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Just as I’m about to head back to bed and wallow in my sorrows for a few hours, Addison texts me. If you’re not too busy fornicating, wanna come over and watch the game? I text back that I’ll be there soon, not replying to the insinuation that Kate and I are together because I can’t think about that right now.
An hour later I’m pulling up to my sister’s place and groaning because everyone is here, and I know my sister can’t keep her trap shut, so by now everyone on the other side of her front door knows exactly what happened and I’m dreading the barrage of questions I know I will receive the second I open that front door.
Get your ass in here. You can’t hide from us forever. Cash texts and that’s when I see four heads poking out from behind the curtains in the front window. I love my friends, they are some of the best parts of my life, but right now I just want to watch football and drink some beer... maybe pass out in one of my sister’s spare bedrooms and forget about the last few days.
That’s a lie. I don’t want to forget, because it was fucking incredible, like I knew it would be, and yet the memory is tarnished with the fact that Kate ran, and is ignoring me instead of talking to me.
I take one last look at the window and take a deep breath. Might as well get this over with.
“There he is!” Cash yells with open arms. “The man of the hour!”
I roll my eyes and snarl at all four of them, making my way into the living room, kicking off my shoes before flopping down on the couch and resting my feet on the coffee table. I give it five seconds before someone asks me what happened.
“What happened?” Max asks, sitting in the lounger across from me, and I quirk my head. He wasn’t the one I thought would ask. Then again, I see the look he gives my sister, and I know she put him up to this somehow.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Addison’s exasperated sigh can be heard all the way from the kitchen, and I get this knowing look from Mark who enters the room with a bowl of chips and two beers, handing me one on his way across the room.
“Did you have to babble all of my business before I got here?” I mutter to myself, but I know Addison can hear it.
“Is it wrong for me to be happy my brother finally got laid?” she teases, and I try to hide the smirk it elicits.
“Come on, Drew, what happened?” Cash asks and I shake my head, not wanting to get into it. “Fine, if you don’t spill it, then we’ll all just assume you struck out and have no game.”
Everyone laughs but the irritation that’s been building over the past hour starts to creep into the room.
“At least I’m not pining for a girl that left me behind like some brokenhearted emo kid,” I mutter toward Cash whose eyes widen and Addison gasps.
“Don’t be a dick, Drew.”
I close my eyes, leaning forward and placing my head in my hands. I really shouldn’t have brought that up, and from the murderous look in Cash’s eyes, I say he’s seconds away from kicking my ass.
“Sorry, man, bad few days.”
Cash still says nothing as he gets up and heads into the kitchen. I glance up and see three pairs of eyes staring back at me, and I know I have to follow him.
Once I make it into the kitchen and I see him leaning against the counter by the fridge, fisting pretzels into his mouth and chugging a beer, I know I fucked up. Cash’s past is one all of us know well and something we swore never to bring up ever again. Hannah has always been a sore spot. Ever since she broke his heart a few years ago he declared her a person non grata and we’ve all abided by that rule. Until today.
“Look, Cash, I’m sorry. I know we are not supposed to talk about her. I didn’t mean to spit it out like that, I was just pissed that you all were prying into my life.”
Cash’s eyes glance my way, and he gives me a slight head nod.
“Don’t worry. It’s not like Hannah will ever come back. She made that very clear.” He takes a deep breath, closing his eyes as if remembering her face, and then shakes the thought away. “What happened?” he asks again just as the rest of the crew comes into the kitchen as if sensing the danger has been averted. “Don’t say ‘nothing’ because you looked broken when you were sitting in your car outside, and that’s not something I’ve seen in a very long time.”
I nod my head because he’s right, and when Addison wraps her arms around my waist and hugs me, I know I have to tell them. Not only for the sole purpose of them leaving me the fuck alone, but also because they’re my best friends.
So, I tell them. I spill everything from Kate coming in after Addison left, to her confession and a very glossed-over event of our night together.
“So, what’s the issue?” Max asks, crossing his arms over his chest and giving me that proud-friend smirk.
“The issue is she was gone when I woke up and I haven’t heard from her in three days.”
The silence is deafening, and I know they weren’t expecting that.
“Gone? She just left?” Addison asks, her brow wrinkled, and I nod, because there is no other way I can do this. “But why? Did she leave a note?”
I shake my head again and I look down at my sister and see the wheels spinning in her head and I take hold of her shoulders and lean over so our eyes are level.
