𝐕𝐈𝐓𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐂 ❶

𝟒𝟖. ✭ 𝐁𝐑𝐎𝐎𝐊𝐒 ✭

It's been a full week of the three of us staying together and as the days go by they get increasingly more and more uncomfortable. I catch the longing glances both Torey and Dani throw towards each other every now and again. After the chat the two of them had the other night, well, how could they not?

I felt Dani tossing and turning that night, felt her frustration in her sleep, what it was about I hadn't been entirely sure. I'd had a few guesses when she'd gotten up in the middle of the night though, the obvious being that it was Torey related. I'd waited a few minutes until hearing the sound of raised voices and decided maybe it was time I should intervene.

When I got up from the bed and went over to the door I'd heard them, heard nearly all of it. Afterward she was crying and then, to my complete shock, so was Torey. Now, I've known Torey to be a lot of things but a man who cries isn't one of them. In that moment, I realized maybe there was more to the man than what he outwardly displayed. It wasn't just possession of Dani he wanted. No, from what I'd heard that night Torey truly loved Dani, he'd do anything for her.

I let out a heavy sigh as I eye his form out on the balcony. He's smoking a cigarette and nursing a glass of vodka, that seemed to be all he enjoyed doing these days, that and occasionally getting high. The latter made me extremely uncomfortable considering my own personal history with substance abuse. As if he'd heard what I was thinking of I see him pull out a packet from his pants, one that has my feet moving toward him involuntarily.

I deliberate my intentions when I reach the glass door that leads out to Torey but I decide to go ahead. He pauses, about to sniff the substance, and looks at me. "Can I fucking help you?"

"No, but you can help yourself by not doing that." I point to his hand. He holds my eyes pointedly before sucking up the poison through his nostril. "Really, Torey?"

"Yeah, really." He does a little shake of his head before staring back out at the city. "What do you care anyway?"

"I'm sure it's easier for you to sit out here and brood like there's no one in the world that gives a fuck about you. I'm sure that makes your self-harm more palatable to you but, the fact of the matter is, you have plenty of people around you that care about you, that love you." He lights up another cigarette and leans over the balcony wordlessly. "I heard your mother say that your family has a history with addiction. You should be careful fucking around with that stuff so casually."

"I'm a grown man, Brooks, I don't need to be scolded." He pinches the tip of his nose then the bridge of it before licking his plump lips. I've never seen a man with lips like that. Maybe I just haven't been paying attention? Probably that.

I stare at the side of his face, take in his sharp but somehow soft features. He is the oddest mixture of brute strength and... almost... pretty? I don't know if 'pretty' would ever be the right word to describe someone like Torey but those eyes, like the brightest shade of cobalt one could ever imagine, combined with his thick ebony hair, that's always messy but perfectly styled at the same time, mixed with his deep-olive skin tone is rather.. beautifully exotic. Erotic looking.

"I can feel you eye-fucking me. Enjoying the view?" I swallow and look away from him with an uneasiness settling in the pit of my stomach. I don't think I'll ever get used to the way this particular man challenges my thought process in the attraction department. Never in my life have I been attracted to another man, not even one time. I've never checked one out and thought 'oh, that guy is so beautiful' and now look at me. "You're not even going to deny it, then?"

"Huh?" I process his words. "Deny what?"

He looks over to me with a mildly amused face. "That you were just eye-fucking me." I don't say anything to him, and look out at the hustle and bustle of the city at night. "You always been into men?"