AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yeah, yeah. Ashamed? You don’t have shame, Anthony,” I responded, turning the attention back on him as my lips curled.
“Before all of this, you might have been right,” he said before turning his entire body around to face me. My chest tightened in response.
“Look, man, I know all the apologies in the world can’t make up for what I did, but I want you to know that I’m sorry, man. I’m sorry, okay? What I did was a loser thing to do. I should’ve stayed away from your sister, man. I let you down once before, and I did it again. I was a shitty friend, and I’m really sorry, man. I’m so sorry,” he started.
His eyes were reddened though he held his tears in, and I could tell he was being genuine.
My own eyes burned in response, and the sniffles came on as my throat grew gravelly. Throwing back the rest of my beer and taking a deep breath in and out, I considered what happened in court today.
Clearing my throat, I mustered up the courage to ask, “Did you care about her? Or was she just one of the women you had to have?”
He looked up at me in shock, but he didn’t answer, as if he weren’t sure how to respond. Just when I lost faith in his response and felt justified in my anger once again, he blew me away.
“I still care about her,” he responded.
Now, I was the one looking at him in shock and again, he seemed genuine. In fact, this was the most genuine he appeared to be in all the years I’d known him. Today, Anthony was shining in a different light.
Did that mean I forgave him for lying to me and going behind my back? Absolutely not. But after sitting in that courtroom and seeing Tiffany’s interaction with Mario and Jared as well as Anthony sitting here before me, it became obvious that I made a mistake judging their dynamic. Their dynamic. Not my dynamic with them. And unlike my mother, I could own up to my mistakes.
“Then you should’ve been there then,” I sighed and shrugged.
He took a deep breath in before letting it out as he spoke. “I think I could use that drink now actually,” he said, calling the bartender back over to us.
The bartender wandered over, eyeing us both. “Hmm,” he sighed.
Anthony and I quirked our brows and looked at each other. “Hmm?” Anthony asked.
The bartender shrugged one shoulder. “Looks like you two made up and now, I’m jealous. For a while there, I thought there might be an opening for me and you,” he said to me. “I’ve always had a thing for redheads.”
Letting out a sigh and a laugh, I shrugged. “Sorry. Still taken.”
“The good ones are always either gay or taken, unless they’re both. And what’s left? Straight people? Ugh,” the bartender said before leaving us alone.
Anthony finally laughed. It seemed he couldn’t hold it anymore, which was fair. “You know when you say you’re ‘still taken,’ he still thinks that means you and I are a thing, right?” he asked.
“Yup,” I said, grinning lightly and for a moment, it almost felt like we were all right again.
But we weren’t. There was a light that used to be there when the guys and I would hang out. In its place, there was an empty, cold darkness where the light flickered out. Nevertheless, I owed them an apology, so I put on my big boy face and started with Anthony since he was already here.
“Look, I’m sorry for the uh… punches and how I responded to you guys and Tiffany.” A shiver ran through me as I said, ‘you guys.’ It still took some getting used to.
“What you guys do with each other has nothing to do with me. And I’m sorry I reacted as if it did. It’s obvious that it was consensual between the um… four of you…” There was that shiver again. “And so, if she consented, and you guys consented, then it’s not my business,” I said, staring at the bottom of my empty beer mug, wishing it were still full.
To be honest, I thought Anthony would be a lot happier with my response but now, he just looked at me even more suspicious than he was when I stopped him earlier.
Chapter 34
Anthony
ChrismusthavethoughtI was the biggest fucking idiot that ever lived. There was no way I would believe that the man who wanted to knock my fucking lights out just a few days ago was all of a sudden now ready to forget all about his hate for me. Let bygones be bygones.
But man, he almost got me. The thought of everything being chill between us again, on top of having him approve of my relationship with his sister, filled me with butterflies or some shit. Enough was enough though. In fact, it would’ve been better if he had walked up to me and punched me instead of stringing it out like this just to amuse himself. I wouldn’t sit around for it.
Scoffing, I spun away from that stool so quickly, the front of my foot got caught in the bottom footrest, and I stumbled forward, crashing into Chris’ side. Okay, I thought for sure he would punch me now but instead, he steadied me with two arms on my shoulders and pushed me back onto the stool. It wasn’t an aggressive push either, and it had me stunned and confused. Wait, was this for real?
“What the hell happened in court today?” I asked, looking at him flabbergasted with my face contorted in confusion and my heart beating out of tune.
He raised his brows and shook his head a few times before grinning and raising his beer mug. “A lot,” he said, staring ahead of him.
