Page 9 of Dibs
I perch with my shoulder on the doorframe, just watching Beck for a minute. Her light-brown hair is kissed by the sun, causing blonde streaks to dance through it. It’s messy and covers much of her face, and I long to reach out and tame the silky locks for her.
Beck sleeps with her mouth closed, and she breathes heavily in and out through her nose, which is dotted with the perfect number of freckles that also stretch across her cheekbones from all her time in the sun. She’s beautiful—stunning, even in sleep. Maybe even more so when she sleeps, so peacefully. With all the gentleness I can muster, I glide my fingertips beneath the hair in her eyes and smooth it back so I can see the entirety of her face.
I reach down and smooth my thumb over the front of her hand, catching a glance at the cushion-shaped turquoise ring that had once sparkled on my mother’s hand. It’s right that it’s here with Beck. It suits her spunky, Bohemian personality, and Mom would be thrilled to know it ended up Beck’s.
When she groans and pulls a pillow over her head, I roll my eyes at myself for admiring Beck for so long.
Finally, I stand, take a backward glance at the beauty sleeping in the lodge bed, and let myself out of her room and back into my own.
Why is my heart thumping wildly in my chest? It’s just Beck. The woman I’d been friends with for a decade.
The one I’d laid eyes on first.My foot wants to kick something, but this room is too well-appointed to take my frustration out on it, so I just breathe through the recollection of the first time I laid eyes on Aspyn Beckett and tell myself that things always happen the way they’re meant to.
Back when we’d met, I was still a kid. Now, I’m a man with strong shoulders for her to cry on, and a deep longing to take care of her in a way only a man can.
With a start, I realize Beck is everything to me. Maybe she always has been.
And this is what they call being up shit’s creek.
7
ASPYN
“You want to tell me exactly what’s going on between you and my best friend Deacon?”
Sean’s voice is loud. And close. Way too close. How did he even get in here?Jesus Christ.
My head twinges with pain as I sit up and look around, bleary-eyed. He’s shoved open the curtains, blinding me, so I press my fists against my eyes and shudder at his presence.
“When you weren’t paying attention, he became my best friend, not yours.” I pull the sheet up over my breasts and lean against the headboard, as dismissive as possible.
“Oh, we’ll see about that.” He waves his hand like he’s got it handled.
“Shut the fucking curtains, Sean.”
After waiting a few seconds, he finally yanks them closed and sits down beside the bed with a grunt-like noise that betrays no emotion.
“You can’t really tell me you’re leaving me. We’ve been together for a decade. You don’t want this. Just last week, you wanted my baby, didn’t you? ‘Put a baby in me, Sean,’ you said.” Sean snorts, his tone haughty and sarcastic.
“Well, a lot can change in a week, and now I don’t want to even look at you, much less make you a father.” I shrug, grabbing another bottle of water that had appeared beside the bed, probably from Deacon last night. I spot more round pills and pop the aspirin on an empty stomach.
“It seems you have no shortage of wet pussies to fit yourgiantcock into, so it feels like the right time for me to tell you to go do that instead of bothering me.” I send him daggers with my eyes.
“What’s a little sexting? Come on. You’re being unreasonable. I didn’t cheat on you with that nurse. She’s nothing to me. A conquest at best.” His casual eye roll makes me want to throat-punch him.
“This is about your pattern of disrespect for me. People in relationships don’t look up cam girls on the internet to get off. They don’t sext women they work with. They don’t engage in long-term texting and meet-ups behind their lover’s back. I let the first one slide because I didn’t have proof, but now I see the pattern, Sean, and I won’t let you do it to me again. You may think you can walk all over me forever, but that ends now.” Proud of my firm voice, I give him a little close-lipped smile.
“I knew you were holding on to that Jocelyn situation! You let that make you so crazy. We were just co-workers. She was going through a hard time and needed someone to talk to.” The worst part is how sincere Sean sounds, even though he is undoubtedly lying.
“Oh, and you’re the right person for that? You’re no knight in shining armor, Sean. And I’m not crazy. She was messaging you in the middle of the night. Innocent people don’t text at three in the morning! Get out of my room.” My anger ratchets until I’m not sure I can avoid throwing the throat-punch he so deeply deserves. My hands shake from holding back.
“You think I’m going to let you take my best friend from me?” Sean speaks so levelly, I almost don’t catch how angry he is. The dude is ice cold; how had I stayed with him for so long? Much less have wanted him to be a father to my child?
“I don’t think you have any say in the matter. You’ve been a shitty friend and a shittier partner, so you’ll lose who you need to lose until you learn your lessons. Or until you don’t. Either way, I won’t be here for it. Now get the fuck out of here, Sean, and if I see you at the house today for any reason but to pack your bags, I’m going to make your life a living hell, like you’ve made mine for a decade.” I clench and wring my hands, mainly to keep them from turning into fists.
“If you’re going to be a crazy bitch, I don’t want to be there, anyway. You have exactly thirty days. I’m changing the locks on day thirty-one.”
“Oh, right, I forgot that I’m always the crazy bitch. Well, you’re thecheatingbitch, Sean, and I have abundant proof. If you think you are going to take the moral high ground here and blame it on me, I’ll send everyone screenshots, and people at the hospital might respect you a bit less. So, I can make this easy on you or hard for you, only you get to choose. If you don’t get out of this room right now, I will absolutely choose the hard way. That’s a fucking promise.” I force myself to stare into his eyes with just the right amount of ‘crazy bitch’ in my glare.
