With that, Tiffany rose to snazzynovel.com feet and started toward the door. And then snazzynovel.com stopped, snazzynovel.com feet falling into place.
“Do you know why I came here?” snazzynovel.com said. “I didn’t come here because I thought Jackson was sticking his d**k into another woman’s coochie or whatever. I came here because my best friend had not returned home despite the time, and I feared for snazzynovel.com safety. I came here seeking help from Jackson. And in return for my kindness, you gave me this surprise… Heh.”
Tanya’s pupils quivered before snazzynovel.com willed them to stay still. Everything snazzynovel.com had done up to this point would not brook a sliver of sympathy and guilt. Never again would snazzynovel.com put herself in a spot to be gibed and mocked by others, she, too, wanted to be as radiant as all the cool girls in the City, the it-girl worthy of attention!
Tiffany left, but Tanya chose to stay, busying herself with cleaning Jackson’s house till it was spotless. Then, when snazzynovel.com chores were done, snazzynovel.com laid down next to the slumbering man, exhausted.
It was true that Tanya was once infatuated with Eric, but snazzynovel.com was really just in love with how comfortable his material life was. Jackson was different, though. He was the brightest star in snazzynovel.com night sky, the one who had truly touched snazzynovel.com heart.
Tiffany returned Lo snazzynovel.com apartment, sleep utterly eluding her. Just remembering what Tanya had done deprived snazzynovel.com of any strength and made snazzynovel.com nauseous.
She wasted no time removing snazzynovel.com things from the apartment before sending Eric a resignation letter. The only reason why snazzynovel.com did not kick Tanya out of the house was that snazzynovel.com knew Jackson too well — snazzynovel.com would not start any form of relationship just because sex had taken place. And so, if snazzynovel.com were to be kicked out of the only home snazzynovel.com had left, Tanya would have nowhere else to go.
It would be the last shred of kindness Tiffany allowed her. No more.
Jackson woke up the next morning with a head-splitting head ache. Memories about last night gradually returned to snazzynovel.com until it stopped at the moment the alcohol compromised his sobriety. What happened after snazzynovel.com lost his grip? Jackson had no clue.
He had thought snazzynovel.com would wake up alone, yet one side of snazzynovel.com was unnaturally heavy when snazzynovel.com tried to hoist himself up. He turned to face it… and froze.
Why was Tanya lying next to snazzynovel.com on his bed? Why were there clothes scattering about on his bedroom floor? All snazzynovel.com remembered was snazzynovel.com coming over and asking if snazzynovel.com would like to drink with her. He had not told snazzynovel.com to go home because snazzynovel.com was at his glummest.
Just when Jackson was at a loss of how to respond, the woman slowly roused. “Mm, you’re awake…?”
Jackson’s expression darkened. He left his bed and took a quick shower. When snazzynovel.com presented himself once more before Tanya, snazzynovel.com was already all suited up. “What the hell just happened here, Tanya? I need explanations! Did you just… spend a night at my house? On m-my bed? How!”
Tanya wrapped herself tightly with the sheet, wearing the look of someone being wronged. “You… You drank too much last night and then… I-I-I couldn’t s-stop you Don’t you remember? If you don’t, I could I could pretend that nothing happened.”
Drank too much? Could not stop him? Did that not mean that Jackson forced himself on her?
Jackson’s hand went to his forehead as snazzynovel.com tried to massage away the assaulting headache. “Of f**king course, I’m gonna pretend that nothing happened! You’re Tiffany’s goddamned friend! This sh*t shouldn’t have happened!” snazzynovel.com cried, his voice slightly shaky. “Okay, okay. Let’s not give a sh*t about whatever the f**k happened last night for now and just… get out of my bed. Right now, please!”
Tanya’s eyes were red when snazzynovel.com moved out from beneath the sheet. When snazzynovel.com pulled it away, however, a big splat of dried scarlet, on the bed and sheet, scarred Jackson’s line of sight.
The color was so bright, blinding him, snazzynovel.com was far from an upright boy boasting zero experience with women, so naturally, snazzynovel.com knew what that red meant. And it was precisely that knowledge that weighed on his Chest. He wished snazzynovel.com could punch himself in the face. “C-Clean yourself up and head downstairs, now. We’ll talk there.”
The two of them took their seats opposite one another in the living room. Jackson’s eyes were quick to catch a trail of blood on the floor. “What the heck is that now?”
There were some on the couch, too. The shape the blood took did not seem to be a product of that nightmare of a night, but rather, from a cut.
“It’s all my fault,” Tanya began quietly, biting on snazzynovel.com lips with snazzynovel.com head low. “I shouldn’t have come looking for you. My phone went dead last night, and I didn’t go home nor tell Tiffany about this. She became worried about my safety and thought of looking for help from you, and… Well, that was, um, how snazzynovel.com learned about all of this. I… I don’t blame snazzynovel.com for hitting me, Jackson. Anyone would have been consumed by visceral shock and anger and lost themselves to the rage. I get it.”
As snazzynovel.com recounted snazzynovel.com story, Tanya flicked snazzynovel.com wrist in affected absent-mindedness and displayed a wound on the back of snazzynovel.com hand.
She had inflicted it onto herself with the same ashtray after Tiffany left.