Page 171 of Scrimmage

He mumbles something to himself as he slowly takes his shirt off. Koda gets caught somewhere in it, and I start giggling. Even with as stupid as he looks, he’s still hot. His muscles flex when he finally tears it off in a frenzy. Those green eyes have been replaced by the dark ones, but only for a moment.

“Are you happy?”

“Oh, I think you just cured my depression.”

“Glad I could be of service.” He climbs into his bed. “What are you drawing?”

I cast him a glance before quickly drawing a stick figure giving him the middle finger and showing it to him.

“Wow, I can’t believe you’re not in art school with Penny.” That actually makes me laugh. “So did you give up on redecorating?”

I’m fucking exhausted. All of the sleep I’ve been missing for the days he’s been gone is catching up to me. I toss my sketches and pencil to the end of the bed and pull the covers up over me. “I thought you said that you would help me tomorrow morning.”

He has one hand behind his head, leaning against the wooden headboard. “I said in the afternoon.”

“Then I guess I’ll just do it now.” A text banner crosses my phone, accompanied by three more, but I ignore them.

“Do you need to go to bed?” Koda asks softly.

“No.” I fight a yawn. I might be tired, but the fear of seeing Damien in my nightmares is too real to let myself go to sleep. I close my eyes, telling myself it’s only for a moment.

“Your eyes are closed.”

“Yeah, because they hurt.” I grumble. “Just talk about your hand ball thing or whatever.”

Koda starts to talk aimlessly. I think he knows I’m not paying attention.

“Are you making fucking coffee?”

“Yes. I have shit to do.”

“When was the last time you went to bed?”

I’m too embarrassed to answer.

“What are you? A fucking doctor?”

“Alright. Fine.” Koda starts furiously typing away on his phone. He’s concentrated on whatever it is. “Can I call you back in a little bit?”

“You called me. I don’t fucking care what you do.”

“Yeah, okay. I’ll talk to you in a little bit.”

When the phone call ends, I feel like I’ve been in a fever dream. Three days ago. That’s the last time I slept. It was the last time I spent the night with him. I throw some music on and start trying to clean the house. A full manic clean. My arms are heavy, and I keep shaking myself awake. While I’m in Penny’s studio organizing her paints for the third time, because half way through I forget whatever system I’m making up, my phone starts ringing.

I drag my feet to the kitchen. Sure enough, it’s Koda. It’s also past three in the morning. Only a few hours to go before the sun comes up, and I can let it burn my retinas awake.

“What?” I growl.

“Open the door.”

Surely, I heard him wrong. “Tell Cupid to leave the roses there to rot.”

“I don’t even know why I bothered calling. You don’t lock the fucking door,” he mutters.

I hear the front door open and the panic sits well below where it should. Heavy steps come down the hallway until I’m confronted by Koda in the flesh. I shouldn’t be surprised. He made it back to get me from the party where I was drugged, but I wasn’t coherent then.

I still have my phone in my hand. He drops a duffel bag on the floor and looks around. “You’ve been cleaning?”

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