Page 23 of Tainted Essence
Not willing to let this conversation go, I press on. “How did you figure out who he was?”
She sits there studying me for a moment debating whether or not I’m worthy of this knowledge. “Why do you want to know?”
“Because me being glued to your side for the foreseeable future puts a target on my back as well. I need to know why he is coming after you now.”
“So, this is about you wanting to stay alive and not get to know me better?” I open my mouth but she waves me off. “It was a joke, Tay Tay, you and I aren’t going to become friends that braid each other's hair and paint our nails.”
I shudder. “No, just no.”
She laughs but it dies off quickly. “I want something in return for me telling you about Koda.”
My hackles raise. “What?” I force out through clenched teeth.
“I want to know why you always need consent.” Before I can say anything she presses on again. “Don’t deny it, we’ve fucked on every surface of this apartment and every single time you asked me to say I wanted it and I want to know who hurt you.”
I try to remain stoic and give nothing away but fail, her eyes soften slightly as she looks at me.
“Knowing the truth won’t change anything, my past doesn’t affect you,” I say in a firm voice.
“Maybe not but if I’m going to give you leverage against me then I need the same thing from you, it’s only fair.” I drop my container on the counter and scrub my hands down my face, only Knox, Wave and Xan know the truth about what happened. Reliving that moment in my past is something I avoid at all costs. Fear begins to snake its way up my spine, I push back from the counter and stand turning away from her as I try to gather myself. I try to think of something else to offer up in exchange and keep drawing a blank except for one thing, but I don’t know if I can trust her with that information either. With no other choice, I spin around to face her to find her staring at me with rapt interest.
“I can’t tell you.” This time when she opens her mouth I push on. “I’ll tell you something that no one else aside from five people know and if you ever breathe a word about it to anyone, I will slit your throat.” My threat seems to pique her interest.
She takes a minute to mull over my words before agreeing to my terms. “You go first.”
All the air leaves me in a rush, I’m going to hell for betraying my friends but I can’t let her into my past, I just fucking can’t.
“I’ve fucked Knox’s wife.” Her eyes widen to the size of dinner plates, her mouth opens but no words come out. “Seriously? You have a mouth that could start a war and always have something to say but hearing that I fucked Lake silences you?”
She snaps her mouth closed and narrows her eyes. “You’re a fucking pig!” She sneers.
“Girl with the big ass mouth say what now?”
“You are the worst kind of friend and that bitch is disgusting for cheating on her?—”
Anger surges inside me as I cut her off. “Don’t ever fucking speak about her like that!” I roar, she scowls at me.
“Don’t ever fucking raise your voice at me again asshole.”
“Don’t ever call Lake a bitch!”
“She is and so are you, how could you do that to your best friend?”
It dawns on me then. “Knox knows about me sleeping with Lake.” Shock splays across her face.
“And he let you live?”
I snort and shake my head. “Knox is always present when it happens, I would never have touched Lakeland like that behind his back.”
Curiosity spurs to life inside her eyes. “Do you still… fuck her?”
“Jealous?”
“Curious actually,” she counters.
“No. After Lake got pregnant we stopped.”
She studies me again and it’s making me uncomfortable at how she is reading me. “Oh my God!” she squeaks out.