“So,” Wiley snapped me back to focus. “How was your weekend?”

I groaned and dropped my head into my hands. “I can’t get into that now. With Gwen gone, I have a ton of work to do.”

“Okay, but drinks tonight?” she asked with a hopeful look in her eyes.

I let out a long breath. “Yeah, I will absolutely need a drink for this.”

***

The story took exactly four, “Oh my God’s,” one “Sweet baby, Jesus,” and two martinis before Wiley knew everything. By the end, we were both exhausted and a little buzzed. I waved to the bartender for my third martini before Wiley said, “He slept with Gwen?”

I nodded.

“And you saw them, like…in the moment?”

I shuddered at the memory. “Yeah.”

She just blinked at me for a second, letting the whole thing sink in. “Wow. I’m just…wow. So, are they, like, a thing now?”

“Drew says he doesn’t want her. He said that it was a drunken mistake, but he was texting her the other day, so maybe he is trying to spare my feelings. I don’t know.”

Wiley looked at me for a long time. “Do you want to know what I think?”

“I don’t know. Do I?” I was unsure if I was going to like where she was going.

“I get that I’m beginning to sound like a broken record…” She raised a pink stained finger when I rolled my eyes. “No, listen. You are clearly incapable of seeing past your insecurities to see that Drew feels something for you. It’s there. You choose not to see it because you refuse to let yourself hope that there is the possibility for a future between the two of you.”

I sighed as she continued. “Look, Alex, I don’t know Drew all that well, and maybe I’m wrong, but he already knows how you feel and he hasn’t run away. He stayed with you. The fear of losing him is not a real concern anymore. So, what’s holding you back from having a real conversation with him about how he feels?”

Wiley had a tendency to be kind of flaky, if not a bit socially awkward, but she had these profound moments of clarity that made me value her opinion. Well, when I could get my head out of my ass long enough to listen.

“I see what you are saying, but he is my best friend. I know that he hates carrots and can’t sleep in a shirt. I know that he says his favorite movie is Star Wars but it’s really Spaceballs. He collects ties, but rarely wears them. He plays the piano and is a freakishly good speller. I know how he thinks, what he likes, and who he is, and I know that if he wanted to be with me, he would be.”

She held her hands up in defeat. “Okay, okay, if you say so.”

Ping, ping. That bicycle was beginning to grow on me. It had a habit of saving me from awkward conversations.

Sean: @ The Den where r u?

“Looks like everyone is at The Den. Feel like a set change?”

She nodded. We paid our tab and headed out.

***

As we approached The Den, I saw Drew outside. He was on the phone having a pretty heated discussion. I told Wiley I would meet her in there. I couldn’t hear everything, but he sounded really irritated. I caught the tail end of the conversation.

“You need to back off. Stop calling me!” He gritted his teeth, his jaw tense. He ended the call and shoved the phone into his pocket, turning around so quickly he nearly knocked me over.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” I said, sounding a little awkward, “what was that about?”

“Nothing, don’t worry about it.” He put a hand on my back and tried to guide me toward the door.

I stopped and planted my feet. “That wasn’t nothing. What’s going on?”

I crossed my arms across my chest. I was determined to get an answer from him. Keeping things from each other was what got us into this mess we were in.

Drew put his hands on his hips and looked down at his shoes, exhaling as he met my eyes. “It was Gwen.”

I pressed my lips tightly together and waited for him to continue.

“After you left, I sobered up pretty quick. I knew I had to talk to you but I had to get her out first. She was not so happy about the interruption and even angrier that I was asking her to leave. She has been calling and texting me ever since. I don’t even know how she got my number.”

“But you texted her last week.” I was confused. Gwen said Drew texted her, which sparked the whole crying-in-the-bathroom, Bitchface-getting-fired thing.

His eyebrows pulled together. “What are you talking about?”

“Last Friday, before she got fired, you texted her and she…and I…” I stammered as everything began to sink in. Gwen planned this. This was her goal all along, to fuck with me. She saw us together at the gala and targeted him as something she could use to make me miserable. Son of a bitch! She’s been plotting this entire time to drive him away from me. I guess after she got fired, she went straight for the kill. That bitch!

“What?” Drew asked, dipping his head to meet my eyes. I must have said that last part out loud.

I was furious at her, but he still went through with it. Gwen is a bitch for sure, but she didn’t force Drew into bed with her. He took her home. I didn’t know what to say or do. I felt nothing but white hot anger coursing through my body with no way to let it out.

“Red,” he said, bringing me back to the present. “I told you before, I don’t want her. I wish the whole thing never happened.”

“But it did happen.”

“You know I would never do anything to intentionally hurt you.” He took a cautious step toward me. “Red?”

He grabbed a hold of my arms, his eyes begging me to understand. I couldn’t wrap my head around how Gwen could do something so hateful to another human being. My logical side was screaming it’s not Drew’s fault. She set him up. He just fell victim to her vindictive plot to destroy me for no other reason than because she could, but nothing is black and white. If he was just drunk and being led by his dick, he could have gone home with anyone, but he didn’t take just anyone home. He took her.

“Red?”

I turned my head, trying to focus on Drew’s face through the tears brimming in my eyes. I shook my head, trying to clear the renewed image of Gwen in his bed wearing nothing but that smirk. I took a large step back, pulled away from Drew, and tried to catch my breath. He stepped forward and reached for me again. I put my hand out to stop him.

“Please, Alex,” he pleaded, “I never meant to hurt you.”

“I know, but you did.”

“I…”

I held out my hand to stop him.

Drew just shoved his hands into his pockets and nodded. I turned and made my way into the bar, heading straight for the bathroom in the back as the tears began to flow.

Chapter 17

Drew (Then)

I knocked on Red’s door and Kerri answered.

“Drew.” She nodded.

“Satan’s mistress.” I smiled. Kerri was on my permanent shit list for the way things went down with Sean, although I guess I did owe her for introducing me to Red, but fuck if I would let her know that.

Kerri scoffed and shouldered past me. I stepped into the room and Red was sitting on the bed, pulling a pair of boots on.

“Can’t you be nicer to her? I do have to live with her.” She stood up and grabbed her jacket.

I shrugged. “Can’t. Guy code.” I held out a cup of coffee to her.

She laughed and took the cup from me, her green eyes bright. Her hair was pulled up, exposing the smooth curve of her neck. I wanted to bury my face in that curve and just breathe her in.

“You ready?” she asked, bringing me back to reality.

“Yeah.”

We got into the car and I looked at her. “So, where to?”

She looked down at her hands for a moment, and when she looked back at me, she had tears in her eyes.