Page 9 of Glorious Ruin
The blood drained from my face. Evan’s eyes closed as he brought his hand up to cover his own.This could not be fucking happening.These fuckers were actually telling Silas’s unstable ass this shit, in public.At least there were witnesses.
“Nah, the real question we’ve all had,” Darius chimed in, leaning around Evan. “Is how many women did you guys share back in the glory days? Because you can’t tell me they don’t still throw themselves at you both, trying to hit it at the same time.”
Silas sat there, completely stone-faced. He didn’t blink. Just stared at them both with a blank, unreadable expression that was somehow more terrifying than anger.
“Watch your fucking mouth,” I snapped. My voice boomed under the cabana as I sat forward, ready to lunge across the table.
“What the fuck is everyone’s thing with threesomes?” Silas mumbled under his breath. He shook his head and looked down at the sand. He sounded genuinely exhausted by the concept.
“Jesus Christ,” Evan whispered into his palm. “This cabana is going to explode.”
“Whoa! Chill, Cal. It’s a compliment.” Matt held his hands up defensively. “Man, your reputation with women used to be insane. What the fuck happened? You go monk-mode or something?”
“I’m seeing someone.”
The air under the cabana vanished. Evan froze, his hand halfway to his face. Silas’s head snapped up, his eyes going wide as he awaited the fallout. They both looked terrified, like I had pulled the pin on a live grenade.
Darius blinked, then grinned, and eventually rolled his eyes. “Well goddamn. She must be something special to lock down Deadlock. Is she here? Is that why you’re so uptight?”
“Who said I was fucking a woman?” I asked, my voice dangerously flat.
Silas choked on his own spit. He turned away, violently coughing into his fist. His face turned a deep, dark red as he tried to mask his shock. Meanwhile, Evan looked like his soul had just left his body.
The guys burst out laughing, assuming I was just playing up my character, being the sarcastic heel.
“Okay, funny guy.” Matt laughed, shaking his head. “Whatever you say.”
I didn’t laugh. I immediately stood up, grabbed my sunglasses, and pulled out my phone as I walked away.
Follow me.
His heavy footsteps echoed behind me right as the elevator doors opened to the lobby. Silas slid in, his chest heaving, with Evan slipping through a half-second later.
“I hate this island,” Evan announced to the elevator doors. “I hate Matt and Darius, and I hate you two for ever breaking up.” The ride to the fourteenth floor and the walk to my door, was spent in agonizing silence. Evan stopped behind us outside my room. “I’m going to find Lena,” he sighed, “Put up the Do Not Disturb sign, and do not destroy the drywall unless it’s done sexually.”
I swiped my key card. Silas followed, the heavy door clicking shut behind him. The second the lock engaged, he walked to the foot of the bed and stopped, dropping his face into his hands. His broad shoulders were tense, radiating with a dark, suffocating anxiety.
“A car?” Silas mumbled behind his hands. When they finally dropped, and he turned his gaze on me, his eyes looked shattered. “You slept with people on the fuckingroster?”
“No,” I said instantly, but my chest was tightening with a suffocating guilt. I closed the distance between us, desperate to stop the spiral before it started. “Not people, Si. Just her. Once. Years ago.”
Silas took a shaky breath, running his large hands frantically through his hair. He began to pace the small space between the bed and the TV.
“I’m not mad.” he said.
I didn’t entirely believe him. There was still a crack in his voice, an uncomfortability he couldn’t shake. “I’m really not, but she’s here. Working with us and in the locker rooms. It’s a walking reminder of this whole other life you lived because I… Did you… Did you date her?”
“No,” I said firmly. I held his gaze so he knew I wasn’t hiding a single thing. “No, we didn’t date. We were on the same house show loop, like, four years ago. I was in a really shitty headspace back then. We ended up being assigned a rental car together, and it just happened. She wanted us to date after that night, and I told her absolutely not. That’s why it went nowhere.”
Silas stopped pacing and wrapped his arms around his own waist. The retroactive jealousy was eating him alive, but beneath it was pure, unadulterated pain. “How come you didn’t tell me you slept with a coworker?”
“Honestly, I didn’t even know she still worked for the UWF. Not until she walked out today.”
Silas’s gaze drifted to the carpet. He was quiet for a long time before asking the question I knew had been torturing him since we reconnected. “Did you sleep around a lot, during those years? More than I know about?”
It felt as though my chest literally caved in. I couldn’t lie to him. Not about this. “Yeah, I think I did.”
Silas closed his eyes, a shaky exhale leaving his lips. “Just…” He paused, clearing his throat. There was a crack to his voice, one which led me to believe he was stuck in his head where each painful thought added onto the next. “Two.”
