refuse. In fact, the dude is such a good sport he even went so far as to remain in that compromised position for a full minute, albeit with his large hands covering his dong, and invited everyone at the party to snap close-up shots of his brother’s ball-covered face.
It was priceless. Easily, the highlight of my birthday party. The lowlight, however? Laila not showing up, despite Kendrick extending an invitation to her. I don’t blame her, of course. I knew the odds were low she’d come, given that she now hates me passionately. The thing is, as much as I’ve purposefully tried to make Laila hate me for weeks now, for reasons only a clinical psychologist would be able to explain to me, I realized tonight, rather starkly, while looking around at the people at my birthday party, I desperately wanted Laila to be there. I realized, in fact, that I’d very much like a do-over now, please. I’d very much like Laila to stop hating me now, please. The only problem? I have no idea how to dig myself out of this stupid hole I’ve been expertly digging for weeks. I wanted Laila to hate me with the force of a thousand suns? Well, mission accomplished.
Kendrick yawns. “I’m gonna head inside now, before Tracy falls asleep. Goodnight, brother.”
He’s talking about our tour manager. For the past week or so, Kendrick has been having a “tour fling” with her, which seems to imply he’s finally given up on waiting for Laila to break up with Malik. Surely, it’s no coincidence I’m only now regretting my strategy with Laila, after it seems crystal clear my best friend has finally taken himself out of the hunt.
To be honest, I would have bet any amount of money Laila would have ditched Malik’s trashy ass by now. And yet, every single time I’ve walked past her in a hallway, or overheard her as she’s stood nearby, she’s always on her phone, talking with Malik. Giggling with him. Saying stuff like, “Oh, Malik! You’re so bad, baby!”
It’s the main reason I haven’t swallowed my pride and extended an olive branch to Laila yet. Simply because I’m so shocked and appalled and downright pissed she’s still giving Malik the time of day. What’s wrong with her? But suddenly, now that I’m drunk again, for the first time since New York—only this time, thankfully, a happy kind of drunk—a birthday boy kind of drunk—I feel ready to swallow my pride and finally bury the hatchet with Laila. Now that Kendrick is sleeping with Tracy, and he’s finally out of my way, I’ve decided to go for it, in earnest. I don’t care if she’s still with Malik. Mr. Basketball isn’t here. And I am.
“Goodnight, brother,” I reply to Kendrick, waving to him. “See you at the buses at nine.”
Kendrick exhales. “Eight!”
“That was a joke.”
Kendrick rolls his eyes. “You never know with you. Seriously, don’t be late this time, Savage. Everyone is starting to get annoyed with you for being late so much. Not just Laila.”
“Yeah, okay. I’ll stop being an asshole. I was actually thinking of extending an olive branch to Laila.”
“Yeah, that’s a good idea. I was actually surprised, now that she’s probably single, she didn’t stop by the party. But—"
“Laila’s single?” I blurt, my heart lurching into my mouth.
“Well, I’m assuming. I can’t imagine she’d stay with Malik after that video of him leaked tonight.”
I feel like I’m having a stroke. “What video?”
“You didn’t see the video of Malik getting blown in a strip club? It’s all over the internet! Everyone was passing it around at the party tonight.”
Every molecule in my body feels like it’s exploding, all at once. “Nobody showed it to me!”
“Hang on.” Shaking his head, Kendrick reaches into his pocket. “I saw you looking at something with Kai on his phone, laughing your asses off. I assumed—”
“He was showing me Alessandra’s funny music video that just released!”
“Okay, calm down.” He quickly cues something up on his phone and hands it to me. And a second later I’m watching dark, grainy footage of what looks like Malik Wallace getting head from a woman kneeling between his legs who’s wearing nothing but a thong.
My heart is crashing. “Has it been confirmed this is him?”
Kendrick nods. “There’s other footage of him walking into the place, in those same clothes. And in that footage, you can clearly see his face.” Kendrick takes his phone from me while I walk in tight circles, flailing my arms