Page 4 of Unravel Me

I walk forward, forcing her down the hall, until her back hits my front door.

Her expression holds all the betrayal of a master manipulator. “How can you throw away everything we had? I’ve given you so much time to get over this, Adam. Why can’t you get over this?”

Does anybody ever really get over coming home to his girlfriend screwing another guy in their bed, the engagement ring he’d planned to give her tucked in his underwear drawer?

I open the closet, finding her purse and shoes tucked neatly inside, like she’d already decided on staying. I shove them into her hands and look at the shirt she’s wearing. I don’t want to know how she got her hands on that. “Give me my fucking shirt, and leave.”

Her gaze darkens, and she tugs the shirt over her head, chucking it to my feet.

“Jesus Christ,” I mutter as she stands before me, stark naked.

“Might as well get a good look,” Courtney snaps, tearing a dress from her purse. She slips it over her head before stepping into panties. “It’ll be the last time you ever see this body.”

“Hopefully.”

She gasps, and her palm strikes my cheek.

I whip open the front door. “Get out.”

Bear barks his agreement at my side, making Courtney jump.

She steps onto the porch and opens her mouth, but before she can use it, I slam the door in her face.

Bear nudges my thigh with his wet nose. He smiles up at me, tongue hanging out his mouth, and I bark a laugh.

“I thought it was a nightmare too,” I tell him, scratching his ears and heading back to the kitchen. “How else does Voldemort show up here?”

Bear woofs, prancing ahead to devour his breakfast while I survey the disaster before me. The inside of my house isn’t too bad, but I cringe at the sight of my backyard. Floating unicorns litter my pool, and among them, two giant inflatable penises Carter and Emmett were sword fighting with at one point.Thank you very much, Cara, for bringing those. Red cups are scattered across the yard, a few haphazard bikinis, even though I don’t remember a single naked girl in my pool last night. In fact, Jaxon’s the only one who threatened to take off his bathing suit.

Cleaning is last on the list of things I want to do right now. I’m desperate for a Big Mac, or five, so I head upstairs to dress, forgoing the mess.

One of the bedroom doors opens, and Jaxon slips out, tugging a shirt over his head. He grins, shoving his fingers through his hair before hiding it beneath a ball cap. “Where’d you disappear to last night?”

“Huh? Disappear?”

“You dropped off the face of the earth, bud. Figured you went to bed. You don’t remember? Those keg stands really fucked you, huh?”

I rub my temple. “I haven’t done a keg stand since high school.”

“And yet you let Carter talk you into doing three of them.”

I let Carter talk me into a lot of things when I’ve been drinking, because he has a way of making most things sound like ingenious ideas. Last night excluded, obviously, because I’m still trying to figure out how and when Courtney got in here.

“Hey, did you happen to see a redhead here last night?” Jaxon only joined our team last year, so he never had the displeasure of meeting Courtney. He’s also the only other single guy in our group, so if anyone was around long enough last night to notice her, it’d be him.

“Redhead? Is this the devil you were referring to last night?”

“The—what?”

He shrugs. “Yeah, we were in the pool with some girls after Carter, Garrett, and Em left, and a new wave of people showed up. All of a sudden, your eyes got all huge and you said, ‘Holy fuck. The devil has risen.’ Then you jumped out of the pool, said, ‘I was never here,’ and ran away like your ass was on fire.”

Shit.Okay, so she was definitely here. I shudder at the thought, but at least I’m certain I’d never touch her again, no matter what she insinuated. But what about that blonde from earlier? The one who thanked me for the, um…fun. Was she talking about the party, or…?

“You didn’t, uh, see…I mean, I didn’t, uh…did I—” I clear my throat into my fist “—sleep with anyone last night?”

Jaxon’s brows dip before laughter explodes from his chest. “Dude, how would I know? I wasn’t sitting outside your door. I was busy.”

Right on time, pink nails land on his torso, slipping beneath his shirt. A little blonde peeks around his side, and Jaxon whispers, “Mornin’, baby,” before pressing his lips to hers.

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