Casey
I don’t know what the hell I’m doing here.
I like Nora a lot.
I mean, I really, really like her.
That’s why I chose to answer Heather’s text earlier—she said she wanted to talk about Oliver. She wants to come to some kind of agreement. I just want to put her whole dramatic self behind me so I can focus on Nora, someone who is normal and not full of hot air and lipstick.
So now here I am. Standing outside room 1409 at The Ritz-Carlton, waiting for Heather to open her door.
“Hey, sexy.” She peeks from behind the white steel door frame. Her black hair flows around her pale, almost translucent skin. “Come in, I’ve been waiting for you to get here.”
I scoff as I enter the suite. “That’s funny, I only got the text fifteen minutes ago and I wasn’t even sure I was going to show up.”
She slides her arms around me from behind; it makes me jump. “Oh, I knew you would show up. Do you want to have some fun?” She walks around my body, her dangerous eyes fixed on mine.
I shake my head. “I came here to tell you to leave me the hell alone.”
Heather rolls her eyes, but her fake eyelashes hardly move. “Leave you alone? But you promised to help me get Ollie back.” Her smile turns devilish. “Or did you want me to just tell him about our little affair way back when? I’m sure he would hate you for a very long time.”
“You guys had just met each other, you were hardly in love,” I growl at her. “You were drunk, I was drunk, and Ollie was drunk, okay? You guys were dating for like two weeks, give me a break. Why do you think he will even care? He can’t even stand to look at you after what you’ve done.”
“Do you think he will give you a break?” She laughs. “He will hate you and Julie will rip him into a whole new world of soccer mom minivans and school plays with little half-mutant children running around.”
I shrug her panicked voice off; I hardly feel sorry for her. “Then so be it. He actually deserves a better person like Julie to be with.” Heather’s eyes widen in anger. She almost tackles me to the ground. “And maybe he also deserves better friends that won’t betray him.”
“You don’t mean that.” She sounds worried. Her fit body stands in between me and the door. “He’s been your best friend since grade school. You two have been inseparable…trust me, I have tried to get rid of you.”
I shake my head. She has a point; I don’t want Oliver to hate me. If he finds out I had sex with Heather when they were together, he will definitely hate me. I hardly care about what happens to her, though. “I will tell him myself.” I watch annoyance grow on her face. “Yeah, I think I’ll just do that.”
Heather takes out her phone. “I’m going to do it right now.”
I snatch her phone and corner her against the wall. “He’s moving on with his life after you fucking destroyed it—don’t you think you owe it to him to just disappear?”
She gulps. “Disappear?”
I let go of her. “Not like that. I wouldn’t hurt you.”
Her body stops shaking as she fakes a laugh. “I know that.” She puts her long arms around my neck and tugs a little at my hair, making me excited.
“What are you doing, Heather?” I ask but I don’t push her off of me. Instead, I let her press her lips onto mine and slash her tongue around my mouth. I have to get her undressed enough to take her to the bedroom in the suite. It feels good to be wanted; Nora has been shafting me for a few days. I am just pissed off enough to not think about what I am doing, letting her grab at my body parts like a hungry animal.
In the suite that Oliver has paid for.
That doesn’t stop me as I let her unbuckle my pants. She pulls them down and off of me, and I step out of them and throw her onto the sofa in the small living space. Her eyes are like fire, she wants me so badly, and I’m not sure why the hell I want her. I let her slide a condom—that I swear is scented like banana—onto my hard flesh. I don’t know where she got it.
I’m halfway into her when my phone starts ringing and I ignore it. I fully push into her flesh and listen to her horrible moans. I try to drown them out but they just sound so much like a chicken being beheaded that I welcome the ringing phone for the third time.
“I got to get that,” I say, out of breath. I pull away from her and listen to her agitated scoffs. I jump up and sift through my pile of clothes for my phone. She is already behind me, plucking the phone from my hands and knocking me to the ground. She places her body on top of mine and continues what we started. Before I even know what’s happening, it’s over.
What the hell did I just do?
No, what the hell did I just do—again?
“You should probably get this.” She hands me the phone.
“Nora?” I clear my throat as Heather slaps my ass and licks her lips.
“Casey? Casey—I need help.” Her voice is weak. “I already called the cops; they are on their way over here.”
“Nora? What the hell happened?” I say loudly and Heather’s interest is piqued. She raises her eyebrows over the glass of red wine she had just poured herself. “Are you okay? Why are you calling the cops?” There is some commotion and I hear police sirens. Nora calls them over to her and then the phone goes silent. I turn to Heather and notice that she doesn’t even care. “Nora is in trouble—are you coming?”
She shakes her head. “Um, no. I have better things to do.”
“Are you serious?” I yell. “Look, what just happened, didn’t happen. Do you understand me?” She scoffs. I’m not playing with her right now, and I need her to know that. I run over to her and grab her arms, but this time she squeals with delight. Like I’m about to take her on the floor again. “Don’t play with me. I will tell Ollie about us, but right now you need to disappear. Don’t let me see your face around here for a long time.”
“O-okay, you’re hurting me.” Tears form in her eyes. I can see that I’ve succeeded in getting my point across enough.
“Good.” I throw on my clothes and run out of the room; my head spins from what just happened.
I really, really like Nora.
But I just had sex with her friend.
I had sex with Heather—again.
I broke the number one rule of the brother code: Any girl, past or present, is off limits.
Only idiots do that, idiots who don’t get the girl of their dreams because they mess it up. My phone rings again and I answer before looking at it. “Nora?”
“Casey, it’s me.” Her voice sounds so good to my ears. “I’m being taken to Rockford Memorial, okay? Can you meet me there?”
“Of course, I’m on my way,” I say before even thinking about it. “I’m not too far from there right now.”
She coughs and screams in pain. “Please, hurry. Ouch, that fucking hurts! Isn’t there anything else you can do besides kill me faster?”
“What happened, Nora?” I get into my car and start it, driving out of the hotel parking lot. I am holding back so much fear I think I’ll explode. “Did you get into an accident?”
I hear her scream in pain again. A few people talk around her; I assume they are paramedics trying to help her. “Brandon—he came to my house about an hour ago. I thought he just wanted to talk about Julie. He got angry when I wouldn’t tell him where she is. He pushed me down a flight of stairs…I think my leg is broken. Brandon is still looking for her; he ran out of my house and the cops can’t find him.”
“She’s with Oliver, she’s safe,” I tell her. “I’m going to find that bastard.”
Then the phone goes silent.
I race down the slick streets toward the hospital. I dial Oliver’s number with the phone in my lap, trying to weave around the other cars on the road. He doesn’t answer and I call over and over again—five or six times—before he finally picks up. “Where are you?” I am barely able to choke out the words.
“You know I’m at the lake, why?”
“You two need to come back to town. Now.” I can’t think of any other way to say it. I know it will create a panic and someone else could get hurt.
“Casey, I’m hanging up,” Oliver says and I try to catch my breath. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Casey!” Oliver yells.
“Brandon attacked Nora and she’s in the hospital. He’s looking for Julie,” I blurt out before I can stop myself. I can just see the look on Oliver’s face.
“When?” The fear in his voice trickles through the phone.
“I’m not sure how long ago it was—I just heard from her.” He hangs up the phone. No doubt grabbing Julie and getting her into the car at that moment.
As I pull up to the hospital emergency entrance, a text comes through on my phone from Heather. I ignore it.
I shouldn’t have done that.
I ask the front desk clerk nervously for Nora’s room number. “She came here with a broken leg.”
The older lady purses her lips. “Are you family?”
“Yes, he is,” I hear Heather say to the nurse and then saunter into the lobby area. “He is with me, Petunia. It’s okay, thank you.”
The nurse nods. She goes about her business as I glare at Heather. “How the hell did you get here so fast? I left before you did.”
She shrugs. “Valet car service at the hotel. I tip them well for extra speed. I just got done talking to my little friend about where her boyfriend was when she needed him the most. Of course, she’s up there waiting for you to come and explain yourself. How could you do this to poor little Nora?”
My world melts around me. “You didn’t.”
Heather clicks her tongue. “Oh, I did. So, she’s waiting for you. Good luck! I hope it all works out for you two!”
I race to find Nora in room 314, where they’ve managed to stabilize her enough with pain medication that she’s still a little coherent.
Until she sees my face.
“Is it true?” Her words slur a bit. “What Heather said?”
I lower my head. “It’s true. I don’t know what the hell is wrong with me. I’m so sorry, Nora. I never meant to hurt you, really—I never meant to hurt you, please, you have to believe me.”
I can see confusion in her eyes; it must be the medication. “I don’t understand how you could get this past me.”
“Me either. I can’t believe I slept with her. I’m so sorry, Nora. I like you, I really do—I actually might lo—”
“You slept with her? She just said that you had a surprise for me.” A bubble forms in my throat and I now I can’t breathe. “You slept with her?” she asks again, raising herself up in the bed. “This is just great. My best friend’s ex-boyfriend nearly kills me and you sleep with my crazy ass psycho former friend. What is this, a freaking reality show? You can leave now.”
“But, Nora—”
“Leave!” Her scream echoes off the walls. A young blonde nurse comes into the room, giving me dirty looks. I back out of the open door and turn away from her.
Heather is going to pay for this.