Seven (17 page)

Trinity kisses Hadley on the cheek. “You can join us, if you’d like.”

Hadley doesn’t say anything. She is too distracted by something outside the door. I follow her gaze to a police car parked just out front and the hottest fucking officer I have ever seen. He walks in, his eyes zeroed in on Hadley as he lowers his sunglasses.

“Oh, no thanks,” she finally responds before meeting the officer halfway. He pulls her in for a kiss that has me blushing and turning away to give them privacy.

“Nice to meet you,” I tell Hadley, laughing as she ignores me when I pass by on my way out of the door. The warm sun hits our skin as we step outside and to my car. “He’s fucking hot.” I comment to Trinity.

“Who? Hadley’s husband, Ryder?” she asks. I nod. “He’s so fucking taken. He wouldn’t notice you if you stripped naked and gave him a lap dance. That man is consumed with Hadley.”

I smile, opening my door and getting in. “That’s sweet.”

“From what I hear,” she tells me, slamming her door once inside. “It was a very long road to get where they are. They went through a lot of shit between high school and now.”

I think about that on the way to the restaurant; how hard some people fight for what they want. For who they want. Maybe if I would have gone for Casen, or him for me, things would have been different. If I would have said no to Ian, instead of trying to make Casen jealous to notice me. The choices they made, to do what they did, were only helped by my behavior. I will never excuse what they did. They set off a chain reaction that ruined me in high school, but I also helped their plan along by being childish.

I pull into the practically empty parking lot. The sushi place is in a strip mall next to a nail salon and a barber shop. The windows have red paper on them, covering the inside from the outside world. The hostess seats us at a table low to the ground with pillows to sit on. I’ve never been to sushi place like this. Eating on top of pillows is nothing I have ever seen before.

We casually talk while we look at the menu and order. “What do you think about Reece?” she gets right into it.

I slide my chopsticks out of their sleeve and break them apart giving me a moment to think about how to answer her. I know she likes him but I still don’t. “What do you mean?”

She shifts in her seat so she is now leaning on her knees. “What do you think of him? I had a great time on Saturday night with you all and then we went back to his place, but he never made a move. Do you think he’s gay?”

I almost spit my water out. “Gay, Trin? Really? The guy practically salivates over you since minute one and you think he is gay?”

She shrugs. “Well, Casen was trying to finger fuck you under the table. Reece barely touched me.”

“You saw that, huh?” I laugh.

“Yeah,” she answers, pushing her hair behind her ear. “Of course, I saw it. It’s hard to miss a woman almost coming across the table from me. It was hot, though. Got me a little worked up, not that Reece tried to help me in that department anyways.”

“Jesus,” I retort. “That’s really uncomfortable.”

“Well,” She leans back, giving the server room to drop our soup off. “How do you think Reece and I felt, watching his arm move back and forth under your skirt?”

I shoosh her until we’re alone again. “Apparently, worked up.”

She laughs but then straightens out. “But, seriously. Do you think he isn’t into me?”

“Look. I don’t know how I feel about Reece and you together but, from what I can tell, and what I’ve seen, he seems to be really into you. There is no mistaking that. Has he called you since Saturday?”

She nods, blowing on her soup.

“Has he asked you out again?”

“Yes, he has.” She takes a moment before continuing. “For a friend’s birthday get together this weekend. Aren’t you going? It’s for that Ian guy. The one who gave you the creeps.”

My shoulder slump. Casen didn’t ask me to go. Maybe he thinks because of what happened at the bar with Ian that I wouldn’t want to go. Either that or he just doesn’t want me to go. The insecure thought sweeps through and I shut it down immediately. Casen is a sweet guy. He probably didn’t ask because he didn’t want me to feel uncomfortable or put me in the position that I would have to say no. But then, what if he isn’t going because I’m not? Fuck, this relationship stuff is dramatic.

“Trinity, if he is calling you and asking you out, especially to somewhere there will, most likely, be a lot of his friends, then I wouldn’t give it a second thought. Maybe he is just trying to make sure you know he likes you for you before he tries to fuck your brains out.”

It’s Trinity’s turn to shoosh me now. “Why do you have to be so loud?” she asks, while looking around. I just laugh at her.

Our salad shows up and we fall into easy conversation. I told her about my job search and she is over the moon happy for me. She tells me about living with a single mom and crazy kids. I don’t envy her. I miss her at the condo and I let her know she is welcome to come back anytime.

Before we can finish our salads, our plates of sushi are dropped off, and I notice the restaurant is now buzzing with patrons.

“Damn,” I moan, taking my first bite of shrimp tempura. “This is fucking amazing.”

“I know, right? I’ve wanted to come back here since the first time Hadley brought me,” she responds and shakes her empty water glass. Searching around for the server she turns her head but doesn’t look back for almost a full ten seconds. She looks at me, then back where she is staring. It’s starting to freak me out.

“What’s up?” I ask.

Trinity situates herself to face me again. “Just something weird.” She glances over her shoulder. This time, I see what she sees and my heart stops.

A woman, sitting in a booth just across the room is staring straight at me. Not just any woman. One that is very familiar. Alexia Monroe, one of the most popular girls from my high school class, is less than thirty feet from me and looking as though she knows me.

“Who is that?” Trinity asks, breaking the spell.

I shake my head. “I don’t know. So weird that she is just gawking at me.”

Trinity lets it go. “Maybe she is jealous of how fucking sexy you look today,” she muses. That makes me laugh. I look down at my pink t-shirt, jeans, and flip flops. “Real fucking sexy. I bet Casen would finally bang you.”

I can feel my face blush.

“Oh my God,” Trinity screeches. “He banged you already, hasn’t he?”

When I don’t answer she reaches over and slaps my arm. “He did. And you’re blushing, which means it was fucking awesome! I knew, as soon as he stopped at our table, that he was a great lay. I mean, you can tell just from looking at those fucking hands. You have to give me all the details.”

My phone chimes in my purse, and I use it to delay this conversation. I’m not shy about talking to her about sex, but the things that Casen did to me this weekend are worth the rosy cheeks I’m sporting. I grab my phone from my purse and smile.

Casen:
I’m about to take a nap, lying in my bed, wishing you were here so I could fuck that pussy with my tongue.

Me:
Aren’t there people around?

Casen:
That didn’t stop you from putting those pretty lips around my cock and sucking me dry.

I can feel my panties get wet and I’m about to tell him just that when Trinity rips the phone from my hands. She gasps. “Holy shit, Em. He has a dirty mouth. You should wash it out with your pussy juice.”

My mouth goes wide before I burst in a fit of laughter. “That’s so crude! You did not just say that!”

“I sure as hell did,” she states matter-of-factly, obviously proud of herself. I have to say, I’m a little proud of her, too. That was a good one. “Now, let’s finish up here, so you can go help that man fall asleep.”

“How is your idea of putting him to sleep going to make him actually sleep?”

Trinity raises her hand, finally finding the server and giving her the universal sign for the check. “Fuck him unconscious.”

Reaching for my wallet, I shake my head. Her dirty mouth and thoughts are why we get along so well. I never wanted to get close to anyone for a really long time. I’m so thankful I have met Trinity. I’m starting to see things a lot clearer today and I know I have a great, long lasting friend in her.

Our check is placed down and I throw my debit card on top of it, insisting that I pay. She allows it. We wait for the bill to be brought back, and I feel eyes on me again. Across the room, Alexia is still zeroed in on me and, if I didn’t care about drawing attention to myself or think that I might get recognized, I would go over there and ask her what the fuck her problem is.

She wasn’t mean in high school, though she did have a thing for Patrick for a long time. I know this because we had most classes together my senior year and his name was the only thing that came out of her mouth. I wanted to punch her every time she talked about him but she didn’t know what he had done. How could she have? All she knew was what was portrayed by the incidents that year. I was a whore who let people video tape me having sex. She never said as much, but the dirty looks and rude comments made by her friends told me she wasn’t oblivious. I always wondered why Alexia never said anything about what happened. Why she had been so nice to me.

The check gets paid and I drop Trinity back off at work. As I pull away, my phone rings and Casen’s voice comes over the Bluetooth in the car.

“Hey, baby,” he greets. I smile at his endearment.

“Hi. I thought you were going to sleep.”

Casen clears his throat. “I was just calling to see why you didn’t respond to my text.”

I laugh. “Because Trinity had taken it out of my hand before I had a chance. I was going to call you on my way home. I just left from having lunch with her.”

“Hmm, Ok. I wasn’t sure if I scared you.”

I merge onto the highway. “No, you didn’t scare me.”

“Just making sure. So, I don’t know if you have any plans for this Friday night but I was wondering if you would like to go to Ian’s. He is having a get together for his birthday.” He sounds nervous. It’s kind of cute.

“Sure,” I answer.

“Okay. I know you didn’t start on the best terms with him and, after what I told you he did in high school, I wasn’t sure you would still want to hang out with those two. I’m actually surprised you still want to see me.”

I think on that for a moment. “The past is in the past.” And for the first time, I really feel that way.

My hands shake as I put the finishing touches on my make-up. It’s Saturday night and Casen is on his way to pick me up for Ian’s get together. I wish my nerves would calm just a little bit so my eye liner didn’t look like a two-year-old put it on.

I can’t quite put a finger on why I feel this way. I just feel very anxious. I haven’t seen Casen all week though, we have spent hours talking on the phone. Our schedules just didn’t match up. I’ve kept myself busy with working out, job hunting, and trying to rid myself of the nastiness that has consumed my life for a decade. It’s almost like a detox of emotions. I’m trying to push the old, negative thoughts out and bring in brand new, shiny ones. It sounds like it would be easy to do but that is so far from the truth.

I went and visited my parents at their gravesites yesterday. It was surreal. I hadn’t been to see them in so long. The days have been beautiful and I was able to just sit there and share all that has been happening in my life and how I plan to make them proud. They would be horrified at what I have been doing.

After that tape was released, the entire town heard about it and got to witness the first time I gave myself to someone. My parents tried to be understanding. I hated having to explain to them that I didn’t consent to being recorded. My father, being a police officer, was furious and was set on bringing up charges, anything to make those guys pay. I guess there are people way more powerful than him; nothing was ever done. It was my choice to go back to school afterward. I wanted to be brave. I wanted to show all of those kids that no matter what the PITCREW did to me, I was strong. But, life just kept throwing everything at me. My mom committed suicide. My dad died. In the matter of two years, I felt like I had lost everything. Now, I feel like maybe there is a light at the end of the long tunnel. I have a good friend in Trinity and maybe, just maybe, things with Casen will work out. I just know that there is a chance I might have to tell him and that thought scares the shit out of me. I don’t know him well enough to gauge how he will react.