The Love I Need

Chapter 51

Justin keeps staring at me, and all I can do is stare back.

His eyes are bloodshot and his pupils are dilated which comes as no surprise. But the bags beneath his eyes, his unruly hair and his wrinkled clothing look so out of place on his body. I've never seen Justin not taking pride in his appearance. Vee wasn't kidding when she mentioned over the phone that he wasn't doing well.

When Cal first opened the door, Justin nearly bowled him over with a hug. Though clearly confused and surprised, Cal returned the hug and seemed genuinely happy to see his old best friend.

It was heartwarming to watch... until Justin noticed me on the couch.

His eyes immediately filled with tears. He started moving toward me, and I unintentionally tensed.

Theo sat up a little straighter next to me and then leaned forward almost as if he was ready to physically put his body between Justin and I.

Justin noticed and slowed his approach, and then he just stood there. His eyes remained fixed on my face.

"What are you doing here, Justin? How did you even know—" Cal began to question him.

"I tracked Lia's phone," Justin admitted. "I didn't think about it at first... especially when my calls and texts stopped going through. But after hearing that Vee was able to make contact the idea came to me. I was the one that set up her phone plan in the first place so getting access to her location wasn't that hard."

He kept his eyes on me while he spoke, other than for a brief moment when they flickered to Theo sitting next to me.

April stood up and crossed the room to where Cal was still hovering near the front door. "Why don't I put on some coffee?" she offered while gently stroking his arm, and Cal dumbly nodded his head.

And now here we are... Myself and the three men that I've fallen asleep next to, all in one living room in terrible, awkward silence while we wait for coffee that none of us are actually interested in.

Cal invited Justin to sit down in the recliner, I'm still sitting on the couch next to Theo, and Cal is on his feet by the TV, too restless to sit down himself.

"You really letting this woolly mammoth fuck our girl?"

Justin is the first one to break the silence, which I should have expected, and both Cal and Theo visibly tense up even more.

"What? They're not..." Cal drifts off while his eyes take in how close Theo is sitting next to me. We're no longer holding hands, but the outside of Theo's foot is pressed against the side of mine.

Cal's eyes study the way we're sitting before he looks up at our faces with an expression of realization.

I hold my breath while I wait for his reaction and wait for Theo to put some space between us.

But Theo doesn't move an inch. If anything, he presses his leg closer to mine so that it's no longer just our feet touching but our calves and knees too.

Cal's eyes narrow but then he turns back to look at Justin. "Our girl? My girl, Justin, my girl. But I bet it took you all of two minutes to try to fuck her once I was out of the picture, didn't it?"

I can feel the rage radiating off of Theo. He's sitting as still as a statue with his arms crossed in front of him. His jaw is tightly pressed together, and his hands are fiercely gripping his forearms as if he's afraid of what he'll say or do if he allows himself to move a muscle.

"You're the one who fucking left, Jonesy! You left her! You left both of us! Were we supposed to just sit around forever and wait for you? What did you think—"