He inhaled his cigarette so hard, almost half of it disappeared before he let up and slowly exhaled out the side of his mouth. A pile of ash was flicked to the ground, his eyes narrowing to slits. “That punk, is he really your boyfriend?”
“No, but he’s my friend.”
Again, he inhaled his cigarette, just staring at me. A stare so penetrating and cold, I struggled not to flinch as my stomach twisted and all the knots I’d undone in his absence retied and tightened.
He had a new scar on his cheek, right on the sharp crest of the bone, and his stubble was a day or two away from becoming a beard.
“You’re not even going to talk?” I finally said. “You show up here, all of you, and you act like an asshole to my friend, and then you just stare at me like I’ve done something wrong?”
Smoke billowed past his lips as he released a caustic laugh. “You have. He’s not your fucking friend.”
“Oh, I have, have I?” Outrage spiked my tone. “Tell me then, Everett, just how many friends have you had while you’ve been on the road?” I stepped closer, hissing at him. “Since you fucked my brains out and left me in yet another broken heap almost a year ago?”
His teeth flashed, his voice deceptively calm. “I don’t look at any of them the way he looked at you.” Leaning down into my face, he seethed, “In fact, I don’t need to look at them at all.”
Those words had me swaying back. “Fuck you.”
He chuckled, the sound void of humor, and then he grabbed for me, looping his arm around my waist. “Fucking right you will be.”
“Rett?” Hendrix called. “Hey, Steve. The fuck are you guys doing?”
Disgusted, I pushed Everett away, then raced down the street and across the road, dodging couples and a man on a bike as I found the alleyway that cut through to our apartment.
I should’ve known he’d follow. I almost had the door closed before his boot wedged itself inside, and I screamed, moving back as tears began to tumble down my face. “Fuck, just leave me alone.”
“Never,” he said, shutting and locking the door behind him.
Adela didn’t appear to be home, or she would’ve made her presence known by now with the commotion we’d caused.
“Never?” I asked. “It’s all you ever do, come and fucking go as you please.” My finger shook, pointing at the door. “Not anymore. Get out.”
He just stood there, leaning back against the door with his arms crossed over his chest, the stupid orange apple on his black fitted shirt.
“Did you hear me?”
“Oh, I heard you. But you see,” he said, straightening and taking his time to prowl down the hall, his fingers trailing over the potted plants on the entry table, “your words don’t align with what your eyes are saying.”
My heart drooped and my spine curved, my entire body liquefying with every step he took until he was standing before me. Rough fingers grasped my chin, and his thumb ghosted over it so tenderly. “You split me in two, Clover.” His head lowered, his hands reaching for my waist as his nose slid beneath my chin, tilting it back to inhale my neck. “You never said goodbye.”
“I’m tired of goodbyes, Ever.”
“I need all your goodbyes and every hello. Don’t fucking deprive me of you.”
“Like you don’t deprive me?” I grabbed his head, lifting it. “You do it every time you leave.”
His forehead dropped to mine, and the scent of rum washed over my lips. “Don’t leave.” I couldn’t believe I’d whispered words I never thought I’d say again, especially now that I thought I didn’t need him.
Perhaps I’d always need him. He was a drug, and I’d constantly relapse whenever he was made available to me.
“I don’t want to,” he whispered, then his lips were on mine. His arms lowered, picking me up and carrying me through the doorway into the kitchen.
His taste was the same, and I worried how much he was drinking now. If he’d resorted to drinking rum as well as whiskey.
We bumped into the counter and he cursed, muttering an apology as he set me on it. Removing my jacket, I could hardly breathe when his teeth sank into my lip. His hands pulled at my tank, tugging it and my bra down over my breasts.
“Fuck.” He tore his mouth away, lowering to my chest as he unzipped his jeans.
I gripped his face, needing those lips back on mine,