Page 27 of Leather & Lace

“There you are. How are you feeling, babe?” she asks nervously. Dane has a hard time meeting my eyes. I walk past and grab some clothes out of my drawer. Gray sweatpants and a white sweater.

“I’m fine,” I say as I walk back into the bathroom to throw on my outfit. I can hear Jenny and Dane whispering outside the door. Pulling the door open, they both stop talking and glance over to me.

“You know, you don’t have to whisper. It’s a really small room. I can hear everything.” Jenny looks at me, mouthing an apology.

“I think I am gonna head out, let you ladies have some time to yourselves,” Dane says, as he gets up to leave. Jenny nods at him and gives him a quick kiss. Before he opens the door, he turns to me. “I am really sorry, Brook. Last night was uncalled for. Eli just...”

I stop him before he can continue. The sound of Eli’s name coming off his lips makes me want to crawl up into a ball and just break. “It’s fine, Dane. Not your fault.” He takes a deep breath and then nods, opening the door and then leaving without another word.

Jenny gets up off her bed and heads over to me. She has a bottle of wine in her right hand. “I figured this might help a little. It’s your favorite…” Giving me a faint smile, I tilt my head at her and nod.

“Now, that will definitely help.” I give her a half smile as we both plop down on my bed. She opens the bottle and takes a pull from it.

“We don’t need any glasses for this, babe.” I laugh as she hands the bottle to me. I take a long swig and enjoy the warmness it creates inside my stomach. We drank the entire bottle, and then a second.

I was definitely drunk. Scary movies played on the TV as we ate pizza and cuddled up together. I laughed at all the dumb girls who just had to go see what the scary noise was down the dark hallways.

Then when the killer would emerge, I would yell, “Oh no, it's Eli! Run away!” Our laughter filled the room, causing students to bang on the walls to quiet us.

This felt nice. Just time with my best friend. It helped with the sting of my reality. Around two AM, I noticed Jenny was fast asleep next to me. I climbed out of her bed and grabbed my phone on the nightstand that was charging.

I scrolled through the photos I had secretly taken of Eli sleeping just a few nights ago. He looks so peaceful. My eyes start to swell over at the sight of him. I scroll to my texts and find his number.

I know I shouldn’t, but I messaged him anyway. My drunken stupor has me fixated on making sure he knows exactly how I feel.

Brooklyn: Just so you kno I hateee you, assface man. You weree not evn goo d in bed either. So, HA on you! My pussy goes to Chase now fuckerrr. You have a babydik too eli. Not good. BYe boy!

I send a bunch of random emojis at the end, smile and laugh then hit send. “That’ll te..ach him,” I mumble through my drunken, slurred speech. My head hits my pillow as I knock out.

Waking up the next morning, I had a pounding headache. My eyes are crusted over from the tears I shed as my stomach turns. I sat up slowly and grabbed my phone. Opening it up, I see the text message that was still on the screen. My eyes go wide in fear as I read what I wrote.

“Oh, my good fucking god!” I yell, causing Jenny to jump up and out of bed.

“What!” Her eyes are wide and alert, hair plastered to her drool-ridden face. I give her a worried look and then hold out my phone to her. She rushes over to me, taking my phone and reading the text.

A burst of laughter escapes her throat. “Oh, babe! Nooooo! Not drunk texting!” She continues to howl. The worst part of this is...it says ‘read’. He read it and didn’t reply. Which honestly pisses me off a bit, but I was so focused on being riddled in embarrassment that I could die, than to be upset at the non-reply. Jenny just continues to laugh through my pain.

“He fucking read it and didn’t reply,” I growl as she hands me my phone back.

“You know, that’s probably for the best, babe. I am sure by your words; he could tell you were super gone.” She giggles and heads towards the bathroom.

Throwing my face into my pillow, I let out a loud scream. Well, if he didn’t hate me before, he definitely hates me now.

CHAPTER 15

DANE

I headed back to the mansion after the awkward encounter with Brook. I knew I would see her. I just thought it wouldn’t have been that bad. Yeah, I could hardly even look at her. The embarrassment from the night before, wracking through my mind. I figured I would give her and Jenny the night.

Have some girl time. Once I got back, Eli was gone. I am guessing he probably went to the nursery to work and get his mind straight. Whenever he has a big episode, he unwinds by working. Picking the new buds and checking on the production of the cannabis.

I sent a few messages to Jenny, which have gone unread. I am sure those girls are getting up to no good. I am still exhausted from the night before. But I decided to get some company emails done on my laptop and check on the social media pages.I havenot said one word to Eli about any of it and damn him if he thinks I will be the first one to talk.

His episodes have been getting worse lately. I am not sure why. But that’s not my business. He is a grown man. If he won’t seek out help for his own mental health, I will not be the one shouldering it all. I headed upstairs to my room to get some much-needed rest.

Laying on my bed, I passed out immediately. Slept through the night. I must have gotten at least twelve hours of sleep. I awoke to Eli knocking on my door. I stir awake, roll off my bed and open it.

“Hey, man,” he says, holding some Chinese takeout in his hands. “A peace offering.” He gives me a slight smile. I open my door more and motion him to come in. Once we were both sitting on the bed and shoving the warm salty food in our mouth, I let out a low groan.

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