Page 95 of The Sidekick

His shoulders sag with relief, and he points at me with finger guns. “No problem.”

My phone begins ringing, and I glance down to see Max’s name. I chew my lip and take a deep breath through my nose. Don’t lose momentum, indeed.

I pick it up, dreading this conversation but knowing I need to get it done.

“Hello?”

“Hey,” he lets out a long breath like he was holding it. “How’s your day going?”

“Good, actually. Blaze just signed me up for some yoga classes. How are you?” I feel awkward asking and look up as Blaze sinks into the couch beside me as if he belongs here, snatching the remote to scroll without me.

“Blaze did? Why would he do that?” His surprise matches mine. He also has a healthy dose of suspicion in his tone.

“He’s helping me work on my therapy homework.”

“Your what? I didn’t know you had… you told him about it? And not me?”

I rush to wipe the hurt from his voice. “I didn’t tell him, Shade did. And Shade found out because he has no respect for personal boundaries.”

“Oh.” His voice is still a little off when he says it, and I hear the phone shuffle as silence fills the line.

“I’m glad you called,” I continue the awkwardness. “I wanted to apologize for what I said to… you know. And for basically screaming your situation to people who had no business hearing it.”

Blaze rolls his eyes.

“I don’t care about that, and neither does Trevor. He was just pissy because you made good points, and he had to swallow that pill in private.”

How can he be so casual about it? I bawled my eyes out when Andi let it slip that I was a submissive in front of the twins. I felt like everyone saw me naked and was grossed out. I pretended them acting like it was normal comforted me, but on the inside, I shriveled up. Mom always said I would never be a normal girl. Looks like she was right.

“I’m still sorry. It was inappropriate.” I insist.

“Not a big deal on our end. Really. I wanted to say thanks for helping me out that night. And say I’m sorry for it turning so shitty at the end. If I had known they were going to show up, I never would have called you.”

Does he mean he never would have called me to keep me away from there? Away from Satan? Or that he didn’t really want me to help?

I’m spiraling. I can see it happening, and I still can’t stop it. I’m making up things in my head to keep him at arm's length instead of just cutting ties.

“Ok,” my words are quiet even to me. It’s going to be a bad day today, I can tell. I rush to get him off the phone before it gets any worse. I don’t want him to know how messed up I really am. I need to be brave to break it off with him. I’m not brave on my best day.

“I’ve got to go and get ready for work, ok? I’ll talk to you later.” I hang up before he can reply and stare at the phone.

“He didn’t sound pissed,” Blaze says with narrowed eyes while watching the screen. He started a horror movie without me noticing.

“He said it was fine. I’m going to take a nap, ok? Can you lock the door when you leave?” I stand to walk away as his head turns towards me.

“I thought you had to work.”

“Later tonight, yeah.”

“Huh. Well, your first class is on Tuesday next week, so don’t miss it!” It’s like he’s forcing himself to be cheerful.

“Ok,” I agree and close myself into my room to crawl under the covers and cry.

Babygirl,

Max has lost his mind. He’s trying to talk his gym teacher into being a go-between for all of us. What is he thinking? This is complicated enough without adding some egotistical dick into it.

Chapter Thirty-Five

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