Page 120 of Of Heartbreak and Harmony
It ignites both excitement and jealousy, and because I’m a glutton for punishment, my questions spew from my mouth shamelessly.
“Selection for who you’re going toshare? We’re you planning to sharemeat ArtFusion?”
“No.” He shakes his head and steps toward me. “We weren’t doing that yet.”
I bark out a laugh.“So, at ArtFusion it was the dibs game, then?”
He nods slowly. “Yeah. It was.”
“You fucker,” I seethe. “You lying son of a bitch. Iwasa groupie, and you called dibs.” I laugh again. “God, if you’d have just told me the fucking truth from the jump...It’s beenyears. I’m a big girl. I could have handled it. I would have preferred it over being fed thisyou were morebullshit."
“That isn’t bullshit, Callie.” He steps toward me again. “You were more. Youaremore. I never, not even when I first saw you, thought of you as a groupie.”
I fold my arms over my chest and glare at him. “How many women have you played this game with?”
His eyes plead with me as he lowers his voice in warning. “Don’t do that.”
“Tell me, Torren. I want to know. How many?”
“Callie. Stop it. That’s not going to help anything.”
I know he’s right—this line of questioning solves nothing—but I press forward anyway. I’m rolling downhill and rapidly picking up speed. The thoughts that were already circling my head are finding reasons to finally jump out of my mouth and into the conversation.
“Okay, then how many have you tag-teamed? How many have you and Jonahselected?”
“Callie.”
“I want to know.”
“Why?”
“I want to know, Torren.”
“Why?”
“Because I fucking do.”
He grinds his teeth and his jaw pops as he takes a step toward me. His eyes run over my face, and I tilt my chin up. I stare him down.
“Okay. What do you want to know?”
I flinch with shock. For all my bravado, I never thought he would just...give in. It takes him arching an eyebrow expectantly for me to actually form words, and when I do, I stun even myself with the question I decide to toss at his feet.
“Why didn’t you ever do it with Savannah?”
He narrows his eyes, no doubt weighing the pros and cons of giving me an answer. When I see the resignation flicker across his face, I hold my breath and wait.
“Because I didn’t feel secure enough in my relationship with Savannah to invite another person into the bedroom with us.”
I know he can see the surprise on my face. There’s no way I can hide it. That wasn’t at all the answer I was expecting. Because he was jealous. Because he was possessive. Because she washis. Any of those. But an admission like that? Never crossed my mind.
He takes another step in my direction.
“Anything else you want to know?”
I force a swallow and stand up straighter. I try to school my face into something more neutral. Business-like. I’m just seeking information. That’s all.
“You didn’t feel secure in your relationship with Savannah, but you felt secure with groupies? Was that the only selection criteria? Groupies?”
