When he pulls back and grabs my hand to lead me up the stairs, I’m wound tight. I need him. As he works to unlock the door, I wrap my arms around his waist and rest my cheek on his back. The door clicks open, but instead of moving inside, Dane freezes. My heart races as I think of all the possible reasons for his reaction. He tries to block me as I move to his side to see what’s going on, but I’m too fast.

I wish I’d stayed behind him.

Chapter Six

I should have known this would happen. Nolan agreed to go to rehab tomorrow, but I should have guessed he would want one last party before he left. The second I open the door and see his bare ass and hear a female moaning under him, I know my night has just taken a turn for the worse. I move my eyes away to try to get the picture out of my head, and notice the line of coke sitting on my sofa table. Fuck.

I feel Alex shift behind my back and move to block her view, but I’m too late. I hear her gasp as she sees what I’ve been trying to shield her from. I quickly grab her arms and pull her attention towards me, feeling her body tremble in my hands. I’m so f**king pissed off, but I try to shake off some of my rage before addressing her. It doesn’t take a genius to see she’s two seconds away from completely breaking down. “Wait out here and I’ll take care of this, okay?” She nods, her eyebrows pinched together as I walk inside, closing the door behind me.

“Nolan, what the f**k man? Get this shit cleaned up now!” I yell, finally getting his attention.

He pushes into her a couple more times before finally turning his attention to me. “Calm down, asshole. I just needed something to help me relax. You get that don’t you?” He smiles at me while his dick is still buried deep in some girl. He’s toying with my guilt, but I’m not going to let him blame me for this one. If he blames everything on his past, he’ll never be able to move forward.

“I’m going to step outside. You have two f**king minutes to clean this place up and show your company out the door!” I don’t wait for him to reply as I slam the door behind me. He’s high which means anything that comes out of his mouth won’t serve any purpose other than to piss me off.

When I step out into the hallway, Alex is sitting up against the wall with her arms wrapped around her legs. She smiles weakly, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that she’s uncomfortable. This is exactly why I never brought friends home when I was growing up. It wasn’t Nolan then; it was my mom, which made it worse.

I slide down the wall to sit next to Alex. She rests her head on my shoulder and reaches for my hand, entwining our fingers. I need to take care of this for her. I need to fix this…she deserves better than this. “His guest is leaving,” I say, kissing the top of her head. “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

She sighs. “I’m not five. I’ll be fine. I’m not so sure about the couch, though.”

“Stop,” I cringe. We sit in silence, waiting for the door to open. I’m getting tired, and I’m still pissed as hell that he brought this into my house. I can’t blame him for using tonight, though. He would be sick as hell right now without it. I know that better than anyone.

The door opens, breaking the silence. Neither of us looks up. I’m sure things are awkward enough for the girl he brought to my apartment the way it is. If she is one of Nolan’s usual girls, she probably isn’t worth knowing anyway.

“Dane.”

I look up to see Bree. I’m stunned speechless. Out of all the people, he had to bring my ex-girlfriend back to my apartment to fuck, knowing that I could return with Alex at any moment.

Bree was the closest thing I had to love before I met Alex. We were both f**ked up on drugs and our pasts. We didn’t have a real relationship based on love and emotion, but we did have an understanding. She understood my crazy life because hers wasn’t much different, but she didn’t challenge me, or make me want to be a better person. She accepted me for who I was when what I really needed was someone to push me to be better. We were a band-aid for the other’s loneliness.

I’m so pissed that I almost forget Alex is sitting right next to me until I feel her fingernails dig into my arm. I glance in her direction and see her wide eyes taking in Bree. Then I remember that Alex knows exactly who Bree is from the night she saw her in the club with me when I was working. My heart drops into my stomach.

She looks at me, and then quickly glances away again. It doesn’t take a genius to see she’s confused, and maybe even a little disgusted.

“What’s the matter, Dane? Can’t think of anything to say for once?” Bree says, letting the sarcasm drip from her voice. The sweat forms on my forehead as I look back up at her. She’s high; I can tell by the way her eyes are glazed over and the maniacal tone of her voice. She doesn’t care if she hurts me right now. In fact, that’s exactly what she wants to do.

“It’s time for you to go home. I’ll give you $20 for a cab. Do you need help getting downstairs?” I ask, standing up to grab my wallet from my back pocket. I don’t really care how much it costs to get her out of here…I just want her gone.

She steps forward and presses her hand to my chest. I try to step back, but the wall holds me in place. “He said it’s time to go, so go,” Alex says, standing up beside me. She grabs Bree’s hand and removes it from my chest before wrapping her arm around my waist. The Alex I met earlier this year would have left me standing here alone, thinking of every possible thing that could be going on between me and Bree, but that’s not how it is anymore.

Bree’s eyes dance between us as I watch a wicked grin form on her face. She locks her eyes on Alex. “How well do you really know him? Or should I say, how well do you think you know him?”

“Bree.” I move to grab her arm to help her out of the building, but she wiggles away from me, stepping closer to Alex.

“You don’t really know him, do you? He pretends to be so perfect for you, but you’ll never know what he’s feeling or who he really is. I do,” Bree says, narrowing her eyes in my direction. I look at Alex. Her chest is rising and falling rapidly, but she’s otherwise motionless. She won’t look at me, but she’s having trouble keeping her eyes on Bree too.

“You need to go. Now!” I yell.

“I wasn’t done talking to your new friend yet, Dane.” She stumbles back, hitting the wall on the other side of the hall. She quickly regains her composure and smiles at Alex. “He used to be my friend, you know. He was actually the best friend I ever had, and then he just left me. I hope he’s a better friend to you.”

I glance at Alex who’s shaking her head. “I think it’s time for you to go,” she finally says. Her eyes are glued to Bree; she still won’t look at me.

“What? You don’t want to hear the truth? Let me tell you a little something else.” She pauses and licks her lips. My head is pounding as I go over all the things that could come out of her mouth. Alex knows a lot about me, but she doesn’t know everything. Right now, I regret that I haven’t told her all my truths. “You’ve been with Dane for awhile, right? I think I saw you at the bar with him a few months ago. Anyway, Dane and I were at the same party a couple months ago and we almost, well, I’ll let him tell you. That’s if he even remembers. He was a little lost that night. Like old times. Right, Dane?”

Alex has gone completely pale as she moves away from me, bracing her weight against the wall. I wish we would have stayed at the bar all night. I wish my brother had a better head on his shoulders, but most of all I wish I had been man enough to tell Alex everything when she came back to me instead of letting it get to this. In a million years, I couldn’t have guessed she’d find out like this; she deserves more from me. If I could go back in time and fix this now, I would. I hate seeing Alex like this, especially knowing that I caused it.

I’m about to put Bree over my shoulder, and carry her out of here before she does any more damage when Nolan opens the door, saving me from myself. “What the f**k is going on out here?” he asks. It takes everything I have not to punch him. He had to have known this would happen.

“Get her the f**k out of here!” I yell. I reach in my pocket and pull out a twenty-dollar bill. “Help her outside and get her a cab.”

“You’re not mad that I banged your ex-girl, are you?” Nolan asks me, pissing me off even more. As I step closer to him, he backs away, pulling Bree with him. The guy can be an idiot, but he knows he won’t win a battle with me, especially when I’m sober and he’s not.

I watch as he guides her towards the stairs. “Dane, call me!” she yells down the hall. I don’t reply. I’m done with her, and I have a lot of explaining to do to the girl standing beside me. I catch a glimpse of Alex; she looks confused and angry. I want to reach out and touch her, but I know it’s not a good idea. I just pray she will let me touch her again after she hears what I have to say.

“Alex,” I say, breaking the deafening silence that had fallen over us since Nolan walked Bree out of my building, and hopefully, out of my life.

She turns her back to me and by the way she swipes her hand over her face, I can tell she’s crying. It breaks me inside. We were fine an hour ago and now this. It’s amazing how quickly things can change when you’re least expecting it.

“Alex, please, look at me,” I beg, placing my hand on her shoulder.

She turns towards me, the tears rolling down her cheeks. “You lied to me. Why did you lie to me?”

“What are you talking about?” I ask, reaching up to wipe the tears from her face. I quickly change my mind and pull my hand back when she turns her head away from me.

“You said there was no one else. Now I find out that you were hanging out with your ex while we were apart. I hate being lied to, Dane,” she says, turning her attention back to me.

“Let’s go inside. I need to tell you something, but it’s not what you think,” I say, grabbing for her hand.