Page 14 of Strong Side
It was Casey.
Because I am having a complete moment of word vomit, I add, “Who I am having wild, crazy, raunchy sex with—and not just the missionary kind!”
“The fuck, Noelle? Who the fuck are you with? There’s no way. I don’t believe you. Who? Tell me.” His hands are on his hips, and his face is turning red.
I swallow and try to get control of my voice before I answer, “Casey.”
“King! Motherfucker. I told you he had a thing for you! Were you messing around with him the whole time we were together? That’s what all those sleepovers, dinners, and bullshit were then? You fucking around onme?” He moves his hands from hiships and pulls the baseball hat off his head and runs one hand through his hair, pulling it.
“You can’t be serious. You know I was always loyal to you. Don’t you dare try to turn this on me. You were the cheater, Trey. You! Now leave me the fuck alone!”
I start to walk away, but he grabs my arm again, this time squeezing hard, his fingers digging into my skin.
He pulls me closer despite my resistance. “Okay. Okay, baby. You go have your fun with King, but you’ll come running back to me. You always do. You’re nothing without me, and you know it.” Now he tries the tactic that used to work on me, making me believe I was worthless or stupid.
“That’s where you’re wrong. I’m more than enough without you and everything to him.” As I’m saying the words, I know I might be fabricating our relationship, but the words … they’re true.
Trey releases my arm and shoves me away from him. “Fine, okay. I get it. This is your payback. But I’ll be waiting. Because I meant what I said. You’re mine.”
“Hey, Noelle.”
I turn toward the deep voice saying my name to see Silas standing there.
“You good?” He looks at Trey, jaw clenched, fists tight.
“Oh, hey, Silas. I’m fine.” I start to walk toward him, but glance back at Trey. He’s wearing a sinister smile.
“Bye, Noelle. I’ll see you soon,” he says, then turns and walks away.
“Who is that guy?” Silas asks.
“My ex,” I say, shaking my head.
“The one who cheated?” He tilts his head back and shuts his eyes. “Shit. Sorry.”
I huff a laugh. “No, it’s okay. Yes, he’s the cheater.” We both start walking. “I’m good. If you have somewhere you need to be, you don’t have to hang around on my behalf.”
“I’m heading this way. I have an Econ class next. I’ll walk with you till I need to split off, if that’s cool.” He tilts his head, assessing me. “Besides, you know what fine stands for?”
“Uh, that I’m okay?” I shrug.
“Fucked up, insecure, neurotic, and emotional. So, tell me again, are youfine?” He studies me again.
“Yeah, of course.” A thought runs through my mind, and butterflies flutter in my belly. “So, um, how much of our conversation did you hear?” It’s not that I care if he heard it necessarily; I just want to be the one to talk to Casey about it first.
“What do you mean?” he asks, adjusting the strap of his backpack on his shoulder, looking slightly awkward, which tells me he must have heard something.
“Silas, you and I are probably going to be around each other a lot, so let’s just … get it out there. What did you hear?” I say as I mindlessly wave my hand in a circle. I tend to use my hands when I’m feeling nervous or insecure.
Silas stops walking and turns to look at me. “Look, I have no idea what’s going on, and it’s really none of my business. Whatever is happening with you and your ex … well, if he’s bothering you, you should tell someone. And I’m betting Casey would want to know about it—you know what I mean? As far as anything else I heard, that’s between you and Casey.” He gives me a sympathetic smile. “But word to the wise: you’d better tell him before he hears it from someone else. And for the record, that someone won’t be me. You seem like a nice girl, and if my roommates are tight with you, that means I will be too. Family, on and off the field, is important to me.”
I nod. “Oh, yeah. I will talk to him about it tonight. I haven’t said anything about Trey following me around yet though because I knew Casey would be upset about it and I was handling it my way. But, uh, thanks again for interrupting us. It was heading in a direction I didn’t want to go.” We start walking again. “You going to be at the house tonight for dinner?”
“Hell yeah. King said he’s making tacos. That’s one of my favorites.” He claps his hands together and smiles. “I need to head this way.” Silas leans his head to the right. “You good to get to your car?”
I place my hand on his forearm. “Yeah, I’m good. Thanks again, Silas. See you tonight.” My hand drops, and I give a slight wave goodbye.
He lifts his chin and walks away. As I start walking again, I can’t help but look around for Trey. After what was said today and the fact that he’s been obviously following me around, I know I should have made a break from him a long time ago, but I can’t go back and fix it. But I do need to get to Casey before Trey starts asking around about us.
