Page 104 of Begin Again Again

He rubbed his forehead. “I… she was over tonight.”

“And…?”

He shrugged.

“Fair enough.” Sal lifted their shot glass and together they drank.

The heat of it loosened something inside Byron. “I took Beth to Blackwood Pools a couple of weeks ago.” He took another drag on the joint. “You know, where we used to go with Dad?”

“Oh yeah? How is the old swimming hole?”

“Good.”

“And have you seen her since?”

“Yeah. Tonnes. Almost every night this week.”

“Then why are you so sad?”

Byron rubbed his heavy eyelids. “You’re full of shit. This stuff is lethal.”

“Brother!” Sal’s voice was hard. “What’s wrong with Beth? Do we have another Cuntess situation?”

He waved a hand that felt like it was made of brick. “No, of course not. It just isn’t gonna work.”

Sal doubled up, wheezing with laughter. “Classic.”

“What is?”

“You. You’re classic.” Sal took the joint back. “So, it’s not serious with you guys?”

Byron tried to focus on their face. “It’s not supposed to be serious, but… with some people… it’s always gonna be serious, you know?”

“Yeah. And you’re not ready?”

Byron held out his hand and Sal passed him the burning nub. He sucked in smoke. “It’s not that I’m not ready.”

“Sure. You’re just not ready.” Sal cackled at their own joke. “Classic.”

Byron knew they wouldn’t understand. He didn’t understand. It was easy with Beth. Effortless. He liked her and she liked him. The sex was great. She’d come over tonight with a pink vibrator in her bag and asked him to fuck her from behind. They’d done it fast and hard, his hands covering her hips, squeezing her thick ass. The vibrator made her pussy hum. If he closed his eyes, he could almost feel the surges rumbling up his cock, feel her pulling tight around him when she came. It had been perfect, then right as he was about to finish, his phone buzzed and the speakers—the fucking speakers—stopped playing Eves Karydas with a blip.

‘You have one new message from Baby. Baby said, “I miss you BT, hah. Cat heart eyes emoji”’

Beth had turned to look at him, her eyes burning. “You should really turn your alerts off.”

She’d moved slowly. Deliberately. Clicking off the vibrator, pulling herself off his cock. Byron just knelt there like an idiot. He had no idea what to say that wouldn’t make everything worse. She pulled her underwear on. Collected her bra from over by his computer and snapped it around her chest.

“I’m gonna go,” she said, and he’d nodded. The condom sagged on his cock as his erection wilted. Why didn’t he say anything? Even something stupid would have been better than watching her get dressed in silence. Then she turned and looked at him and he knew she was deciding whether or not to say it.

Don’t, he’d thought. But she did. “I know we’re not together and it’s none of my business, but since it keepscoming up—are you involved with your ex?”

Byron felt himself go cold. “We’re talking but we’re not together.”

“You just tell each other that you miss each other a lot?”

“That was her, not me. And she doesn’t usually say stuff like that.”

Beth’s eyes narrowed. “So, I’ll pass right over the ‘usually’ and ask what you wrote back to her after she told you she missed you in the car back at the pools?”

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