Drop Dead.

I still remained at Tom’s, although David tried to get me to move in with him. I politely declined – that was just too big of a step for us right now. He understood and I was thankful David wasn’t the jealous type. He knew how close Tom and I were, how I only viewed Tom as the brother I never had. He and Tom got on rather well, actually, and often chose to gang up on me, which they thought was hilarious.

Both of them had gone with me when I went to fetch more of my things from my old apartment. Luckily, Melanie wasn’t home so I managed to avoid a confrontation. We left quickly, all three of us with our arms full of boxes, and went back to Tom’s to drop the stuff off. Then the three of us went out to lunch. I was worried Tom would feel like a third-wheel, but he was quick to reassure me that he didn’t mind in the least.

So we sat at a table in Subway, talking about my future living arrangements. I assured David that, when the time was right, I would move in with him. But for the time being, I preferred to stay at Tom’s. David understood and we moved on to another topic. Eventually, though, the subject of Melanie and Oliver’s relationship came up. David caught my uneasiness and I felt him tense beside me.

“She broke up wiff ‘im,” Tom said when I cocked my head to the side, urging him silently to go on. I breathed a sigh of relief and even David relaxed beside me.

“Good,” I said harshly, glaring at the sub in my hands.

“Olleh came over lookin’ proper pissed,” the younger Sykes explained. “Put a dent in my damn drywall. Gonna make ‘im pay for tha’.”

“Did he tell yeh what she said?” I asked eagerly. I hoped Melanie gave him an earful; God and everyone on this earth knew he damn well deserved it. My face fell when Tom shook his head. Damn.

“’e didn’t tell me wha’ ‘appened exactly. Just tha’ she’d broken fhings off,” he said through a bite of his sub. I’d been hoping for some dirty details about the things Melanie had said to Oliver, but if Tom didn’t know, then I wouldn’t.

I took another bite of my sub when Tom spoke up again. “’e knows yeh told ‘er.”

His statement was supposed to scare me, as if Oliver was some maniacal serial killer out for blood. But I was already aware that Oliver knew.

“I know. I told him I would the night…” I paused, glancing at David out of the corner of my eye. He didn’t know about Oliver’s empty threats to bring me down with him. Well, I thought bitterly. He got his wish.

“The night what?” David pushed, anger flashing in his eyes. It was the first time I’d ever seen him truly angry. “The bastard didn’t lay a hand on you, did he?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “He just threatened that I’d go down with him once Melanie found out. And I warned him that I would tell her that night. So I did before I backed out again.” David mulled my story over in his head, pursed his lips, and nodded finally.

“It just took you longer to build up the courage to tell me,” he finished, smiling slightly. I sighed and nodding, sending him an apologetic look. He simply smiled and took my hand under the table.

The three of us stayed a little while longer until Tom informed us that he had a photo shoot he had to attend in half an hour, and it was a fifteen-minute drive. So we dropped him off at the apartment – he warned us to be safe, to which both David and I blushed – and he quickly ran inside to grab his camera.

David and I took refuge in the apartment, watching silly movies on TV since we could find no better way to spend the rest of our afternoon. I was thankful David decided to forgive for the whole cheating business, although I still thought I didn’t deserve it. I was still beating myself up over it and David could always tell when I was engaging in an internal battle. Then he’d look me in the eye, reassure me that everything was fine, and he’d kiss me, and I’d believe him. I’d never stop believing him.