Frisson

14 | secrets, secrets

I've kept half of my promises. Drug addiction came naturally with the sex but stayed behind when I was recovering. I don't crave it like I do the other. Every day, I wonder if my casual sex life is contributing to my old lifestyle. How can someone truly recover from an addiction they enjoy almost every day? It's been a while since I've seen my therapist. Maybe it's time for a visit.

Victoria arrives at Chace's house in record time. Before I know it, she's at the front door and I'm scrambling after her with the key.

She barges in in all her glory, dark eyes searching for a man whom I hope she never finds. If it comes out that I've slept with him, she'll drag me back to our apartment and lock me in my bedroom. (It wouldn't be the first time.) According to my story, I waited for Rosita all night then came straight home. I memorized that narrative so much that I believed it. My time with Tyler had disappeared, even when I went back hoping to run into him again. A wild night filled with pure lust forever erased from my memory. Up until he so graciously reminded me in front of his family.

"Your sugar daddy sure is rich." She purses her lips and folds her arms as she takes in the modest luxury of the décor and appliances.

"He's not my sugar daddy. This is a normal-sized house." I won't mention his parent's mansion.

"Mhm." Her gaze continues to wander across trinkets and paintings. "No photographs. Weird." She stops when Tyler comes strolling down the hallway, presumably from his bedroom, in nothing but a pair of sweats. My stomach flips. Great. "Is this-?"

"This is Tyler." I run my suddenly sweaty palms down my shirt and pray that he keeps his snarky comments to himself. "He's Chace's stepbrother."

"Hmm." She nods with a suspicious eye on his shirtless physique. "Nice to meet you, Tyler. I'm Victoria, Rory's best friend and roommate."

And mother. I shake my head. She's just protecting you. Don't be a brat.

"Nice to meet you," he says.

"How old are you?"

I throw my head back and groan, "Vicky."

Ignoring me, she continues as if he poses a potential threat to my well-being. "Are you living here too?"

Tyler shoves his hands into the pockets of his sweats and slinks over to us. He spares me an amused look before addressing her. "Twenty-three and I'll be staying here for a bit, yeah."

"Hmph. A little younger than your brother. That's a relief." She turns to me with her hands propped on her wide hips. "I still don't feel comfortable with you staying here. It's weird."

"Victoria." I cling onto her arm and press myself into her like a child trying to convince their parents to buy their favorite candy. "Everything will be fine. You don't need to worry."

Tyler narrows his eyes. "What's wrong with Chace's age?"

Victoria looks at him as if he were a clueless idiot. "You mean why a twenty-five-year-old man is dating my nineteen-year-old sweetheart?" She scoops an arm around my shoulders and brings me into her plush body. "Seems a little weird to me."

It's not weird. It can't be. Chace is nothing like him. I would have noticed by now. Things feel different. They are. If I ask her, all of my older lovers are one step away from being David. Chace would never hurt me like that. I know him. "Chace is twenty-four," I say. "And I'll be twenty next year."

"Yeah, and he'll be twenty-five in a month. Don't think I haven't noticed how that technically breaks our promise." Her nose wrinkles up like she's imagining him to be twice his age. "The guy is almost thirty."