Page 7 of Duty Became Desire

Alec

Isat on my couch, staring at my phone for at least five minutes. I had left Skylar’s room almost two hours ago, and headed straight home, hoping that a shower and some food might ease the pounding.

It did. At least a little

But nothing about last night came to mind, no matter how hard I tried. At least, not pass the shots and the game. Everything after that is a complete void.

And believe me when I say, I don’t drink like that. Getting that drunk is something I did when I was twenty-one and said I would never do it again. Especially after I ended up in California, naked, on a beach.

So, how much did we do? And what truly happened? I texted James but all he came back with was a reminder about lunchand damn it, I didn’t want to go. But something also told me that James was not about to give any hints over a text message. Which means I had to suffer through this lunch with all of them.

With a huff, and still quite a major headache, I grabbed my car keys and headed out to my car.

Twenty minutes later, I pulled into a parking spot, glaring at the white car that pulled up alongside mine. She violently opened her door, barely stopping it from hitting my passenger side and glared at me.

“You almost hit me, you jerk,” she hollered, crossing her arms.

“You didn’t even stop, Skylar,” I bellowed back. “You’re a danger to everyone on the road.” I turned my back to her, not wanting to be in a foul mood when we went to be with our friends, but she wasn’t letting up.

“Oh, let’s not even go there. What’s your record, ten speeding tickets?”

“Give me a break,” I muttered, opening the door and letting her walk past me. “I’ve been in one accident my whole life and it wasn’t my fault. Someone side swiped me, thank you. They didn’t know how to make a turn either.” My comment hit its mark.

She tossed a glare over her shoulder at me, but I just let it roll off of my back because the last thing I truly wanted to do was walk up to the table with us in an all-out battle. Demi and James already knew we didn’t like each other the best of days, but they didn’t need to see us bickering even more.

Especially when they were the only ones who had any answers about last night. Unless they were as fucked up as we were, then it might be a big mystery no matter what.

But I knew my best friend; he had the answer.

“Glad you could make it,” he told me, clapping me on my shoulder. “Was a little worried if you two were going to be up for this lunch.”

I narrowed my eyes at him as I sat down then took a deep drink of the soda before me.

“Yeah, want to enlighten us on that, James.”

“Don’t have time, dude. You have got to eat fast because we need to head out. I reserved some time to try on tuxes. You know, make the ladies swoon over our good looks.”

I risked a glance at Skylar, knowing she heard the whole exchange. She merely lifted her brow before turning back to her conversation with Demi.

I smelled a rat in all of this!

Thirty-five minutes later, I stood next to my best friend as he talked to the gentlemen about the colors he was looking for and the style of suits he wanted. I don’t think I ever inhaled food as fast as I did just now, and my stomach was paying the cost for it.

Well, both my head and my stomach. And all because I knew damn good and well he wasn’t going to talk in front of Skylar. Which was plain bull shit.

“What happened?” I finally asked, crossing my arms and giving him an ugly look.

“With what?”

“Man, I barely like you, don’t push me now. I have the headache from hell and thanks to you and rushing out, my stomach is about ready to revolt. So, why not tell me why I blacked out, was in Skylar’s room, butt ass naked, and a fucking gold band on my finger?”

“Dude, you were naked and in her bed?”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. I don’t remember anything! How the hell can I give you the raunchy details if I don’t remember them?” He laughed, punching my arm.

Truth be told, even if I could, I wouldn’t spread anything. Not that I hadn’t before, but like he was with Demi, if anything happened with Skylar, she’s not the type of lady I would do any locker room talk with. She was so much more than that.

“Fine, fine, I won’t pester you about them. Honestly, I don’t remember much. We did a couple more shots, you were out on the dance floor, then Demi wasn’t feeling good, and I took her back to the room. You all stayed down in the club for a little bit longer, and that’s all I know.

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