Alyssa looked off-screen for a second, then back at us. “Hell. She keeps trying to reach out to me. I don’t know what to do anymore.”
I shifted, my voice quieter. “Yeah… she’s reaching out to Teddy too.”
“She’s trying to guilt him,” Alyssa said. “He’s not doing well, Carmen. Don’t let him trick you.”
“I know. We had an issue the other day… but we’re over it.”
Jayda narrowed her eyes. “What kind of issue?”
I hesitated. My thumb tugged at the tag on the edge of the sheet. “He, uh… this is embarrassing to admit out loud…” I cleared my throat. “He blocked Marcus on my phone, and I went off. I went up to his job site and everything.”
Izzy gasped. “What?”
“Jesus,” Mantis muttered.
“It gets worse,” I sighed. “After that, his employee offered to give me a ride, and he took me back to his office. Theo got extra pissed ‘cause I was in there and we got into it. It was other stuff too, but that’s the gist of it.”
Jayda sat back, arms folded. “He blockedyourboss onyourphone. Where does he and his friend find the audacity? They’re so much alike.”
“Yes, they are.” I nodded. “But we talked and worked it out.”
Mantis smirked. “So you fucked.”
“Grossssss,” Alyssa groaned.
I gave her a sheepish smile. “I’m sorry, Lyssa. But yes.”
Jayda tilted her head. “Sounds like he’s forgiven.”
I shifted, stomach tightening with the kind of guilt that crept in after the high wore off.
“It’s not that… It’s just that we have bigger issues than that at the moment. It was just everything came to a boiling point.”
“I’ll say,” Mantis added.
Izzy’s voice softened again. “I do worry about the way you two tend to bury your issues in sex. Did you at least talk about it? Like really talk.”
“We did.”
Jayda’s voice dropped. “And?”
“And… I don’t know,” I lied. It was best to keep most of our relationship woes to myself for now. “We decided not to focus too much on that. For now, at least.”
My fingers kept playing with the tag, tugging at it like it might give me an answer.
“I’m not sure what’s gonna happen with us after I leave,” I admitted. “But I’m trying my hardest to keep us sane while I’m here.”
“Why did he even block Marcus?” Jayda asked, frowning.
“It’s my fault, really,” I said. “I answered a call at dinner, and he felt a way about it.”
They all went quiet.
“Girl, what?” Mantis finally said.
“That’s it?” Alyssa asked, blinking.
“Yeah.” I sighed. “The whole thing is so stupid. He was just a little territorial about it.”
