The Moth and the Flame (When Rivals Play #2) - B.B. Reid Page 0,117
the couch.”
I frowned as I looked around. Spotting Jamie passed out on the floor just a few feet away, I regarded Lou again. “He looks pretty comfortable where is,” I slurred.
“He might wake up,” she said.
I stood until I was towering over her and grinned. “You just want to get in my pants.”
I started reaching for my belt when she said, “No girl wants whiskey dick.” She turned away, and my hands fell when she started for the bedroom.
“Actually, it was beer,” I corrected as I stumbled after her. “So if we do have sex, we’ll just call it beer bonging.”
Her shoulders jerked, and even though her back was to me, I knew she was smiling. My stomach fluttered, and my throat felt clogged as the hole in my chest filled just a little. Unfortunately, the moment we entered the bedroom, I realized that it might have just been bile all along. I made it to the toilet just as I began to empty my stomach.
I was vaguely aware of Lou rubbing my back as she sat beside me and cooed. Once finished, I collapsed on the cold tile and laid my head in her lap with a groan. She was warm, soft, and everything I didn’t deserve.
“That’s what you get,” she scolded even as I felt her hands rubbing my hair soothingly. “You know you can’t hold your liquor.”
“I needed liquid courage.”
“For what?” she asked curiously as she continued running her fingers through my hair. Her anger from before had faded, but my heart pounded anyway.
“I can’t tell you.”
Lips twitching, she held in a smile. “Best friends tell each other everything.”
I searched her gaze for the longest time, and then I swallowed hard. “I don’t want to be your best friend anymore.”
She flinched, and I knew I’d hurt her. My lips parted to fix it, but I realized I had no idea how.
“We need to get you into a bed,” she said quietly. She helped me stand only to buckle a little under my weight once I was on my feet.
“I love you,” I mumbled as we stumbled into the bedroom.
She sighed as we crossed the room and gently helped me into the bed. “I love you, too, bestie.”
“No…” My eyes lowered the moment my head hit the pillow. “I love you,” I repeated. And then my eyes popped open again. It took a few seconds for them to focus and find her. “Ever said I had to tell you.”
She blinked. I blinked. And then I passed out.
My eyes were still closed when I ran my hand over the empty side of the bed where Lou should have been. The sheets were cool, telling me all I needed to know. Slowly, my eyes opened, and even slower, I rose until I was sitting on the side of the bed. I felt like shit, and it had little to do with my throbbing head.
The bathroom was empty, too, when I wandered inside. I brushed my teeth and took a long shower, but afterward, I didn’t feel any better. My gut was telling me that I screwed up monumentally last night. If only I could remember why.
I walked out of the bedroom and found Jamie still passed out exactly where we’d left him on the floor. It was then that I remembered Lou putting me to bed after I puked my guts out…and the words I said to her after.
I started for the door, hoping she was up at the main house when I spotted her lying on the couch. The pressure in my chest didn’t ease. In fact, it grew tighter the closer I got to her. She looked at peace as she slept, but when her eyes opened after I shook her, I knew that was a lie. Lou took one look at me, grimaced as if in agony, and turned away. I felt like a monster when she curled into herself.
Three words. I ruined her in three words.
I didn’t realize I was still kneeling, still staring, until I felt a hand on my shoulder. Jamie, who looked like he could barely hold himself up, jerked his head toward the door. Sighing, I followed him up to the main house, and he led me into the kitchen. Four and Ever were already there. Four sipped from a cup while gazing smugly at Ever, who looked miserable with his elbows planted on the island and his head cradled between his hands.
“There’s fresh coffee,” Four offered when she noticed us enter.