AllFreeNovel
Share Us
ChapterEleven
Iwasn’t sure if I was disappointed or elated to find Darrio’s room empty. There was no denying the extra time to prepare my speech was welcome, but the longer I stood there in his empty room, the more likely I was to lose my nerve. Varon had given me a knowing look when he let me into the suite, but thankfully, he’d kept whatever thoughts he had to himself.
Which left me sitting on Darrio’s bed, waiting for him to come back from… hell, I had no idea where he could be. And that made me feel like utter shit. After how we’d left things, though, I couldn’t imagine letting me know he’d be in the library or hanging out with someone had even crossed his mind.
Rather than dwell on the sting that set off in my chest, I took the opportunity to gather my thoughts. Clothes were piled on Darrio’s chair–and I wasn’t about to sit on Ben’s side of the room–so I smoothed the cover back across on Darrio’s bed and climbed on top.
My intention had been to rehearse my apology, to plan out everything I wanted to say to him, but apparently the day had been much longer than I realized. It only took moments, and I was asleep.
I didn’t dream, which I appreciated. Darrio walking in while I was in the middle of a sex dream in his bed? Not the way I wanted to start off this talk.
I couldn’t have been asleep for long when the curls that had fallen over my face were gently brushed away, followed by warm fingertips sliding over my cheek and down my jaw. Eyes still closed, I hummed at the soft touch.
“I wondered when you’d get back.” I cracked an eyelid, then bolted upright in the bed. “Ben! Oh my gods, what the hell?” My hands reflexively scrabbled for a sheet to pull up over my chest, but then I remembered I was fully clothed and my errant nips weren’t on display.
“Sorry, you were snoring a little, and you looked so peaceful.”
“Why didn’t you wake me, shake my shoulder or something?”
“I was just about to. Seriously, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you or anything.”
I guessed in the grand scheme of things, Ben hadn’t done anything untoward, but still, it set me on edge. I felt exposed knowing I’d been asleep with him in the room. How long had he been there, anyway? I was about to ask when the door to the bedroom opened and the frame was filled with sex personified.
Darrio’s gaze flitted from me on his bed to Ben standing way too close. He’d never moved after I jerked awake, I realized.
“What is this?” There was a dangerous timbre to his voice I’d never heard before, and my spine snapped straighter.
“Hey, man, I just woke her up. She fell asleep in your bed.”
“And why are you practically in the bed with her?” He let his backpack slip off his shoulder, and it fell to the floor with a heavy thud. Or maybe that was the sound of Ben’s stomach bottoming out. He scrambled back, knocking things off Darrio’s nightstand as he did.
“It’s nothing, seriously, I just woke her up. She snores like crazy, but I’m sure you know that.”
Darrio’s jaw ticked. I was about to warn Ben he should probably get the hell out of there, but he realized it all on his own.
“You guys probably need to talk, so I’ll go see what Jesse and Ondre are up to.” He turned his attention back to me and gave me a grin. “Next time, I’ll just put up with your snoring, Thea.”
“There won’t be a next time, Ben. Go.” Darrio was still seething, but his gaze was firmly fixed on me, as though Ben was beneath his notice. Ben was out the door faster than I could swallow the lump in my throat, leaving me and my… whatever he was to me now, alone.
“What are you doing here, Red?”
Just the sound of that nickname made my heart swell. It was so normal, so much like things had been before.
“I need to talk to you.”
“I think we said all that needed to be said earlier, don’t you?”
“No, because I didn’t get to tell you that I’m sorry.”
“Thea, don’t—”
“I am, Darrio. I’m sorry. For everything. For not calling, for not realizing you’d been upset that whole time. For pushing you away for something you didn’t even do. For all of it.”
“Those are nice, pretty words and I’m sure you mean most of them, but that’s all they are to me: words.”
“You don’t believe me?”
“Is there a reason I should? You said you—” He cut himself off and ran a hand through his hair, mussing the brown locks and accentuating his muscular bicep unintentionally. “We were on the same page, and then you just flipped on me. Because of something that happened between you and Sam.”
