Rock Bottom (Tristan & Danika #2)(5)

“She is beyond hot, I’ll give you that. If you’re gonna let a bitch pu**y whip you, she ain’t a bad choice.”

I sent Dean an unfriendly look. He and I had not been seeing eye to eye lately. “Knock it the f**k off, unless you’ll enjoy it when I kick your ass.”

He just smiled his crazy smile. When we were kids, I’d loved that smile. It had always meant fun, likely trouble, but still fun, but something had changed about him over the years. I couldn’t put my finger on when it had happened, but he just wasn’t the same guy he’d been.

I cut him an ounce of slack, because losing Jared hadn’t only broken me. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the change in him had happened long before Jared’s death.

“I’m just talking, Tryst. Just words, my man. Anyway, all of that pu**y whipping that’s got you so salty will be worth it when you kick her to the curb and I get a revenge f**k out of her, Nat style.”

I had his shirt in my hands, my temper going through the charts with a few sentences out of his ass**le mouth.

“What the f**k is that supposed to mean?” I asked him through my teeth. “And what the f**k does Nat have to do with anything?”

“She f**ked me, not a week after you broke it off. Let me do all kinds of messed up shit to her, just to get back at you. Joke was on her. You never found out until now, when you couldn’t give two f**ks about who taps that.”

“What the f**k is wrong with you?” I was shaking with rage.

“Oh, my bad. You still give a shit who gets inside of Nat? Good to know, man.”

I shook him like a rag doll. I could feel how everyone had frozen around us, so my voice was quiet when I spoke. “Girlfriends, ex or not, are off-limits, and you f**king know it. It doesn’t matter what goes down, if you ever lay a finger on Danika, I will cut your dick off and f**king feed it to you. Do you understand? I don’t care if it’s ten years from now. You touch her, you’re dead.” I let him go, my fists clenching. I had to get away from him before I lost my mind and someone called the cops.

Dean was still grinning like the crazy bastard he was. “I got your message loud and clear. Good to see that anger management is working for you. I’ll leave you alone so you can practice your zen and shit.”

He walked away, whistling like nothing had happened.

“Crazy f**ker,” I muttered to his back. He’d been blatantly baiting me, and still, it had worked. The idea of another man so much as shaking Danika’s hand made me lose my shit, and the idea of Dean, f**king dirtball Dean, having her, made me feel murderous.

“Tristan,” a breathless, all too familiar voice called my name softly, gripping my elbow.

I turned, giving Natalie an annoyed eyebrow lift in question. The woman was becoming a real nuisance. We’d gone years without so much as bumping into each other, but now that the old man had dumped her, she was everywhere I turned. I didn’t think for a second that it was an accident, and I was beginning to think back on the years of no contact with genuine affection. It was becoming apparent that even though we’d grown up together, we weren’t going to be able to be friends. She was never going to let go of the idea of us getting back together, and there was a no percent chance of that ever happening again.

“What do you want?” I asked her, ill-tempered and making no attempts to hide it.

She smiled, unfazed. She was a sly one, and for years I’d mistaken that slyness for intelligence. It wasn’t that. Over time, I’d realized that she was nothing but a dumb bitch. “I had some things I wanted to talk to you about. Can we go somewhere private?”

That was so crazy it was almost amusing. “Fuck no we can’t. My girlfriend hates your guts, on account of you being a f**king bitch to her, and the last thing I’m going to do is piss her off again because of you. If you have something to say to me, you can say it right here. And make it quick.”

She touched my arm, smiling up at me. All I could think was that she wasn’t worth talking to for five seconds if it got Danika mad at me.

“Oh, Tryst, remember how it used to be?” Her tone was dreamy. I felt suffocated by it. “Remember the chemistry? We were so hot for each other. I’ve never felt anything like it, not before or since.”

I couldn’t help it, I laughed. It was not a happy laugh. I was too sick of her walks down memory lane to indulge her. Just over it. “That’s not how I remember it. I remember how you withheld sex to get your way. And the chemistry was nothing special. Frankly, I get better every night now. World’s better. No comparison.”

She gasped in outrage, but I wasn’t done.

“I hope someday you find someone you really care about, Nat, someone you really love. Then you’ll realize that what you and I had was nothing but dumb puppy love.”

DANIKA

I abruptly stopped dancing as Tristan yelled something at Dean and grabbed his shirtfront.

Not again, I thought, cringing. Those two were at each other’s throats every time I turned around. Two men had never seemed less suited to be roommates, but roommates they were. I wasn’t sure how long that could last, but I’d be more relieved than anyone when they parted ways.

“What the ever-loving f**k did Dean do now?” Frankie muttered behind me, tugging on my arm.

“I should go try to break it up,” I said, the very idea just making me feel exhausted.