Page 5 of Wrapped in Red

I felt like it, too. “Uh, just some guy.”Lie.

“Some guy? Some guy, Ez? I haven’t seen you in months, not since New Year’s when you kissed me, then left me alone at that club. Tonight, you show up at my parents’ house, looking like you have one foot in the grave, but when I ask you who did this, you say ‘some guy’! You are unbelievable.” He threw his hands in the air.

My chin trembled, and I dropped my head. “I didn’t know where else to go.”

I had promised myself I wouldn’t cry, yet I could feel the tears as they stung my eyes. I was so ashamed of myself and how I stayed with he-who-shall-not-be-named for as long as I did. If I told CC, he would hate me even more than he already did.

“Was it someone from town?” His voice was softer.

I shook my head. “No, I’d never met him before.”Why were these lies so easily coming out of my mouth right now?“I’m sorry.”

“For what? You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I shouldn’t have come here. To your parents.”

CC let out a long sigh. “You’re always welcome here. I was just—Fuck, Ez.” When I looked up, he scrubbed a hand down his face. He moved to squat down in front of me. “Did he hurt you anywhere else?”

“Anywhere...oh, no. Nothing like that,” I assured him. I noticed how worried CC’s dark eyes looked. “I promise you, if he tried to assault me like that, I would have ripped off his dick before I fed it to him.” Although he’d tried plenty of times in the past and almost gotten away with it. Not this time, though.

CC’s lips twitched up. “How can you joke about it?”

“I broke a couple of nails.” I held up my hand.

“Well, that makes me feel so much better.” CC rolled his eyes before he stood up and engulfed me in a hug that caused me to yelp in pain. He jumped back. “What else did he do to you?” He yanked the zipper down on my coat.

I folded my arms over my chest. “Stop it.”

“Ezra, either you show me yourself, or I do it for you.” CC narrowed his eyes at me. We played this game once before in high school when a kid on the football team had picked on me. I lost then, too.

I rolled my eyes and climbed to my feet to remove my coat so I could place it on the bed. Then I pulled my shirt up over my head. “Happy?”

“Jesus fucking Christ!” he exclaimed.

I knew it looked bad. The black and blue marks covered my chest, ribs, and belly. They were more bark than bite.

I let go of the shirt so it could drop back around my waist. “Yeah, well, I was stupid.” Not the word I would use, but we’ll go with that. My throat tightened. “Can we not do this now?”

“When would you prefer we do it? I haven’t seen or heard from you in months, boo.” He didn’t sound mad, just hurt.

I stared at my best friend. The man I used to talk and text every day until we crossed lines I couldn’t come back from. “CC—”

“Was it that bad, Ezra?” He cut me off. “Am I a bad kisser? Was getting me off that terrible, or did you not like the way I touched you? Because I’ll tell you, the way you kissed me...yeah, I think about it every single day. It was the best one I’ve ever had. I thought you needed a little time, which turned into nearly a year. I haven’t been with a lot of men, boo, but no one has ever said I was bad at it.”

I had done this to him. I had made my best friend think he was less than adequate when he was perfect on so many levels.

“No, CC, you were perfect.”

“You’re here now.” CC sat down on the bed. “Can we go back to being best friends?”

Something warm spreads throughout my body. “You don’t hate me for what happened that night? I mean, that’s why I left. I figured our friendship was over and you could find someone else to be besties with.”

“Are you insane? You’re the only bestie for me.” He knocked my shoulder, causing me to grimace. “Shit, sorry! Christ, can you get me a name, so I can go pay this guy a visit? I’ll just bring along a baseball bat. Better yet”—CC grinned— “I can show up with Rand Shepard and Killian Hampton behind me. Those two alone would scare the crap out of anyone.”

I laughed, causing pain to rip through my body. “I missed you, CC, and I’m sorry. For everything. For leaving you that night, kissing you, jerking you off, wait... The best kiss you ever had?” I just realized what he had said.

“I shouldn’t have said that.” CC blushed.

I grinned. “You said I was the best. You love me,” I teased ala Sandra Bullock inMiss Congeniality.