He pretended to think over my reply. “Valid.”
I rolled my eyes and started following Bishop and Tate. “You.” Was all Nate had said, just as I passed him.
I turned back to face him, my hands on my hips. “What?”
He shrugged and leaned back in his chair. “She’s mad about what we did with Brantley, only she wasn’t sleeping with Brantley.”
“Wait, so she’s mad at me too?”
Nate shook his head. “No. She was mad because I got in between you and Bishop. She’s team Madship.”
My eye twitched. “Team, what, what?”
He snorted. “Go do your thang, girl.” I looked at Jase and Hunter, who were watching me carefully, then turned to make my way to Bishop’s car. Was she mad at me for hooking up with Nate? I didn’t even think of her feelings while I was doing what I was doing. Damn. I was such a bad friend.
“You alright?” Bishop asked, dropping to third and flooring it out of the driveway.
“Yeah, I think.” Truth was, I wasn’t sure. I knew that how I had acted in the past was shit, but for the first time ever, I’d made it impact Tatum too. She’s an innocent in all this.
We pulled into Tate’s driveway first and I slid my seat forward to let her out.
“I’ll be in in a sec!” I called out to her as she jogged up her front steps.
I turned to face Bishop. “I upset her, I think, with all that Nate stuff.”
Bishop’s eyes followed Tate. “Nah, I don’t think she’s mad at you. Him probably.”
“I won’t be a second.” I climbed out of the car and followed her up the steps. Closing the door behind myself, I headed straight for her bedroom which was on the first floor. She converted the media room to her bedroom because she hated the sunlight so much. My best friend was a vampire, but it worked for us. Netflix and chill dates were like business class luxury at Tate’s. Not that her parents would give a shit. They checked in on her once every three or so months but always kept the trust fund full. I wasn’t entirely sure what the crux of their issues was with Tate, but apparently, according to Tate, it had always been like this. There was a cleaner and a cook that lives here full time, sort of like my Sammy and Jimmy, but other than that, her parents never came home. To some, it may sound amazing. A twelve-bedroom mansion all to yourself with a bank balance that could match CEO executives. But to Tate, I knew she craved something more, it was why she always had so much to give. Which was why I was such a terrible friend.
I walked into her bedroom and giggled at the bed. “You actually converted the seats to a bed?”
She halted her packing and looked over her shoulder. “Why of course. Jump on it, it’s so comfortable.” I took a step closer and sunk into the bed. She was right. It felt like my ass was being caressed by a marshmallow. “Hey, I wanted to talk to you about something.”
She continued her packing, throwing in bikinis and short skirts. I was too focused on my apology to stop her. “You’re mad at Nate about what happened?”
She paused, then continued. Standing to her feet, she headed out the door and turned toward her bathroom. “Sort of!” she yelled out from the hallway before entering with her toothbrush in hand. “I mean, I’m not mad at him for hooking up with you because I’m jealous. I was mad because he knew what he was doing and knew his loyalty to Bishop, but continued to pursue you anyway.”
She zipped up her duffle bag. “Tate, it was me as much as him.”
She slung her bag over her shoulder and glared at me. “Oh, I know. And I’m still mad at you about that—hence the reason I wanted to come watch you get your ass beat today.” She chuckled, but when she noticed I wasn’t amused, her face fell. “Mads, you know I love you. I just didn’t entirely agree with your actions, but I’d never judge you.”
“It sort of feels like you’re judging me, Tate.”
She walked toward me and placed her hands on my shoulders. “I am not judging you. I love you and you’re my best friend, but I don’t agree with what you did—that’s all, and that’s going to happen, Mads.” I didn’t know why this shocked me, but I think it had to do with the fact that Tate was the easygoing friend. The free spirit and well… sexually active. Very active. Tillie was the free spirit, wild friend, but not over opinionated and snappy like Tate. More submissive and easygoing.
She repeated, “I’m not mad at you now. I’m over it.” Then her hands dropped to either side of herself. “I guess if you looked at it like that, I am sort of upset about Nate. God!” She exhaled and dropped back onto the bed, her hands covering her face. “I’m such a fucking idiot, Mads. I knew what I was getting myself into when I jumped into bed with him. I knew he was a slut, yet I did it anyway.” Her fingers spread apart and her eye peeked through. “This is the part where you tell me I’m not an idiot and that he is good at what he does and that my Bishop will come along one day.”
I snorted, and then pulled her up by her arm. “Bishop is complicated, and it would truly terrify me if there were more like him out there, have you forgotten all the shit.” When I saw her face not registering, I rolled my eyes. “Never mind. Get up!” I yanked her up to her feet and wrapped my arm around her waist as we headed back toward the front door.
“I love you too, Tate.”
She squeezed me. “Are you going to tell me what happened to Tillie?”
I smiled sadly. “I will when I know.”
We put Tate’s shit into the trunk then got back into our seats. Bishop gave us both a cautious stare. “You both good?”
“We’re good!” I said, gesturing to the front of us. “Let’s get my stuff quickly, go to your house, and then get food. I don’t feel like cooking, so maybe we should order some pizzas on the way back to the cabin.”
Bishop laughed. “You got this all figured out, huh?”
“Oh for fuck’s sake, lovebirds. As much as you’re making my heart weep with feelings, I’d really love to listen to music right now.”
Bishop hit the music and a soft song came on with a woman singing a catchy hook. “What’s this song?”
Tate answered for me. “‘Something I Don’t Know’ by Miraz.” She turned her head to look out the small back window, a sad look pulling across her face. I felt for her because her feelings for Nate were obvious, but I knew he wasn’t on the same page as her—and never would be, because he was lost and stuck on the first chapter of Tillie. Maybe if she wasn’t in the picture, he could draw one with Tatum, but she was in the picture, so it wasn’t looking good for Tate.
“Hey, when are you going to tell me about Tillie?” I asked Bishop, turning to face him a bit more.
His jaw clenched as his eyes flew to the rearview mirror briefly, checking on Tate. He took his attention back to the road and dropped down gears. “Soon.”
I guessed that was code for ‘don’t ask me right now,’ so I left it alone. We drove up my driveway. I sighed, hating that I was back here.
“I’m starting to really not like this place.”
“Want me to come in with you?” Bishop asked, his index finger running on his upper lip.
I nodded. “Okay.” Then I turned to face Tate. “Can we leave you unattended for a few minutes?”
She clutched her chest, mock shocked. “Oh, well, I’d never…”
Bishop and I both laughed, getting out of the car. The sweat from the fighting had long since dried over my skin, but the smell was still there.
“I really need a shower. I might have one quickly before we leave.”
Bishop pulled his sunglasses over his eyes, his arm hooking around my waist as he led me to the front door. “Suits me.”
“Oh, hi sweetie!” Elena was coming down the stairs when we entered. Her eyes went to Bishop and her smile softened even more. She rested her palm on his cheek. “Honey, you should have said something about Elizabeth.”
He shrugged. “It wouldn’t have made a difference.”