Page 86 of Faithful

He doesn’t respond until later in the day. His message is loud and clear.

K: fuck

He didn’t do it on purpose. It’s just a freaky coincidence that out of all the times to lose his guard during the performance, he ended up doing it after he branded himself with something very recognizable.

I guess if one of us–and I sincerely hoped it would be him–could continue hiding out, the other would get the luxury of wearing short-sleeved T-shirts.

Now that’s out of the question.

Fuck, indeed.

I guess we didn’t think this through.

Apparently, what happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay there.

“Oh no!” Winona sighs at her desk, and when I look up, I see her staring at her phone with sad eyes.

“Everything okay?” I call out because it’s the polite thing to do when you spot your coworker in obvious distress.

“There’s a rumor going around online Kai Delisa has a girlfriend.”

I nearly choke. “What?”

“Pity.” She pouts dramatically. “He’s such a stud muffin. I was so hoping he’d wait–”

Val clears her throat.

Winona abruptly stops talking and drops her gaze to her desk, suddenly developing an interest in the plastic lid to her salad bowl.

“You were hoping?” I ask carefully, pulling on my sleeves just in case.

“Sorry, Dylan. We don’t have to talk about it,” Val says quickly.

I see now what’s going on. “About what? The fact that my sister and Kai Delisa were in a band together? Or the fact he and I are a meme?” There’s more. Way more. But they don’t need to hear the details.

“It’s none of our business, really.”

“No, it’s not,” I agree. “But you two probably talked about me behind my back anyway.”

“Only because we had to set some ground rules.” Val looks very uncomfortable now. Her voice softens. “We didn’t want to accidentally bring something up in front of you that would trigger you, Dylan.”

I mull over what she said and then return my gaze to Winona, who’s quiet and is actively avoiding looking my way. I’m a little pissed, and I’m not certain why exactly because, objectively speaking, it’s considerate that they discussed my past and agreed to tread lightly. With Kai being all over the news, I’m actually surprised that neither he nor Iodine ever came up in a conversation.

Yet here we are. One of my coworkers has a crush on my man and I don’t know if I should be jealous or just laugh it off. I choose the latter. My gut tells me that even if Winona shoves her pussy right into Kai’s face, he’ll still pick me.

He’ll always pick me.

It’s never even crossed my mind that there could be the possibility of someone else.

Before, yes.

Now, no.

Why do I think that? Why am I so sure?

Just a feeling. A bone-deep, brain-numbing feeling that has only intensified, has grown stronger ever since my last night in Vegas when I allowed him to own me the way he’d been allowing me to own him for some time now.

And that feeling–it has a name.

---