Текст книги "Fraternizing"

Автор книги: C. Brown

сообщить о нарушении

Текущая страница: 12 (всего у книги 26 страниц)

Chapter 15

Alex

Avoiding Cassie was harder than I’d imagined.

 I thought for sure that if I told myself I could stay away from her, act like she had no effect on me and treat her like any other female Marine, that it'd get done.  Quite the opposite happened.

I was trying to get back on track since I'd been told that I was picked as NCO of the Quarter, and within that brief, minuscule minute, all of my indiscretions came roaring back at me like a rabid animal.

My mind replayed pictures of her. Her heart melting smile, her beautiful, naked body in my hands, those beaming green eyes…

All of it flashed through my head in a continuous cycle that was silently destroying me, but I had to stick to my guns. The more I thought about what we had progressed to, the more I realized just how wrong it all was.

I took my eyes off the ball because I was hell bent on getting a taste of something overly enticing. I should have followed my first instinct to just avoid her because now I was stuck with the fucking guilt of deviating from the Corps, my driving force in life, and putting myself in a predicament that would leave me emotionally exhausted no matter which way I turned.

I'd gotten all of Cassie that I could have ever wanted, and she certainly did not disappoint, but that wasn't the point. The point was that following the needs and wants of my dick, no matter how persuasive it could be, hadn't done me a bit of good. In fact, it had gotten me into more trouble than I'd probably seen in my entire childhood combined.

But I couldn't find the strength to just wash my hands and walk the fuck away.

I lay on my bed late Wednesday night, sifting through the text messages she'd sent me throughout the week with no response. As badly as I wanted to respond, I just couldn’t do it because by responding, I was thrusting myself back into the same spot that had mind fucked me, had ripped my integrity away, and left me worthless.

Cassie: Hey! Is everything okay?

Cassie: Text me to let me know you're good.

Cassie: Ignoring me through text and in person is so cool of you. Not sure what I did, but you shut down quickly. WTF?

Cassie: Well, thanks for being a prick, Alex.

The self-restraint I had somehow lost the second my eyes landed on Cassie had come back to me. As much as I wanted to respond, to even pick up the phone, call her, hear her soft and sensual voice, or even just listen to the light breaths leaving her delectable mouth, I just couldn’t do it.

Had I been everything I was supposed to be since meeting her? Fuck no. I had turned into quite the opposite, and I had no choice but to find myself, the old Alex, the overly motivated and gung-ho Alex, who let nothing come between me and the mission. Never before had I been tempted to such extremes and failed so miserably.

So why was finding myself killing me in the process? Had I become someone else? The answers to those questions didn't come easily. They played with my head, dangling me over a cliff, threatening to drop me with no help in sight. I was lost…lost without a soul around to help me through it.

A hard knock pounded on my bedroom door.

"Hey, man. Riley threw some steaks on the grill. Come and get some before we eat it all."

I fixed my hardened gaze on Jensen, not saying a word before his face scrunched.

"What the fuck, man? You got some incredible news. What's wrong with you? You've been coming home, locking yourself back here for the past few days."

My expression didn’t change. He was a serious source of contention for me. And even if things between us were back to being civil, deep inside I still harbored a bit of animosity towards him.

"Fuck it. If you want some, you know where to go."

He closed the door, leaving me to fester in my shit stain mood and billowing anger. This wasn't a good mixture, and I felt like at any moment I was going to combust, violently.

The next morning, standing in front of the class, I worked hard on the training that I had been giving myself for the past few days. I figured out how to scan the room without allowing my eyes to land directly on Cassie. If I did, it would be the end of me. I couldn't take looking at her because by looking at her, I knew I was only inviting myself to take the route back to self-destruction and that was the last thing I needed.

Or so I thought.

"Because so many of you performed less than exceptional on the last test, we have a bit of an incentive for you. Hopefully this will wake your asses up. I don’t want any of you in any unit with me, in combat, with average scores tagged onto your ass. If people can't communicate, we lose fellow Marines. You need to know your shit. You understand that?"

"Yes, Sergeant," the class called out. Cassie's voice, as soft and fragile as it could be at times, stood out amongst all of the rest. I tried blocking it out, not wanting it to seep in and knock me off my post again.

 Sgt. Newsome stepped forward, giving the details for the challenge.

"Alright," he said, clapping his hands together, "the person who has the highest average for this last test and the next two coming up before the field training op, will be pulled from the duty rotation."

Chatter began to fill the room as excited and eager faces lit up at the prospect of escaping a night of duty.

As soon as the word duty hit my ears, my last duty night came crashing back into me. That night, the risk, the sweet reward, and the utter frustration at the end of it...it swept in like a tidal wave, taking my focus away from everything else in that moment.

I stole a quick glance in her direction, knowing ahead of time that I shouldn't have, but did it anyway. She was looking at me, not with the same desire that usually shone through her sex craving eyes, but with something more along the lines of emptiness. She didn’t look sad, but she wasn't as vibrant as she normally was.

Damn!

I fucking hated myself all over again. I did this. Not only was I hurting myself, but I was also hurting the only girl who had taken me, shook me, and claimed me. All because I was a selfish bastard.

After speaking to Jensen and Newsome, I walked out of the classroom. There was no way I was going to be able to stand in there one second longer without losing my shit. As I walked out, passing just a row over from where Cassie sat, I caught a whiff of that restraint breaking vanilla aroma, and it sent my mind into overdrive. I picked up the pace, plowing through the door and stomping down to my office before I turned around and really punished myself.

Unfortunately, later that night, I was stuck with inspecting the rooms on Cassie's floor. As soon as I found out the others had already divvied up their assignments, frustration tore through me like a jackknife. I was either the world's biggest asshole, and I deserved the torment that came with having to see her in every location possible, or my attempts at staying away from her were unrealistic and an utter waste of time. Either way, having to see her so close to me and not being able to touch her was unnecessary misery.

After inspecting the room directly next door to hers, I gathered myself before turning for her room. No way was I going to walk in there, unprepared and fail myself. I swallowed, took a couple of deep breaths, then confidently walked into her room, greeting her and Ruiz on the way in.

"Good evening, ladies."

"Good evening, Sergeant," they both responded, the sweetness of Cassie's voice nowhere to be found.

I averted her eyes on my way in. No way could I look into them and find anything other than happiness, joy, and want. Her indifference was a silent killer, even if she had no idea.

I did a quick sweep, definitely not as thorough as I would normally do. I just couldn’t stay in her room any longer. Thoughts of moonlight on her sun-kissed body, my lips on her, her lips on me– all of it was much too vivid, and I couldn’t handle looking at it any longer.

"Good job, ladies," I mumbled as I walked out of the room, looking at Ruiz but deliberately avoiding Cassie.

Confusion filled Ruiz's face, but she calmly responded, "Thank you, Sergeant."

I walked out of the room, my bitch card hanging low before me, letting me know just how far I had fallen. All I could think about was going home and drowning in a twelve pack.

And as soon as field day was over, that was exactly what I did.

Waking up the next morning, I dressed in my Service Charlies with little enthusiasm for the day. Friday should have been a welcomed day. It brought the weekend and free time, but too much free time was too much time to think, and lately my thoughts were chipping away at my wall of restraint.

"You ready, man?" Jensen asked, standing in the kitchen, fully dressed after having woken up early and doing a rather intense workout session. I heard his ass in the garage and thought about joining him, but nixed that idea rather quickly. I didn't want conversation getting too deep with him.

I looked at him but didn’t respond.

Riley came strolling in, a Red Bull in his hands. I grabbed it from him, popped the top, and polished that bitch off in one long gulp.

"Fuck, dude. You look like you needed that, but asking would've been cool."

"Shut up, Riley," I muttered, moving about the kitchen and looking for the coffee pot.

I was not a coffee drinker, but when an entire night of restlessness took over, I needed something, anything to get me through the day. I stood in front of the sink, filling the pot, when I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the window. My eyes were damn near bloodshot, heavy bags sitting underneath, and a scowl looking like a permanent fixture. This was all courtesy of Cassie and the hold she had on me. Moving away from her was supposed to be the right thing to do, but every day that I stayed away, my body felt like the punishment was growing larger and larger.

By the time I got to the schoolhouse, I’d had two full mugs of coffee. That coupled with the Red Bull, and I finally felt like I was energized enough to make it through my day, but I knew that the looming crash was coming. No sleep and all caffeine didn’t look promising for me.

Before getting the day started, I darted off to the bathroom, throwing handfuls of water on my face, hoping that I looked somewhat presentable as I was scheduled to be in front of damn near the entire schoolhouse this morning. After looking myself over, I took the fuck it approach. So what if I looked like I had drank all night and gotten no sleep because that was, in fact, exactly what I had done. And if anyone had shit to say about it, then they were probably going to be on the receiving end of a very belligerent asshole.

Because that was exactly what I was feeling like.

As I walked out and stood before the throngs of Marines, from all different companies, I thought it would be best to fill my head with mindless chatter. It was all I could do to make time pass by as we stood, awaiting the Company Commander and the Commanding Officer. My eyes drifted in and out of the endless rows of Charlie clad bodies standing at attention, and all of their eyes focused on where I stood. I kept telling myself not to look for Cassie, but I did it anyway, picking her out almost immediately. As soon as our eyes locked, my throat began to close up from the sneer that she gave me. Voices echoed in my head, and I realized that the ceremony had begun.

"Good morning, Marines," Colonel Davis called out.

"Good morning, Sir," the crowd replied in perfect unison.

I watched Cassie. Her mouth moved so smoothly, and all I could imagine were my lips on hers, her lips on my cock, running them up and down in that soft and delicate fashion that only she knew how to do.

"This morning, we are here to recognize one of the finest Marines working for the battalion.  Not only has Sgt. Alejandro Cruz been selected for Staff Sergeant, but he has also been names NCO of the Quarter. We couldn’t have picked a more deserving individual."

He turned away from the crowd, now facing me.

"Sgt. Cruz, on behalf of the battalion, I want to thank you for your selfless service and dedication to training these young Marines to the best of your ability. You are a shining example of what a Marine Corps NCO should be, and we are thankful and grateful to have you."

"Oorah!" someone yelled from the crowd, the universal, motivational congratulatory call. A few more followed before Colonel Davis signaled Major Kinsley to step forth, silencing them all.

"I want every Marine, veteran and new, to take a look at this fine Sergeant standing before you. As Marines, we pride ourselves on integrity, great moral character, as well as performing the duties of our job. Sergeant Cruz, you have shown your high dedication to training our future Communications Marines while guiding them on the ins and out, rights and wrongs of the Marine Corps. Your impending promotion is highly deserving. Thank you for your service, and congratulations on all of your accomplishments."

The Major's and Colonel's words gutted me, leaving me hanging from a very sharp hook. How they could stand there and say the things they said without knowing the real and true me was devastating. Not only was I nothing like their perceptions, but I had willingly strayed and become anything but a model Marine, less known a fucking NCO of the Quarter. Bile rose in my throat, heat flashed through me, and my legs had begun to tingle. Passing out was surely coming, and mixed with the previous night's twelve pack, this morning's Red Bull, and the two mugs of coffee, I only hoped it would remove me from my misery.

What should have been a very momentous occasion had turned into a fucking nightmare. My conscience wasn't sitting well with the idea of all of these Marines looking at me as something that I was not. I couldn’t have fallen further from the tree, and the guilt accompanied with the words, the looks of admiration, and the pride from my higher ups were pushing me further and further towards the ledge.

Major Kinsley signaled for me to step over to where he and Colonel Davis stood. Colonel Davis handed me a plaque. The feel of it in my hands was like holding molten lava, scorching me, begging me to drop it where I stood. I had to pull my shit together and stand there, pretending to be proud of what everyone thought I was.

 I stood between the two, smiling as the photographer from the base newspaper snapped our picture. I looked fucked up, and I felt much of the same. I didn’t deserve shit, but I couldn't tell them that. Not without openly tarnishing my reputation. Deep inside, the guilt was destroying me much more than anything they could ever do to me anyway.

After the ceremony, the Marines mingled with one another before heading into classrooms for the day. I caught sight of Cassie hanging out with Dalton and the two other kids from the bowling alley. She looked back at me from time to time, her eyes slicing through me, making me feel even less. As much as I wanted to be rid of her, I still wanted her, and it was that conflict of emotions that seemed to be eating me alive.

"…so you down tonight or what, NCO of the Quarter?" Jensen's voice brought me back.

I looked around the circle, my eyes landing on Riley who looked like his cat had just died. Jensen and Newsome stared at me questioningly but didn’t say anything.

"What’s that? I must have spaced out."

"The Tavern tonight. We're taking you out to celebrate."

"Oh. Naw, I'm good."

"Fuck that," Jensen said. "I don't know what the fucks going on with you, but you've been a fucking recluse all this week. It's time to get your ass out and about. And this is the perfect excuse to do it."

I shook my head, much too emotionally drained and physically exhausted to argue.

"Whatever, man." I rubbed my hand over my face, shutting my eyes, wishing all of this shit would just go away.

"Good. Tonight at seven. Everyone's going."

Before Jensen could say anything further I walked off, passing Cassie and her crew while my insides twisted, sending me into silent agony.

When I walked into the schoolhouse building, the front photo board already held my picture under the NCO of the Quarter slot, next to all of the unit higher ups. The guilt was thick, acting as the anchor that held me under water with no way of getting any air. I needed this day to end so I could get away and drink myself into a drunken stupor.

The rest of the day dragged, prolonging the torment within me. Even during test time, while the students were hard at work, my mind drifted to Cassie. The last test she'd scored well below expectation, and I couldn’t help but hope that she had regained her footing and done well on this one.

Guilt hit me from all angles—unrelenting and powerful, sucker punches to the gut, over and over again. I knew then that my relief would be found at the bottom of an empty tequila bottle, so as soon as the students were released for the day, I hurried my ass out of there, went home, and downed the last of my Cuervo before passing out.

When I woke up, Riley was standing over me, looking worried as all hell.

"Hey, man," he said, his voice low and timid.

I looked at him, trying hard to focus but failing miserably.

"We're about ready to go. I don’t know though, maybe you should stay home."

"No. I need to go. I’ll be ready in like ten."

He sighed. "Look. I know what this–"

"Riley, I'll be ready," I sternly countered. I didn’t need him filling me in on the obvious.

In ten minutes, just as I had said, I was ready and walking out the door. The little bit of sleep that I’d caught helped and all I could think about was getting the leftover thoughts of Cassie out of my head. For the first time since these plans had been made, I finally found some enjoyment in the night.

Riley drove all of us in my truck since it was biggest and comfortably sat all of us. He volunteered to be the DD, leaving me with no limitations on just how piss poor drunk I could get drowning out the residual thoughts of my very own kryptonite.

The Tavern was packed. Next to Coyotes, it was our second favorite hang-out spot. It was a little larger than Coyotes but was lacking the vibrant feel. It didn’t really matter to me because I planned to be carried out by the time we left. Eliminating Cassie from my thoughts was my goal, and if it took five drinks or fifteen, I was going to make that happen.

Smith ordered the first round, holding up his shot glass and belting out, "To Alex, NCO of the motherfucking quarter."

"Oorah," Jensen and Newsome hollered, before throwing back their shots and slamming the glasses down on the table.

I threw mine back and quickly called for another, throwing that back before Castillo and Collins walked up with two more.

"Well, hell. We're late to the party," Castillo said, grinning at me and handing over another.

"Well deserved, Alex," Collins said, smiling as well.

There wasn't enough alcohol in my system to take their compliments, so I took the other shot in Castillo's hands and downed that one too. Her hooded eyes bore into me, prompting Riley to tap me on the shoulder.

"Dude, I know what you're doing. Slow down."

"Fuck off, Riley," I growled, throwing his hand off of me. "I'm here to celebrate, right? This is how we do it."

He didn't look offended. Instead, apprehension filled his face. I didn’t care. Riley had no fucking clue what I was grappling with, and I wasn't about to fill him in on anything.

Another round came out, and this time Jensen lifted his glass while yelling out, "Every motherfucking Marine in here needs to come say hello and congratulate my friend, Alex. It's a pleasure serving next to you, brother. Probably one of the best fucking Marines I've ever met."

Loud "oorahs" filled the room, making me smile. The tequila was finally settling and doing exactly what I needed it to do. I threw the shot back, blowing out a deep breath after allowing it to ooze down my throat.

"You deserve some pussy, man. This one is perfect."

Some random brunette– leggy, and tan—stepped out from behind Jensen. She smiled, but it did nothing for me. I couldn’t find anything special about her. But then again, I just needed to forget about Cassie, so she would probably do the trick.

"I'm Taylen," she said, her eyes raking me over, begging to be fucked.

She sat down on my lap, a fruity drink in her hand as she leaned down and whispered in my ear, "You wanna fuck me, Alex?"

I stared back at her, trying to figure out if I wanted to or not. A part of me wanted to say "Hell yes," run her off somewhere, and bang Cassie out of my system. Another part of me knew I'd regret it, so I smiled and lifted my hand to play with her hair.

"I might, Taylen," I answered, not giving a definitive answer.

She laughed and put her drink to my mouth, pouring it down my throat. I licked my lips afterwards, taking in the residual fruity flavor, when Taylen leaned down and kissed the fuck out of me. For such a small girl, she had power behind her lips and tongue, and I liked it.

Or did I?

Whatever I was feeling, her tongue was winning out, and I forgot all about the conflicting thoughts swirling around in my head and just went with it. Shockingly, my cock didn’t jump, didn’t twitch… nothing. Her kiss did nothing to incite it, but I ignored that and dug my tongue deeper into her mouth.

"Come up for some fuckin' air, bro. And a drink," Newsome said, tapping me on the shoulder and handing over what smelled like a Captain and Coke.

"Thanks, man."

"I'm Taylen," she said, holding out her hand for Newsome. He took it, kissing the top of it before saying, "I kind of like this fucker, so let him breathe every now and then."

She laughed– a laugh very similar to what had hooked me with Cassie.

"I need another drink, man."

It was almost as if he had read my mind before even delivering the first drink. Another Captain and Coke was placed in my hands. I drank that one just as quickly as the first, Taylen's hands all over my chest, snaking under my shirt, her tongue gliding over her teeth.

We sat for a while longer, Castillo's eyes catching mine from the opposite side of the bar every now and then. She was off talking to some guy, but paying little to no attention to anything he had to say. A few times I caught the pucker of her lips, like she wanted to yank Taylen off of me and take her place. I had no intention of going down that route.

"You ready to fuck me yet, Alex?" Taylen's voice was whiny, and with the excess amounts of alcohol in my system, it was grating my nerves.

"I'm always ready to fuck," I told her. "I'll fuck just about any girl in here tonight."

The gleam in her eyes quickly faded.

"I'm not just any girl."

"You are to me," I quickly countered.

She jumped off of my lap and slammed her hand down on the table.

"You're a fucking asshole. Fuck Marines."

"Naw. I'll pass," I told her, smiling as her face contorted through her anger.

I laughed, not giving a damn about her temper tantrum. She stormed off, finding her friends and pointing over to me before walking out of the bar.

I stood, wobbling for a second before finally catching my balance. I walked to the bathrooms, needing to piss and feeling like I could do it anywhere, but had enough common sense left in me to not do so.

When I walked out, Castillo was sitting at my table, involved in a heavy conversation with Collins. They quieted as I walked up. I took my seat and leaned in, hoping to engage them on whatever they were discussing.

"Ladies, what’s going on?"

"We should be asking you that," Castillo said, winking at me. "Where'd your little girl toy go?"

"Yeah. I thought you were well on your way to getting a piece of that groupie, Alex," Collins said, chuckling a little.

"Groupie?"

"Um, yeah. Didn't you see the tan line on her ring finger?" Castillo asked then took a sip of her drink.

I threw my head back, exhaling out the frustration of what I had almost done.

"I'll be right back." I stood and walked over to ask Newsome for a cigarette, even though I wasn't a smoker.

"You don't smoke, man."

Before he could say anything else, I glared harshly at him, looking like I could viciously attack at any second. He reached in his pocket and pulled out his pack of smokes, patting it in his hand.

I took it and the lighter that he was holding, then walked outside and lit it up. The feel of the burn as it hit my chest pained me, but I was wound so tightly I needed to finish it. I hoped that it would calm even the slightest part of me down.

About halfway through the cigarette, Castillo came walking outside, a cigarette in her hand.

"Mind my company?" she asked.

I shook my head, taking a long drag of the cigarette before blowing out a mouthful of smoke.

"Sorry to freak you out. I just know how much you hate groupies."

"Thanks."

We stood smoking in silence, the cars whizzing by on the pitch black Hwy 62 the only sound to be heard. When I finished, I felt sick. The mixture of too much alcohol and a cigarette had put me in a bad place. I felt like at any minute I could throw up, and if I didn’t get a quiet place to sit down, I was sure it would happen.

"I'm going back in to get the keys from Riley. I need to chill out for a minute."

"You don't need to go back in. I have my keys. You can chill out in my Jeep."

She pulled the keys out of her pocket, dangling them before me as she smiled wickedly at me.

The chance to lie down never sounded so good, so I followed her out to her Jeep and slowly sat down in the passenger seat before lying back and shutting my eyes. Castillo moved around to the driver's side, hopping in and letting the windows down.

I began to drift when her voice woke me.

"What's the deal, Alex?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, my eyes still closed as the warm desert night air hit me.

"You know what I mean. You and Bennett. Some people might be blind or oblivious, but I see it."

That woke me up. My eyes shot open, and panic flared in my chest, but I couldn’t let her see any of it. I kept my head turned away from her, not willing to let her read my expression.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Leti."

She laughed.

"Bullshit, Alex. I'm not fucking stupid." She paused, waiting for a response that I wouldn’t give.

She leaned over, her moist lips on the tip of my ear.

"I know there's something, but I also know I can do so much more." Her tongue reached out, lightly skimming me ear.

The move did something to me. What it was, I couldn’t place. I turned my head, lazily looking at her through beer-goggled eyes.

"Bennett seems like a nice girl. For someone else. You need these Latin hips and lips."

Cassie's face came thrashing back in my head. The pain it brought with it was worse than the headache that had somehow filtered in. The joy of looking at her was overshadowed by the sting of her beautiful eyes staring into me. I needed to get rid of her quickly.

Castillo turned in the seat and leaned toward me. She made quick work of my belt and pants, snaking her hands inside my boxer briefs. I inhaled, relishing the feel of a feminine hand on my dick. She stroked me, finally getting me hard and erect since her presence and touch alone wasn't enough to make it happen. If this was how I was going to get rid of Cassie, then so be it. Any chick would do the trick, and apparently I wasn't too picky about who it was.

She lay down, placing her mouth on my cock, her moist walls clamping down like a tight suction cup. My eyes shut as I bit down on my bottom lip. I placed my hands in her hair, grabbing hold of it while she started slow and meticulous sucks, moving her head up and down. I lifted my hips, hoping to get more of her around me, even if almost all of me was halfway down her throat.

She quickly switched to sloppy sucks, the sounds of her tongue lapping up my shaft barreling into my ears, annoying the fuck out of me.

"Suck," I commanded, needing her to take all of my frustrations away.

She obeyed, returning to the sucks that had left me speechless. I shoved my cock farther into her mouth, but the sound of her gag stopped me from going as far as I wanted to go. In that moment, Cassie came back to mind, and her impressive ability to deep throat without so much as the slightest gag.

My conscience finally whacked me upside the head. I realized that as much as I wanted to rid myself of Cassie, it wasn't going to happen tonight, and it damn sure wasn't going to happen like this.

I yanked on her hair, pulling her mouth off of me.

"What?" she asked breathlessly.

"I'm done."

"No, we aren't."

"Yes, Iam," I growled, further pushing her head away.

I put my shit back into my pants, opened the door and stepped out. I looked back at her and mumbled, "I'm sorry. I can't do this."

She looked back at me, confusion and anger piercing through her eyes and filling her face.

As I was standing and zipping up my pants, I caught Riley in the distance looking out to me. I didn't say another word to Castillo as I walked away, back in the direction of the bar.

"What the fuck, man?" Riley asked. He looked like he was ready to beat my ass, and in my inebriated state, I was sure he could do it.

"Don’t fucking start with me, Riley."

He stepped in front of me and pushed me up against the wall. Anger hit me as I fought him off, but with my intoxication he was much too strong for me.

"You're a fucking idiot, Alex. You fucked Bennett and fell for her. Okay, big fucking deal. Yes, the rules of the Corps make it very costly, but it is what it is. You've been a fucking prick ever since finding out about NCO of the Quarter and now this– Castillo."

I stood glaring at him while he spilled out everything for me in black and white.

"You can't run from your feelings for her, and fucking anything with a pussy isn't going to get her out of your system. Wake the fuck up, man. She's into you, and she’s feeling the effects of your fucking stupidity."

"You better shut your fucking mouth, Riley. You have no idea what you're talking about," I seethed. Pure malice was hidden under my words, but it was truly aimed at me. Riley was dead on, but I didn't want to admit it.

"Who are you kidding? Do you not remember that I was the one you originally confided in? Figure it out with her, Alex, but not like this. Not like this, brother."