Page 47 of Infected By Virus

RAE

Harmon was the best. She’d sprang into action the second Rae arrived back at her place that morning.

It was already evening, and they were still at it. They were devising a plan to woo her man that Harmon had dubbed, How to Catch a Virus. Not the best name ever, but the name didn’t matter as much as the advice and support.

Oh, and the whiteboard.

Yep, bitch brought out a whiteboard with color coded dry-erase markers.

Rae provided Virus’s likes and dislikes as she knew them anyway, and Harmon was coming up with the plan. They needed a male perspective, so they’d called Barker what felt like ages ago.

Rae got up and grabbed them another beer each. “Where the hell is Barker with the takeout? I’m starving.”

“Who the hell knows? He sounded a little off when I called him earlier.”

“He’s been a little off for a while now, or at least with me.” It was the first time Rae had voiced a concern over Barker’s behavior. She’d really overlooked a lot since they’d tried and failed to date each other. She felt responsible for the awkwardness between them and so she shrugged off his comments and opinions.

However, he had taken it to a whole new level since she’d come back to Provo. He was absolutely amazing with Adam, and Adam adored him. Chances were, Rae would’ve let their friendship slowly die if it hadn’t been for Adam.

She also felt she owed him a bit of loyalty. He was a steady friend during her most unsteady of times, but they needed to have a talk.

Rae was done with forcing a fit where one didn’t exist. She’d have a calm and rational talk with him about boundaries and respect, especially where Virus was concerned. She understood he was protective because he witnessed her heartbreak last time up close, however it was happening and if he wanted to remain her friend, he had to accept Virus, too. At least he’d apologized for earlier, so when the talk came, she believed he’d handle it okay.

In her mind, he’d be happy for them both as soon as he realized that Virus wasn’t the same person he knew back then. Hell, none of them were.

“Yeah, so how about this?”

The dry-erase marker squeaked against the surface of the whiteboard.

Above step one of the How to Catch a Virus plan, she wrote …

STEP 0.5–Friendtervention. Hug it out, eat pizza, drink beer. Repeat as needed then proceed to step 1.

“Perfect.”

When Barker barged in the door, they were both still hopeful it would work out perfectly. One look at his face, and that hope died.

“Oh my god, Barker. What happened? Are you okay?” She jumped up and asked as he practically threw the bags of takeout across the table.

“Did you fuck him, Rae? Tell me you didn’t fuck him.”

“Whoa. Slow down.”

He was seething. The anger rolling off him was palpable. In all the years they’d known each other, she had never seen him like that. Hell, she would’ve sworn he never got mad-mad, but this was beyond that. He was livid. Then his words hit her.

“Why are … where did … that’s none of your business.” She crossed her arms. Why would she even need to explain herself to him?

It was clear from this display of volatility that their friendship was coming to an end. And she’d be damned if she’d allow what she was witnessing around Adam.

She watched as the anger was overtaken by a stricken look. “Oh god, you did. You let him put his filthy hands on you.” He raked his hand through his hair and started pacing and mumbling to himself. She felt Harmon at her back. She did not recognize the man before her.

“You barely let me kiss you, like you were too good for me, but you let that Bastard stick his dick in you.”

She reared back as if she’d been struck. This was not the Barker who fed her ice cream and listened to her cry. Who held her hair back when she went way too hard at the bar, or the honorary uncle who was so gentle and sweet with Adam. No, that was not the same person at all.

Harmon grabbed her hand from behind and whispered. “Rae, he is scaring the shit out of me. I’m gonna call 9-1-1.”

Rae agreed but looked back at the counter next to where he paced … to where both their phones sat.

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