Page 21 of Dibs
My arms encircle her, but Beck tosses herself against me, making me tip over. She’s on top of me now, her chest pressed to mine with our legs hanging off the bed as she snuggles into my neck and sighs. I don’t mind the feel of her salty, wet tears on me, nor the feeling of her heart hammering in her chest through my own skin.
“Of course it was you,” Beck whispers, inches from my ear. She presses her forehead to my cheek and reaches up to cup my other cheek with her palm. “You’re the best of men, DeaconAmbrose. You give me hope that not every guy is a selfish man whore.”
I should tell her how I feel, like my mother had begged me to do from her deathbed, but she’s less than one week out of the biggest breakup of her life.
So, all I do is whisper, “You deserve the world, Beck. You won’t settle again.”
She sniffles and slides off to my side, pressing her head to my shoulder as she exhales noisily. “Living my life the way I want is my priority now, rather than replacing him with version 2.0. It feels so good to do exactly what I want, when I want to. Eat what I want—smoke when I want, without him overreacting about it and going on and on about the expensive drapes. Using a vibrator that’s bigger than him, when he was so insecure, I had to keep it hidden. Ugh, I mean, I hope I won’t always be alone, but even that would be preferable to ending up with someone like Sean. Did you see the video Jett took of him with his fingers on the nipples of a girl that couldn’t be older than college-aged?”
She sits up, and I follow her lead. “Yes, I had that distinct pleasure this morning. Gag me, right?”
“Nurse Q at home waiting for him, and he still feels the need to pinch the nips of some hot coed?” Beck sends the most massive eye roll up at the ceiling. “Give me a fucking break. But it hit me last night. Yeah, he may be cheating, but at least it’s not on me.”
Beck shimmies a little, which makes me burst out laughing.
“No, it’s not.”
“Small favors. I couldn’t be more overjoyed about that,” Beck adds, doing a pirouette with a bright smile, making her look downright sunny, despite the tears she’d just cried. “By the way, I have pulled pork in the slow cooker. Do you smell it? It smells so good. Sean hated it when I ate pork.”
Man, Sean was a dick. How had it taken me so long to see it? Why had I made excuses over the years for him? A long history with someone is no reason to give them the benefit of the doubt instead of facing the cold, hard reality that they’re essentially a goblin from the depths of hell.
“Why are you smirking?” Beck asks, pinching my cheeks and staring up at me.
“Just picturing Sean as some Godzilla-like character rising from hell itself.” I chuckle as she roars with laughter.
“Love that stunning visual.” Beck sighs, and it sounds happy. “Anyway, do you want to bring in some boxes? I have piles everywhere but ran out of boxes yesterday.”
I do her bidding, which means building the boxes with clear packing tape and stuffing packing peanuts around all her breakable prized possessions, including the entire set of purple ceramic plates she’d purchased when she moved in.
Beck’s all about revenge, and I love it. She’s leaving Sean one solitary plate—a prank gift from some Christmas long ago. It’s plastic with a picture of a cock on the front. Not the male variety, though that would have been funny, but of a male chicken. I half-expect her to leave a Post-it on it with the words, “Oh, look, it’s you.” But she lets the plate make the proper statement.
Beck brings me a big box. “I know I said a few days ago that I’m He-Man, but could you lift the espresso machine down into this box?”
I laugh at her audacity. “You’re taking it, huh? He’s going to miss that.”
“It was a gift from my parents. To Sean, but that’s a technicality. I think they’d want me to have it, given what a schmuck he was the whole time we dated.” Beck beams. “And then in this box, could you pretty please, oh-so-carefully, pack my blender?”
Snorting, I shake my head. “You mean that nine-hundred-dollar monstrosity Sean uses to make his workout shake every morning?”
Beck’s eyes light up. “I imagine him walking back in here and seeing it’s missing. Maybe he’ll shed a tear. Maybe he’ll curse my name. Who know? I imagine he’ll try to text me, but by then, I’ll have blocked his number. He can buy his own monstrosity. This one’s mine, and it was meant for margaritas, not kale, spinach, and blueberries.” Beck shudders at the thought.
I press my hand to the small of her back and inch her closer to me. “You, Beck, are incredible. Your propensity for spite is so gloriously unexpected and unhinged, I’m impressed, terrified, and hell, maybe a little turned on.”
I wink at her as she bites her bottom lip exaggeratedly and whispers, “You ain’t seen nothing yet, baby.”
Despite my full knowledge that she’s joking, I love the way “baby” sounds directed at me from those luscious, full, dusky-pink lips of hers.
“Show me more, show me more,” I demand lowly, leaning into her like she’s mesmerizing me. Our gazes lock, and she smiles slowly.
“If you want to see spite, you should take a look at the linen closet.” Beck takes me by the elbow, leading me into the primary they used to share. Where the linen closet used to be filled with sheets, blankets, towels, and a whole section of expensive first aid supplies, there’s now a refrigerator box beside the shower holding the former contents.
Beck has left him one tiny, thin white towel with his toothbrush on top of it. Not even a tube of toothpaste to be found. And frankly, Sean should find another toothbrush, because I don’t know if this one has been used to scrub a toilet or the tile floors or...who knows…something worse.
“You know it’s going to take three grown men to carry this box, right?” I ask, attempting to lift it with all my might and failing.
Beck pouts and then holds up four fingers. “You. Jett. Bear. Emmett. We’re golden.” She steps into the closet. “But hey, don’t worry. I’ll leave his favorite sweatpants I got for his last birthday.” She steps out of the ones she’s wearing, and now she’s wearing nothing but a crop top and pale pink panties that show off her spectacular ass.
Dear god.I bite back a moan, unable to wrench my eyes away from the incredible sight of her wearing so little as she bends and digs through boxes of clothing on her side of the sprawling closet. I force myself to walk away from the unparalleled view.
