The Wrong Monroe

CHAPTER 006: The Wrong Monroe

I sucked in a shaky breath in an attempt to suppress my anger and hurt before walking up to them.

“Time’s up, Hud. Let's go home.” I said.

They broke their kiss, not too quickly, as I could sense the longing for Gwen in Hud's eyes even with how he refused to meet mine.

“What are you, huh? His mom?” Gwen asked, her tone mocking.

I folded my arms across my chest.

“Depends. I can be his bodyguard and kick you right out of here or, worse, get a restraining order against you.” I fired at her.

Gwen laughed, her eyes falling on Hud.

"Is this your life now?"

“She’s just joking.” Hud said in almost a whisper, clearly embarrassed at my interference.

I couldn’t wrap my head around what he just said.

He had the guts to look humiliated.

His grades were dropping. His emotional state was a wreck. He barely slept these days, and all he could think of was getting back with his fake cheating ex.

No. I wasn’t going to give up on him that easily.

He deserved to be happy. With me.

So I walked past Gwen, catching his arm in an attempt to pull him up, but he swatted my hand away.

“Just go wait for me in the car. You could drive us back..."

His words barely made it out before I let out a sharp laugh in disbelief.

Drive back? To where?

“You’re taking her home?” I asked like I couldn’t fathom his sheer audacity.

“To a hotel. Where he can fuck me. Why?” Gwen interrupted, her lashes fluttering at Hud as she rose up to face me.

She lifted a finger, poking it in the air as she uttered her question word for word.

“Do. You. Have. A. Problem. With. That?”

Biting down hard on my lip, I tried to push back the bile settling at the back of my throat as I started.

“You keep going in and out of his life, messing with his feelings, and you don't even care if he gets hurt or not."

“You don't do that to someone you love. Except you don't. Maybe you're just leading him…"

“That's what you made yourself believe because you want him to look at you.” Gwen cut in, and I drew in a sharp breath.

Colors rushed to my face, and I felt my cheeks grow hot.

Hud noticed, and he got to his feet immediately.

“Don’t say that. Tee is my best friend.”

“Hmm. A best friend who wants the benefits.” She taunted, and something squeezed in my chest.

Because she was right. I was guilty as charged.

Gwen stepped further toward me, and I took a step back.

“Come on, Tiana, tell me, I bet you’ve imagined Hud naked a zillion times.”

“All this time you spend trying to act like his little chaperone. In school, at home, at the club, I’m sure you imagined what it was like being in his bed.”

“Shut up," I warned, my lips trembling in an emotion I couldn't decipher.

Hud drew closer to her, mumbling his words with a firm grip on her arm.

"I said, 'Stop it.' You're making her uncomfortable."

He sounded almost angry, but Gwen, being the air that he breathed, brushed his arm off, and he let her go.

“I’m sure you touch yourself thinking about him all night. Haven’t you, Tiana?”

Embarrassment surged like scorching heat inside me because, painfully, she was right again.

"Gwen," Hudson cautioned, but she merely sent him a dismissing glance.

Then she chuckled, shaking her head.

“You’re not denying it. I knew it.”

“I’m sure if he lets you, you’ll get around and even end up in his dad’s bed for some …”

She barely finished her sentence before I let my palm crack against the side of her face.

She screamed, her eyes widened, and she stumbled back into Hud's arms.

“Tee, what has gotten into you?” Hud asked, clearly stunned at my reaction.

My hand trembled. In fact my whole body did.

On seeing the disapproval in Hud's eyes as Gwen sobbed into his arm, something clicked in me for the first time in decades I’ve spent loving this boy.

Hud's heart will never belong to me.

He saw me as his best friend, not a woman.

Never a woman.

I found myself hurrying out of the club, running off like the coward I was.

“Tiana!” Hud called after me, but I didn’t look back.

I got to my studio apartment that day and just stood under the shower, letting the water beat down my scalp.

The water might wash out any silly idea running through my head.

Then my eyes fell on my ruined panties, hanging loosely on the drying rack.

I shut my eyes, letting Gwen’s words replay in my head.

Knowing those panties were soaked because I'd fingered myself thinking about Hud two nights ago filled me with mortification.

I trapped my lip under my teeth before that traitorous sound escaped my throat.

I couldn't ignore the throbbing ache in between my thighs anymore.

God, I felt so sick for feeling like this.

I turned off the shower and pressed my back to the wall as my finger found my slick opening.

How do I tell anyone that I was touching myself thinking about a Monroe, but it was the wrong one?

The wrong one because it wasn’t Hud at this moment.

It was Derek.