“He makes a habit of this, does he?” she said bitterly.
His eyes narrowed, and she knew all of his anger wasn’t at Seth, either. “No. Not really. But I can distinctly recall one other time.”
“Are you trying to put the blame for this on me? Because that’s bullshit, Brian. I know that’s your ‘boy’ and all, but if he’s in there screwing her, it’s because either he wants to be, or he was stupid enough to get hammered with an unstable ex floating around. Grief is no excuse. He shouldn’t be here in the first place.”
“I know it’s his fault, all right? But I’m not letting you go in there all the same.”
The hell you aren’t. “Fine,” she huffed, crossing her arms and staring at some blurred fixed point to the right of Brian’s head. Hesitantly, he let her go, first one hand and then the other falling away. She did her best to look whipped and miserable—hell, that wasn’t a stretch.
“Look, I’m sorry.” He gave her a gentle nudge toward the direction they’d come from. Mohawk and the object of his affections had moved on to a more private locale, at least. She let herself be led away. “We’ll get you settled, and then you can call Candace, and you girls can rage all night about what slimy pigs we are.”
“Sounds good,” she said, giving a sad little chuckle. “You’re not a slimy pig, though, Brian.”
“I had my moments before Candace came along. Don’t write him off yet, Mace. Give him a chance to explain.”
“I intend to.” She cast a sideways glance at Brian. He’d gone off alert.
I intend to…right fucking now.
Whirling, she sprinted back toward the door, reaching it and flinging it open almost before she even registered Brian’s exasperated, “Aw, damn.”
A swath of light cut through the otherwise dark room and lit up everything she never wanted to see: Seth fastening his jeans, Raina on her knees in front of him. Both of them winced from the sudden illumination, Seth cursing as Raina leaped to her feet. He looked ready to fall off his.
“What the hell is going…?” His voice drowned away as recognition filtered through his eyes. “Macy? Oh, fuck— Macy!”
That expression, that dawning devastation on his face, was damn sure not what she’d hoped to see as she and Brian made the drive over. She turned and darted away. Brian was leaning back against the wall, arms crossed, head lowered. He looked up and only watched her race past. But she heard him intercept his friend.
“Leave it alone, man.”
“Get the fuck off me. Macy!”
“Goddammit, you’re not gonna get shit accomplished right now. Don’t make me slam you.”
She didn’t know where she was going. Where could she go? She was here with Brian—which had been Huge Colossal Mistake #1. He was her only way home, and now he had his hands full. A sob escaped her, and she rubbed hard at her face, rapid steps grinding to a halt. She’d opened that door because she wanted to confront him, and here she was, running away in typical Macy fashion.
“Macy, please.”
A glance back showed Brian to be doing an effective job holding Seth at bay…hell, with his bloodshot eyes and slurred voice, it was a wonder he’d even got it up for that bitch. The bitch who took that particular moment to saunter out of the room and directly toward Macy. She nearly jumped back. Raina wore white-out contacts and her eyes were liberally smeared with black, and she looked like something out of Macy’s worst nightmare. But the worst thing, the thing she’d see in her head from now on, actually wasn’t the makeup, the clothes, or the dead eyes. The worst thing was the tiny, smug grin of triumph curving her black-lined lips. The worst thing was the little exaggerated show she made of wiping the side of her mouth with one tattered black sleeve as she swayed past.
This was what he wanted.
This was what he could damn well have.
Her heart raced like a fleeing rabbit. Seth had managed to wrench himself from Brian’s grasp and stalked toward her.
“I’m sick of trying to talk sense into you fuckers!” Brian threw his hands up. “Be dumbasses, then. I don’t care.”
“Macy.”
She fell back a step as he advanced, and then another. He looked as terrible as Raina, except the black under his eyes wasn’t synthetic. A fresh well of tears pooled in her eyes.
“Please, baby, that wasn’t what it looked like.”
A laugh burst from her, loud and horrible. “I’d hoped for something a little more original from you. Maybe then I might actually believe you at least give a shit.”
“She came on to me, all right? I didn’t fucking do anything. I thought about it, I’ll admit that, but it didn’t happen. Nothing happened!”
“So I’m supposed to believe she was down on her knees…doing what, Seth? What could you even possibly supply right there? That she was looking for a lost contact? She had both of those freaking things in, so no go. I’d have to be the biggest moron on the face of the earth to believe any spin you try to put on that scenario. If the next words out of your mouth are anything other than ‘I let her suck my dick,’ then I’ll know what you think of my intelligence.”
He shook his head. “That’s not how it was. I was half passed out. She opened my pants before I managed to push her off, and she landed on the floor. Then I got up, and you came in, and I swear to Christ, baby, that’s all that happened.”
It wasn’t the most implausible thing she’d ever heard, and she could believe it of Raina, but…oh, God. She dropped her head in her hands, then shoved her hair back, blinking tears away as she stared up into the harsh overhead lighting. She found it increasingly harder to look him in the eye the longer they stood here. “I just…I have to get out of here.”
Brian ambled up behind Seth. “Finally, someone speaks sense. You should have decided that about five minutes ago.”
Seth ignored him. “Let me take you somewhere and we can talk—”
“No. You’re drunk. Or high, or whatever the hell. I’m not going anywhere with you.” It was then, as he tried to reach for her and she stepped back, that she noticed the reddish-purple patch of skin on his neck just at the edge of his collar. “Oh, God, Seth. Apparently you lay there and liked it long enough for her to give you that.” She shoved him hard in the area with one finger.
“Dude has lost his fucking mind,” Brian muttered, rubbing a hand back and forth across his brow.
“Shut up, man. Macy…you just have to believe me.”
“Oh, I have to? Why? You didn’t believe me.”
“Or don’t believe me. What-the-fuck-ever.”
“Excuse me,” Brian cut in, “but I liked her idea. Let’s get out of here before this turns wicked.”
Before it turned wicked? Was it not already? “Yes, please,” she told Brian, hating how small she sounded. “Get me out of here.”
Seth stared at her for one seemingly endless moment, nostrils flaring, and, given the visible tension racking him, she had the terrible thought he might hit something. His only options were Brian, the wall, or her.
Brian noticed. “Hey,” he said, taking his arm. “Take it down a notch, bro.”
Seth only yanked himself out of Brian’s grasp and then shoved past him, muttering curses until he turned the hallway up ahead.
Macy kept her hotel room pitch-dark so she wouldn’t have to watch the incessant blurring of the ceiling through her tears, which wouldn’t stop.
Why hadn’t she calmed down and listened to Brian? That hadn’t been the time to cause drama, no matter what had been going on in that room. Seth wasn’t even hers; she had no right to mark him as her exclusive territory. To make a scene like that in front of his friends when he was already hurting? If she hadn’t been so blinded, so out of her head with jealousy, she would’ve seen it.
Stupid, stupid. Thinking about what might have happened in that dark room was futile. Only two people knew, and both had good reason to lie about it. Mulling it over, she realized she could believe both sides equally. The only solution was to get one of them to fess up.
Why did she care? The whole ugly scene played out again against the back of her closed eyelids. His face when he’d recognized her. The wreckage there. Tears pooled again and squeezed out and spilled over each side of her face. She didn’t try to stop them anymore, but flopped over on one side and sobbed into her pillow. There wouldn’t be any sleep tonight. Her heart lay in bloody pieces.
Her cell phone chimed and she almost didn’t bother to reach for it. Despite Brian’s suggestion that she call Candace and vent, she hadn’t wanted to talk to anyone. Brian had dropped her off and she’d hardly even flipped on a light before slipping out of her clothes and under the sheets, letting the hum of the air conditioner lull her.
Nevertheless, she reached for it and sat up straight when she saw Seth’s name. Im at ur hotel. Plz talk 2 me.
God, she couldn’t. Could she? She was weak right now, so weak and desperate to believe him that she might fall for something stupid.
But her need to see him apparently made her stupider. She texted him her room number, then collapsed back and cursed herself, rubbing her still-pounding forehead hard with the heels of both hands.