Vérité (11 page)

I shook my head. “I don’t need any more gossip about me here, so no. I’m okay.”

“You need a doctor or shit like that?” Jamel was firing off questions while Trey pounded on his phone.

“No.” I looked down at my hands twisting in my lap. “Just a shower and my bed.”

Trey finally spoke up. “Not gonna go there tonight.”

“What the fuck, man?” Jamel protested.

“Just texted with Ty, he says she stays with us. That asshole could come back, she needs to be protected.”

“Goddamn it, that fucker. Thank fuck he can ball,” Jamel said, slamming the dash with his hand.

“Really, I don’t need to,” I croaked out, shaking my head.

Trey threw the car into drive and off we went. Pulling into the steep lane down to the townhouses, we stopped in front of a unit past Ty’s, parked, and Trey swung my door open. Gently grabbing my arm, he guided me to the house.

“This is Mel’s place. He’s gonna keep an eye on you, okay? Ty’s gonna catch a bus back tomorrow and be here as soon as he can.” He squeezed my arm and ran back to the car, leaving me with Jamel.

It was going to be a long night.

Jamel opened the door and said, “After you.”

I walked in, taking in the testosterone-fueled chaos inside. Multiple TVs and gaming systems lined the far wall, and the huge couch opposite was every teenage boy’s wet dream. There was a Gatorade machine in the kitchen and a giant heap of basketball shoes by the door. High school and prep school jerseys were tacked to the walls, apparently meant to be decor.

“Thanks, but this isn’t necessary,” I said to Jamel, breaking the awkward silence.

He shrugged. “It’s what we do, the team, I mean. Even if I don’t agree that you’re the lady for Ty, we take care of each other. You wanna shower?” he asked, his usual laser focus directed at me.

Uncomfortable at his suggestion, I glanced around me, unable to get out much more than an unintelligible mumble.

“It’s fine,” he assured me with a frown. “I’m not gonna look or hurt you. Got a girl and a sister back home, got my hookups here. I’m cool.” He walked toward a closet, rubbing his hand across his smooth head, and pulled out a large navy towel.

“Here.” He beckoned for me to follow. After leading me toward the bathroom, he opened the door and said, “I’m gonna be out there playing games, so you do what ya need to do.”

I nodded and locked the door behind me. After turning the water to its hottest setting, I slowly undressed, all my energy suddenly gone. The adrenaline had worn off, and I was nothing but a loose sack of bones. With my clothes in a pile on the counter, I stepped into the shower and let the scalding water burn my skin, hoping it washed away the pain and stink of the night. Salty tears mixed with the water and the AXE body wash I kept squeezing onto my arms and legs.

Leaning back into the water, I closed my eyes as I washed my hair, trying to determine if I’d led Logan on at all. Did I do anything?

No
. The answer was no. I didn’t do a thing to make him think I liked him.

He should get into trouble, but being beat half to death would have to do because if I went to the authorities, my name would be dragged through the mud again. Even Jamel thought I was a stupid skank. He’d said as much during our first meeting, and his reactions summed it up this round.

Toweling off, I couldn’t stop thinking what Tiberius would think. Would he think I encouraged Logan? Shaking my head, I didn’t allow myself to go there. I would get through this like I’d survived everything else.

As soon as the door clicked open and I walked out of the bathroom, Jamel yelled from the main room, “Go to sleep, Tingly. Take my room. I left a T-shirt in there.”

His tone brooked no argument, and I didn’t want another confrontation. So I did what he said and crawled into Jamel’s bed wearing his T-shirt, but thinking of someone else.

“T
ingly. Tingly, you up?”

I felt my shoulder being shaken and heard my name on repeat, and then I felt the mattress next to me sink a little. Jumping up with alarm, I hit my head on the headboard.

“Ouch!”

“Oh shit, Rex. You okay?”

I rubbed my eyes and squinted at the blurry form in front of me. “Tiberius? What time is it?” It came out scratchy, my throat still raw from the night before.

Without taking my eyes off the shadow in front of me, I felt around on the nightstand for my phone. When I pressed the
HOME
button, the screen illuminated, reading ten o’clock in the morning.

Panicked, I grabbed my forehead. “Practice! I slept through practice.”

“It’s Saturday,” he said and reached toward me, hesitating with each inch. Finally, his fingers landed in the loose strands of my hair and smoothed them away from my face.

I took a long inhale before mentally putting the facts together. I was in Jamel’s bed after Logan attacked me. It was Saturday because I went out with my teammates the night before. And Tiberius had been in New Jersey, but now he was here. Massaging my temple with his large calloused hand.

Squinting at him, I asked, “How are you here?”

“I came back when I heard.” His hand stilled, but didn’t move from my hair.

“But how? Why?”

He inched closer. “Is this okay?”

“Yeah.” It was just a whisper, but I wasn’t afraid of him. Not Tiberius.

“How?” he repeated. “By bus all night. Why? I can’t answer that. Just because I’m a good guy. I like you. You got hurt. All of the above.”

“I’m fine,” I stated matter-of-factly, but then a single tear betrayed me. It slid down my cheek before dropping onto Jamel’s black T-shirt.

“I know you’re okay,” he said softly. “You’re tough, I get that. But, shit, if the boys hadn’t been keeping an eye on you, I don’t know what that ass woulda done.”

His blue eyes searched mine, and for a moment, I wondered what he saw inside my brown ones. Did he see fear? Glimpses of my past? Or maybe a glimmer of my future?

“Keeping an eye on me?”

“You’re my girl, friend or more, and that means the boys keep an eye out. Though I suspect this time, they were hoping you fucked up. But doesn’t matter because when you needed them, they were there.”

He slid even closer, his hip flush with my side. Oddly, I didn’t mind.

“Well, the part about them hoping I fucked up, that I believe. Your friend Trey is real nice, but Jamel . . . God, he hates me.”

“Nah, he’s just bitter. Got a chip on his shoulder. Had nobody his whole life, so he can be an angry brother, but he’s got a sister so he knows right and wrong.”

It was then I realized the irony of my situation—the girl with the silver spoon in her mouth had been taken in by a group of men who essentially grew up with nothing. Yet they’d given me more than I’d ever been given at home. Even Jamel.

Tiberius leaned down and ran his lips over my cheek, caressing my skin, kissing away the shame of the night before, and I felt myself leaning my face into his mouth. I wanted more, but yet I didn’t.

“You scared me, Rex,” he whispered when he got to my ear.

“I’m good.” That and “I’m okay” seemed to be the only words I could form since last night. “Are you okay?” I asked, finally able to add something else to my repertoire. “I must have screwed everything up.”

“Nah, I was done with cleaning everything out. I was just hanging around the old hood, shooting the breeze, talking ’bout my mom.”

Taking in his appearance, I noticed his T-shirt was wrinkled and he was wearing the same sweatpants as the day he left. He must have really rushed to get back.

“Thank you,” I said.

“Missed you.” When I opened my mouth to respond, Tiberius placed two fingers over my lips and muttered, “Shh, don’t ruin it. You don’t have to be the big, bad Tingly for me. I missed you, and that’s it. Don’t say it back. Don’t give some explanation. And don’t run away.”

I couldn’t respond. Even with bossy Pierre, I would assert myself and stand up to his dictatorship. That was how we got caught. He hadn’t wanted to fuck in the office, but I’d insisted, seduced him into it with my words and my tits.

But with Tiberius, I didn’t push. I asked politely, “Can I have my clothes? I need to go back home.”

“Yeah, I’ll take you to the dorm in Trey’s car and then bring you back to my place.” He placed a kiss on my forehead, and I was certain this was something his mother did to him countless times. I wanted him to do it again.

“I can just stay at my dorm. The girls will be in and out.”

“No. Not now. First, the boys and me gotta pay a visit to your friend, make sure he knows the rules.”

He stood and walked to the dresser, leaning his tall frame against it as he kicked his feet out in front of him. He ran his hand along his hair, tugging at it. The length had grown out a bit, and the ends were starting to curl.

I wanted to run my fingers over and through his hair, but I didn’t. Instead I crawled out of bed and stood up. The hem of Jamel’s T-shirt dropped down my legs, almost brushing my kneecaps.

“Don’t hurt him, okay? Jamel already got him good.”

“But not me,” he said, his eyes darkening. “Not me.”

“I don’t care. It’s over.”

“Listen—you, me, we just met, I know. But we’ve been circling ’round each other for weeks. Hot, cold, kissing, me walking you home, you running away. When my momma passed, you came running to me. That means something, a whole lot of something. And I’m telling you, you’re my business to protect, and that boy is gonna get a piece of me for hurting you.”

He gathered me in his arms and held me tight against his rock-hard chest. “Feel that, Rex? That’s my heart beating for you. You can push and shove and run and whatever other stupid shit you want, but I’m coming for you.”

I couldn’t move, frozen in place, breathing and feeling all that was Tiberius.

“Now, come on,” he ordered. “I hate that you’re standing there in Jamel’s T-shirt after sleeping in his room—before you ever wore mine to sleep or spent the night in my bed. Or we even had dinner.”

And just like that, Tiberius snatched my jeans from the night before and tossed them at me, and we were out the door.

I
couldn’t help but explore Tiberius’s condo while the guys were out “talking” with Logan. Nerves made me restless; there was no way in hell I could sit still while I waited.

I’d begged to take a run, but Tiberius and Jamel had looked at me as if I’d meet an early death if I tried to leave the premises, so I was held hostage by only the memory of their evil stare-down. With nothing better to do after they left, I explored the kitchen and wandered down the hallway, touching nothing, just looking, quietly investigating my captors through their belongings.

Turned out, Trey and Tiberius were roommates. I found this out before they left, when Ty borrowed Trey’s car to take me home.

“Nice of Trey to loan you the car,” I’d said as we pulled away from the townhouses.

“Yeah, he’s my roommate,” Tiberius had answered. When I furrowed my brow, mentally considering the coincidence of Trey rescuing me, Tiberius cleared it up for me. “That’s why Trey was watching you. Because he lives with me and I dig you, and that’s his job.”

“Why didn’t I just stay in your room last night then?” I asked.

“No way Trey was gonna stay under the same roof with you. He didn’t want to leave anything up for misinterpretation. No way he’d want it out there that he’d crossed a line with his roommate’s girl.”

Taking in his profile, I noticed crinkles forming beside Ty’s eyes and a smile turning up his lips. His eyes were on the road, but I couldn’t help but notice his amusement.

“What?” I said. “What’s so funny?”

“Well, no one would believe anything ’bout you and Mel. The whole team knows he’s not feeling you,” he’d said, putting it all out there.

So here I was. Although I knew it was wrong, curiosity killed the cat and all that, I peeked inside Trey’s room as I made my way around the condo. I wanted to know more about the guy who’d been watching me, but I didn’t want to cross any lines.

After rolling my eyes at the heap of green-and-white uniforms and practice jerseys in the center of the floor, I laughed at his mess. The bed was unmade, and an enormous pile of junk covered the dresser. The speaker was on and set to some hip-hop station on satellite radio.