Page 83 of Reckless

I just nodded and walked towards the door. I opened it and Hannah hid herself behind it. Only her head was showing as I was standing in the hallway.

“Why did you tell me?”

Because I lie to you about a lot of things, and that’s the only one I can truly be honest about.

I gave Hannah the bullshit answer.

“You’re my fuck buddy now. I wanted to give you ammo against Madison.”

“Oh, that’s so sweet,” she smiled, then immediately slammed the door in my face. I left her building grinning like a fool.

That night I left the bar earlier than I ever had before, went home, collapsed in my bed, and fell asleep within seconds.

On Monday I woke up at ten. It was relatively early, at least according to my usual schedule of crawling out of bed at noon. I took my phone to send Madison a text, but I texted Hannah instead.

Tyler: How did you sleep last night?

I didn’t think much of it before I sent it, but now that I looked at it, I wanted to punch my own face. I reminded myself there was only one question I should be asking her.

Do you want to ride my dick or my tongue?

But it was already too late for that.

By the time I returned from the shower, I had already received an answer.

Hannah: Like a thoroughly fucked single lady.

Hannah: aka completely satisfied and with the bed all to myself.

At least one of us was smart enough to stir the conversation where it was supposed to go. Strictly in the friends with benefits zone.

Was she really my friend? I hadn’t had one of those in ages. Except for Chloe. But then again she knew the whole story of my pathetic existence. I couldn’t be a friend to anyone else. Not in the real meaning of the word. Not when I could never be honest and open about my life.

I looked at Hannah’s texts and I wanted to ask her all sorts of questions.

Did she think of me as a friend now? Was I just a mistake she carelessly repeated over and over again even since she set foot in my room for the first time all those years ago? How the fuck did she manage to even look at me without wanting to poke my eyes out?

And the most nagging of all…

When could I see her again?

All of those didn’t seem appropriate for our type of arrangement and even though I proclaimed quite a lot that I wasn’t following any rules, I wasn’t willing to break that particular one.

I had no idea how to turn my thoughts off, so I just ignored her answer. That much I could do.

Then I dialed Madison.

“Give me the name and the phone number of the hotel owner.” Madison agreed without any questions or resistance. “I didn’t know you were that desperate.” I couldn’t stop myself from teasing her.

“Gloat if you want to. I don’t care. Just do something.”

“I don’t want to gloat,” I drawled and waited, suggesting I wanted something after all.

“Spill it, Tyler.”

“I want you to tell Sylvia you didn’t book the hotel and you lied to everyone.”

To be honest I didn’t really care about it. I just wanted to rile Madison up.

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