What we looked like before everything went to hell.
Because there was a time when it was all she knew.
My touch.
My need.
The way I looked at her like I’d tear the world apart just to keep her under my hands.
“Yeah, I’ve been doing it a while now.” My fingers drift under Jasper’s shirt, tracing slow circles into his hip. “It’s probably about time someone else took over.”
“They won’t find anyone half as good,” Jasper says, leaning his weight back into me.
“One bad hit is all it takes. I could go out next month and snap both legs, and that’s my career over in seconds.”
Zeke groans. “You just want to be taken care of.”
“I mean… I wouldn’t say no.” I smirk. “A few weeks of rest. Someone feeding me, working out all those knots in my thighs… I could definitely use the break.”
Jasper barks out a laugh, cracking open his beer. “What the hell do you think this is?”
“A few days off. Nothing more.”
“So,” Zeke says, turning toward Addison, “what’s going on with you? Everything good?”
She nods as she takes a long pull from her glass.
Lying before she even opens her mouth.
“Yeah, everything’s great.”
Lying again.
“Did you tell your husband you were coming up here tonight?”
“Nope.”
“Why not? Figure he’d want to know we’re back in town and spending the night with his wife.”
“Please stop calling me that, Roman, and since we’re not living together anymore, I don’t think it’s any of his fucking business where I go or who I see.” She quickly turns on her heel and walks into the living room, glass in hand, like she didn’t just nuke the entire conversation.
“Like hell you’re walking away from that, Addison!” Jasper calls after her, with a half-stunned laugh. He lets out a low whistle, rubbing his jaw with that wicked smirk he wears when he knows shit’s about to get messy. “Well,” he drawls, eyes flicking between us and the hallway she disappeared down, “guess this little reunion just got a hell of a lot more interesting.”
Jasper follows her into the living room, and Zeke catches my eye. His look asks if I’m good, and I nod because, honestly, knowing she ditched that asshole makes everything better, even if it’s about to blow our whole dynamic apart.
By the time we reach the living room, Jasper’s already claimed the spot next to her on the couch. Addison sits with her legs folded beneath her. Zeke and I drop into the armchairs across from them, and for a moment, it’s like we’ve slipped right back to that night.
“You better start talking, Addie,” Jasper says, elbows on his knees, his focus pinned entirely on her.
“There’s not much to tell. He tripped and fell inside my friend’s pussy like the manwhore he is.”
“He what?” The words come out like gravel, my grip tightening around the neck of my beer.
“Oh, save the righteous anger, Roman. You always hated him. Don’t act shocked now.”
“Yeah, well.” I lean back, not bothering to hide my satisfaction. What I do hide is how much it guts me, knowing he might’ve hurt her. “When you’re right, you’re right.”
What I don’t say is how my hands are already itching, how the next time I see that piece of shit, I won’t be playing nice. I won’t be shaking his hand and swallowing my disgust. No, next time, I’m rearranging his fucking face.
