“Do you have any hobbies, Dodge?”
Rubbing the back of his neck, Dodge started mumbling. “Oh God. Oh shit. She’s got brain damage. I swear I didn’t hit her that hard. Shit! Ah shit.”
“She doesn’t have brain damage you ass,” Tristan said.
Dodge pointed to me. “She is talking nonsense.”
Holding up my hand, I said, “No. I was trying to think of how to describe your face and it looked like someone had taken away your favorite thing. But then I didn’t know what your favorite thing was. So that’s why I asked, do you have any hobbies?”
Tristan and Dodge both stared at me. “Holy fuck, you did give her brain damage,” Tristan said.
Closing my eyes, I let out a heavy breath. “Tristan? Will you please take me home?”
Dodge reached out and took my hand. “I swear I didn’t mean—”
Giving Dodge a weak smile, I said, “I know. We’ll talk soon.”
As Tristan walked me back to my house, he kept saying how the next time he saw Dodge he was going to beat his ass into the ground. I stopped trying to argue with him about it. He was pissed that Dodge said what he said to me, and he was even more pissed that Dodge ended up almost knocking my lights out.
As Tristan laid me down on my bed, I tried to figure out what I was going to do about the whole Dodge and Tristan thing. I needed to talk to Dodge. Alone. I should have done it the moment I came back. Even though I had been clear with Dodge that there would never be a future with the two of us, I should have told him how serious things were with Tristan and I. Closing my eyes, I knew the reason I put off telling Dodge I was back with Tristan was because he was going to be hurt.
Tristan placed a bag of frozen carrots onto my eye. Letting out a gasp, I jumped as Tristan winced. “I’m sorry, baby. I hate that you got hurt because of me.”
Looking at Tristan, I noticed how his eyes appeared wet from the tears he was holding back. “I didn’t get hurt because of you.”
“Yeah, you did. I let my temper get the better of me. It’s just, I’m tense around Dodge anyway because of your past relationship and him saying that. It just pissed me off. I’ll be glad when you are away from him.”
Sitting up, I pushed the bag of carrots off of my eye. “Excuse me?”
Tristan stared at me. “What?”
“You’ll be glad when I’m away from him? Dodge is a friend of mine. I don’t plan on giving up my friendship with him. Would you give up your friendship with Sierra? You didn’t hear me getting upset when you talked to her on the phone last night and made plans to go over to her house to fix her garage door.”
Tristan laughed. “That’s different, Ryn.”
Feeling the anger begin to boil in my blood, I inhaled a deep breath. “How is that different? It’s the same, Tristan. What if I don’t want you hanging around your college sweetheart who you just happened to have fucked after you ran into each other at the . . .”
Tristan stood up, clearly agitated.
“Wait, I only fucked Sierra one time and it meant nothing. It was a fuck that is all. No emotion.”
Swallowing hard, I asked, “Isn’t that how all your fucks are, Tristan? No emotions.”
Pushing his hand through his hair, he nodded his head. “That’s not fair, Ryn. I’ve never treated you like that.”
Laughing, I threw the bag of carrots at him. “The moment you called Liberty on the phone, you treated me that way, asshole.”
Tristan looked stunned. “Wait. What in the hell is going on here, Ryn? Why are you bringing up Sierra? She’s just a friend I met a few months ago.”
I was pretty sure my heart stopped beating. “What did you say?”
Tristan looked at me confused. “I said she’s just a friend I met a few months ago.”
“You lied?”
Tristan looked baffled until it hit him. Closing his eyes he shook his head, “No wait let me explain, Ryn, Sierra and I meet on the side of her house—”
“When you were watching Dodge fuck me?”
A grave expression rolled across Tristan’s face. He hesitated before speaking. “She told you?”
Dropping my head back, I laughed. “Oh my God. You were playing me? What did you two come up with some plan to make me jealous and beg for you back?”
Tristan looked away, “No . . . not really.”
“Oh my God! I thought she was my friend. I thought . . .” Turning away from Tristan, I tried to pull my anger back in. Not bothering to look back at Tristan, I asked, “So you only met Sierra that day. Then you finger fucked her in a club and what?” Spinning back around, I walked over to Tristan and pushed him. “Took her back to your house and fucked her?”
