her, he loved it. It was like a new game, a new chase, every day with her. Walker thrived on schedules, lists, and order, he avoided the unknown. Waverly was unpredictable. A week ago, after begging him to attend a downtown library lecture with her, halfway through, she dragged him into the men’s room and gave him a blowjob. Then teased him when he could barely walk afterward, her mouth was just fucking fantastic. Getting off with her, getting her off, either way, she was the absolute best he had ever had.
Walker checked his watch in the glow of the streetlights, as the cab turned off onto her apartment side street – fucking finally.
Peeling off some bills, he tossed them to the driver, grabbed his overnight bag and strode in, after a quick wave to Bobthedoorman, he headed up to her apartment. Just as he was raising his fist to knock on the door, he noticed it was ajar. Dammit, he had spoken to her about how unsafe it was to not shut her door properly. No music, but the lights were still on he noted, pushing the door open slowly, he wanted to surprise her, not send her off to the hospital with a heart attack.
What. The. Fuck?
Benn’s naked ass faced him. Benn’s ass and entire naked back faced him. Walker was stunned. Frozen and unable to move.
Waverly’s muffled voice called out for him to hurry and Benn shouted back, that they had just used the last condom in the box, he was bringing the condoms, he was bringing the entire
box of condoms.
It was like he was watching a movie, a crash scene, everything moved in slow motion, then spun furiously in circles. His stomach churned, and for a moment he thought he might vomit. Paralyzed, he watched as Benn took his backstabbing, motherfucking, scrawny ass and a large box of condoms down the hallway.
To her bedroom.
To fuck her.
To fuck her again.
Waverly lied. She was fucking Benn. Benn was fucking her. She didn’t want only him. He fucking knew it.
CHAPTER THIRTY SIX
Sitting in the coffee shop, still partially dazed by the Kate and Benn drama, Waverly realized that in all of the excitement, she had forgotten her phone, she certainly wasn’t going back there for at least an hour. They needed time to – she really wasn’t ready to think about what they needed time for. Now she would have to wait to text Walker with her exciting news about Benn and Kate. Smiling as she sipped her coffee drink, she thought about, how much fun it would be to taunt him with the news. He wasn’t a man who liked to have it pointed out when he was wrong, but this time he would just have to suck it up, because was wrong. So wrong about Benn, and his crazy theory that Benn was carrying a torch for her.
It was now going on two hours since she left Benn and Kate at her place, deciding it might be safe to head back, she packed up. If they had worked things out, great, if Kate was still there and miserable, then she had work to do. If Benn was there without Kate, then she would be forced to break her no pushing rule, and get him to spill whatever had been going on between them.
The tension she had noticed between them made perfect sense now, the constant snapping at each other, the comments loaded with innuendo, that they lobbed at each other. Never had it crossed her mind to imagine the two of them as a couple, but then, Kate and Benn might say the same about her and Walker.
You just never knew what one person did for the other, she smiled to herself, she meant spiritually not physically. Lucky for her, Walker did it for her on both counts. Walking a little faster, knowing her phone was at home waiting for her, hopefully, with at least one text from him.
Not hearing any shouting, she opened her door slowly, no sex sounds either – thank God. Tip toeing through her apartment, she was relieved to see that they were gone, hoping that was a positive sign for them. Her guest room door was open, peeking her head in, she saw that the bed was stripped, a note lying on top of it. Waverly chuckled, reading that she was soon to be the proud recipient of new, six hundred thread count sheets. The note was signed, x o x Kate and Benn, in Kate’s loopy, curly handwriting.
Now that Kate and Benn were somewhat resolved, she was anxious to see if she had heard from Walker. Locating her phone, she scrolled through her texts, she had six. Only one from Walker.
“Changed my mind. We’re done.”
Her heart plummeted, and her hand shook, her phone fell to the floor. Her legs went out from under her, hunched over, legs curled under her, lying on her side, she stared at the phone lying next to her until her eyes were blinded by tears that she couldn’t see it. Cold all over, she started to shiver.
A constant loop ran through her mind.
Everything was so good.
We were so happy.
What happened?
What did I do?
Why?
Dumbfuck Asshole.
The Dumb Fuck Page 18