Toxic (Ruin, #2)(4)

Except this time — I had refused to burden her.
I looked at her now, several days after making that decision, and realized that had been our entire relationship. I give you my pain, you give me yours. And I was sick of it. I hated that she was part of it, and I hated that for the first time in four years I’d finally decided to grow a pair of balls and leave her the hell out of it — she didn’t deserve the darkness.
I, however, did.
“And cranky.” She plopped down onto the couch and messed up my hair with her hands. “You need to get out more.”
“Question.” I put the TV on mute and pushed her away. “Weren’t you telling me a few weeks ago that I was going either going to die alone or from too many STDs?”
Lisa’s blue eyes twinkled in amusement as she snatched the remote and turned the volume back up “Don’t be dramatic. I said you were going to die alone with STD’s.” She flipped her dark wavy hair over her shoulder and laughed.
“Right. Big difference, awesome encouragement. Cousin of the year.” I groaned and leaned back against the couch. I was just getting comfortable when a pillow hit me in the face.
Swearing a blue streak, I jumped to my feet.
Wes held out the pillow and tilted his head. “Rough morning? Where’d you go anyways?”
“Dude.” I croaked and just shook my head. Not him, not again. I was cracking.
The door to the dorm opened, revealing a tuckered out Kiersten. She was sweating like crazy, so I could only assume Wes made her workout with him after our morning study session. Swear, they did everything together, practically lived together since they’d gotten engaged. I didn’t mind — correction I didn’t mind that much, but the PDA was getting a little tiring. Case in point — today at the coffee shop I probably escaped right before he swallowed her whole.
“You look like someone just died,” Kiersten joked coming up alongside Wes and leaning against him.
Damn. Perfect-looking couple. They’d have beautiful kids. Wow, I’ve completely lost my shit. Was I really thinking about them procreating? And getting emotional about it? Oh look, there’s something in my eye. A freaking tear. Hell, I needed to get out.
“Hah.” My eyes narrowed. “Still too soon.”
“Damn, no death jokes?” Wes laughed and pulled a sweaty Kiersten into his arms, attacking her mouth with such force that I, Gabe Hyde, slut of the year, felt like blushing.
“Guys, not here by the food.” I pointed to the fruit on the table. “It’s weird.”
“Making out next to bananas?” Wes pulled away from Kiersten. “Really, man? Coming from you? Seriously, what’s wrong with you?”
The room fell silent. Great. Perfect. I shrugged and forced a smile. “Oh, you know, my demented cousin claims it’s a dry spell.”
“Right.” Wes snapped his fingers. “I almost forgot about that fun little piece of information.”
“For the last time!” I all but yelled. “It’s not a dry spell if it’s by choice!” I rarely yelled. Everyone stared at me like I’d just lost my shit. I was a lover not a fighter. The slutty flirt that slept with anything it could. The guy who could charm the pants off a federal judge. Yelling? Anger? Yeah… I bit my lower lip and scowled at the floor. Tick-tock, tick-tock. I really was losing it.
“Right.” Wes’s eyes narrowed. “Hey, uh, Gabe, I need help with something. Can you come with me to my room real quick?”
“Sure,” I said slowly, my eyes darting between him and Kiersten. She pretended to be totally oblivious to the tension between me and Wes.
“See ya, at dinner, Wes.” She kissed his cheek and skipped into her room slamming the door behind her.
“Use protection.” Lisa called after Wes and me once we reached the door.
“Hilarious!” I yelled above her laughter.
We walked in silence to Wes’s room. Why did I suddenly feel like I was about to get a dad lecture? I was sweating. What the hell!
The elevator was silent as it made its way to the sixth floor. You could hear a pin drop. I followed Wes down the hall and finally into his room.
Even though he’d gone through cancer treatments at the beginning of last year, they still allowed him to stay as Freshman RA, so at least I knew we wouldn’t have roommates barging in on us while he laid into me about raising my voice around girls.
Once we were inside, he shut the door, locked it, and threw one of his footballs at my face.
“Why?” I ducked. He threw another one. I barely caught it before it smashed into my nose. “What the hell, Wes!”
“Finally!” He all but shouted. “A reaction. You’re like a freaking zombie. What gives? And don’t lie. Kiersten said you were acting weird this morning too.”
I yawned, attempting to look bored, even though my palms were sweating something fierce. “Nothing, man, just school stuff.”
“School stuff?” Wes repeated. “You really wanna go with that excuse?”
“Drugs?” I offered.
He snorted. “Yeah, right.”
“Jackass.”
“Whore.”
“Wes—”
“What?” He took a seat by his desk and crossed his arms. “What’s going on?”
I didn’t spill my guts. I knew I owed him everything — hell, I felt like he practically saved my life when he almost died, he made me feel like living again. His strength was like gravity, pulling everyone within a fifty-mile radius into its center. You couldn’t help but want to be better when you were around him, and that was the problem.