Hard to Hate You // Michael Langdon

Part XVIII - Regrets

He smirks as I release his wrist.  "I'm sure you'll be back for more."

"I'm sure that I'll bash your pretty face in if you make one more suggestive comment."

He chuckles amusedly, but I ignore him and transmutate into my own room, immediately heading for the shower.  I smell overwhelmingly of Michael; anybody to come within 10 feet of me would know immediately what went down between us last night.

I sigh as I fling off my dress, it coming off easily due to my haste in putting it on.  I feel so... dirty.  I don't even wait for the water to heat up before getting in; the quicker I can wash myself the better.  

As I reach for the soap, I notice the bruises forming all over my wrists.  Fuck.  I block out all the memories threatening to come to mind as I scrub my wrists vigorously with my loofa.

Why the hell am I even doing this?  It's not like scrubbing the bruises is going to make them go away.  It's not going to change what I did last night.  It's not going to change the fact that I'm a goddamn idiot and should have never let that happen.

I look back down at the loofa and notice blood on it.  I drop it to the ground as I examine my wrists.  Great, I just scrubbed my left wrist raw.  I rinse my wrist off in the water, ignoring the stinging from the soap.

I slowly bring my head into my hands.  God, I really just fucked things up.

......

"Where the hell were you?" Coco asks as I walk into the sitting room. "You missed breakfast.  I was scared to death that Mead got to you."

"Don't worry, I'm fine," I assure her.

She skeptically looks me up and down.  "What's up with the dress today?"

"Nothing."  It's a long-sleeve turtleneck dress that I have never worn before, but nothing else covered up enough.

As I'm sitting down, her eyes widen.  She quickly leans towards me and lowers her voice.  "Is that a hickey?"

I realize that my turtleneck fell a little bit too far down my neck, so I pull it back up.  "Coco, leave it," I warn, knowing that she would never believe me if I tried to lie about it.

"Who?" she asks.  "Although, I think I already know the answer."

"Coco, I swear to fucking god, if you don't drop it right now-"

"I'll drop it.  But only if you tell me who.  Was it him?  I mean, the only other possible option would probably be Venable, but he's much more likely."

"I will tell Venable that I saw you fucking a male Gray and she'll be extremely pissed off since you did so without telling her first," I threaten.

"You wouldn't."  She doesn't look so convinced.

"Oh, but I would."

She huffs in protest.  "Fine."  After being silent for a few seconds, she turns to me.  "So let's say that you hypothetically were to have sex with someone here.  Who would it be?"

I send her an unamused glare.  "You," I state simply, my tone not making it clear that I'm joking.

She narrows her eyes.  "You aren't actually serious."

"Want to test me?" I mock.

She rolls her eyes.  "You wouldn't."

I chuckle.  "Maybe I'm feeling unpredictable today."