Twice Driven(160)

How the hell did this all get so complicated? How do you deal with loving two people?





“I don’t know what to do,” I said softly, my face dropping into my hands.





I heard her take a deep breath. “I do.” She reached over, pulled my head out of my hands, and looked me right in the eye. “I’m going to fix this.”





“No, Anna, you don’t ha-”





“No, I do have to, Chris.” She swallowed thickly. “Whatever is going on with you and I is...special - it really is. But so is what you have with Tyler.” She shook her head. “I’m not letting you let that go, no matter what it means.”





“Anna-”





“Grab a bag and let’s go, now.”





I frowned. “Where?”





“Home. I’m going to make this right, right now.”





Chapter 30





Tyler

It was pouring outside as I sat in the darkness of my living room that night nursing a whiskey. The rage from earlier was gone, and now there was just this simmering sense of emptiness.





I’d slept, after I’d crashed drunk into the chair by the pool, slept and dreamt of her, until I’d woken this evening groggy and just more tired than I’d been before. And so here I was - the total bachelor cliche - drinking alone in the dark, staring at nothing.





And that’s when the door rang.





“I need to tell you something.”





It was weird seeing her like that standing at my front door. She was dripping wet from the rain, her hair slicked down around her angelic face, and all I wanted to do was grab her in my arms and kiss her.





Except I didn’t do that. I forced that shit down in side and narrowed my eyes at her, my jaw tightening as I started to close the door instead. No way.





“Wait! Hang on! I need to tell you what happened.”





I shook my head, my eyes locked on hers. “I think we’re done here Christina, go home-”





“It was me, okay!”





Suddenly Anna was shoving her aside, her hands clenched into fists at her side as she shouldered between Christina and I. Her gaze was fierce as she pushed wet hair away from her face and stared right at me. “You wanna get mad, Tyler? Get mad at me! I’m the ‘other’ one, okay?! It was me.”





Hang on, what?





The world spun for a second, and I shook my head, trying to process what the fuck she was saying.





“What?”





“It was me,” she said quieter this time, her voice fierce but just shy of breaking as she blinked, her lips tight. “I was who she was with last night.”





And something in my snapped. “Get the fuck off my porch, now.”





Anna’s eyes flashed at me as she shook her head. “You’re just going to turn your back on all th-”





“Fucking WATCH ME!” I roared, making both girls jump a step back. Christina started to cry then, and it broke my fucking heart, but I knew I couldn’t do a damn thing. And so I watched as she grabbed Anna’s hand and started to pull her away, back into the rain.





She whirled back when they’d gotten halfway down the walkway to the driveway, blinking back water and tears as she quietly shook her head in the pouring rain. “I just thought you’d understand.”





And this time I did step forward. This time, I leveled my eyes with her, my jaw tense as I followed them into the rain, shaking my head at her. “You thought I’d understand? Chris, are you fucking kidding me?”





She started to open her mouth, but once again, Anna stepped in front of her, as if trying to protect her. “We were drinking, and I was weird, and-”





“Hold on, no,” Christina shook my head, stepping in. “No, that’s not how this-”





“Enough!” I bellowed, my jaw tight. I glared at Christina, rain slamming into us, but I didn’t even feel it. “Do you think I’m going to think that makes it all okay? Don’t go thinking I’m that guy, Chris. Don’t go thinking that I’m going to be fine with this just because ‘oh, she’s a girl so it’s not cheating’. Fuck that!” I roared. “You broke our-”





“Our what!?” She shouted back, her words choking in her throat. “I broke our what? We don’t even know what we are!”





I growled. “I told you, I-”





“And I love you too!” She yelled. “But - I’m going to need more than that at some point.”





I rolled my eyes, swearing under my breath. “Oh, something like fucking around with your friend here? ‘Trying something new’? Is that that you’re going to need?!”