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“Henry,” she wails as I sit next to her. “He fucking...fucking...”
“What?” I grab her arm. If he hurt her...
“Cheated.” She gets out.
Expecting the worst, this actually fills me with relief, but my heart aches for Iris. I’m not the touchy-feely type, but Iris is. I pull her into my arms, and she leans heavily against me.
“Oh, God, Anna, it was so embarrassing.” She sniffles and reaches for the half-empty box of tissues by her feet. There’s a snowstorm’s worth of used ones littering the floor. “I went over there to surprise him, you know?” Her dark, wet eyes blink up at me and all I can do is nod, not liking where this is going.
“His roommate let me in, and I...and I...” She shudders. “I was wearing this slinky teddy...”
Hell.
“And waiting on his bed, when he...he... He fucking burst into the room with his tongue down some bitch’s throat!”
Ouch.
A keening noise pierces the air as she leans forward, pressing her hands against her face. “They didn’t even notice me until they were right on top of me!”
“Oh, ’Rissy.” I stroke her hair. “I’m so sorry.”
She rears up, her palms hitting her thighs with a slap. A wild anger lights her eyes. “And that piece of shit, puta madre, fuckhead had the nerve to shout at me.” She stabs a thumb to her chest. “Because I came over without asking.”
Her laugh is pained. “He was all, ‘Shit, Iris? What’d you expect? We aren’t married or anything.’”
She breaks into a rapid-fire string of Spanglish cursing that I appreciate if only for its inventiveness.
“I cannot believe he didn’t even try to apologize!” I say when she calms enough to get a word in.
Iris whips around to face me. “Well, why should he? When Henry is never wrong.” Her fists tighten on her thighs, and then she’s crying again.
I can’t do anything more than rub her back. “Do you want me to call George—”
“No!” She looks horrified. “He’ll just make it worse by going over there and kicking Henry’s ass.”
And George would do a good job of it too. While he might be happy-go-lucky and obsessed with finance, George likes to keep in shape by practicing mixed martial arts.
“This is a problem, why?”
Iris scowls. “I don’t want Henry thinking he’s worth it.” She scrunches down in her seat and scowls. “Besides, George will be all, ‘I told you so, ’Ris.’ Which I do not want to hear.”
Mental note: bite back any and all urges to say “I told you so.”
“He’ll find out sooner or later.” I hold up a hand when she looks ready to tear my head off. “But I’ll keep quiet for now. Why don’t you go take a shower, and I’ll get us hooked up with some truly terrible and truly good munchies, and we’ll have some quality veg time on the couch.”
Iris smiles and leans in for a quick kiss on my cheek. “Thanks, Banana. That sounds good.”
It takes me no time to run down to the corner store and fill my bags with goodies. I’m just getting back into the apartment when my phone dings.
Baylor: Hey, beautiful. Had a quick break between drills. What are you up to?
I smile wide. I am so gone on him. I want to dance in place. I want to run and hide. I settle for answering him back.
Me: My armpits in drama. Iris discovered Henry with another girl last night. It’s bad over here.
Baylor: Damn. Sorry for Iris, but that guy is a POS
Me: The biggest. Iris was with Henry for two years. She’s a wreck.
