Bend for Me Read online

  ***

  After dropping Danny off at his place, the trio made their way to the apartment and tucked a sleepy Emma into bed. Exhausted, Avery took a moment to collect herself as she flopped onto the couch. Kadence joined her a moment later, albeit descending in a more controlled manner.

  “Thank you for driving,” Avery said with a sigh. “I’m sorry if—”

  “Don’t apologize. I had a great time.”

  “You’re probably tired. Are you sure you’re okay? You can always crash here.” Forward much? Shut up. I’m just being polite. Sure, Bennett. Whatever helps you sleep at night.

  Kadence shook her head. “I’m fine. I promise.” She stood and allowed Avery to walk her to the door, pausing for a moment. “Tonight was fun. I’m glad I met you.” She smiled, leaning to place a soft kiss on Avery’s cheek.

  Avery felt her ears burn as they pulled apart.

  “By the way,” Kadence hovered, lips ghosting on the shell of Avery’s ear, “Check your pocket.”

  Before Avery could process what had happened, Kadence was already descending the stairwell. Avery looked down, scavenging through her shorts until she found the tiny piece of paper. A grin split across her face as she read the seven scrawled digits.

  Chapter Three

  KADENCE SHRUGGED OFF HER jacket, draping it on the chair before pulling her tank off. A small thud followed as Avery’s snapback landed on the floor beneath her. She had forgotten she still had it. To be honest, she had been a little distracted. Avery was attractive, albeit a bit cocky. Still, Kadence didn’t mind looking at her. There was no harm in just looking, right? Those honey-colored eyes and golden tresses were a welcome contrast from… She shook her head, clearing her mind of the memories. Not tonight.

  She placed the cap on the kitchen table as a reminder to return it and finished preparing for bed. She stepped through the routine— wash face, brush hair, brush teeth, take pill, lie down, count. At seventy-four, sleep took her.

  ***

  The morning sun spilled over the horizon as Kadence stretched her arms above her head. She rotated her wrists, waiting for the left to crack and pop back into place before she let them fall back onto the mattress. After a quick shower and a slice of toast, she grabbed a banana and her water bottle, packing them away into her bag. No surprise, Emma and Danny were missing from class, and Avery most definitely was not in attendance. Kadence couldn’t say she hadn’t wished that maybe, by some miracle, Avery had had a change of heart. She sighed, rolling out her yoga mat.

  ***

  Kadence returned to her apartment and was greeted with an unlocked door. Inching it open, she found her sister waiting at the kitchen table, legs crossed and a coffee — most likely black — in hand. Kadence prepared herself for an interrogation.

  “Uhh, hey, Mel. How’d you get in here?”

  Melody shrugged. “I still have my key.”

  “I thought I said you could get rid of it.”

  “Well, I’m glad I didn’t.” The older woman narrowed her eyes. “What the fuck happened last night?”

  “You mean, you don’t remember?” Kadence tried to joke with a shrug. “Wow, Mel, I didn’t think you got that drunk.”

  Her sister’s face remained stiff. “You know what I’m talking about. The blonde.”

  “You’re blonde.” Kadence shrugged. She didn’t have time for this, nor did she have the energy.

  “Kadence Diane.”

  Kadence sighed under Melody’s scrutinizing gaze. Her sister eyed the snapback on the table. “She stayed last night?”

  “We’re just friends.” Kadence knew her sister was being overly protective, but she couldn’t fault her. After all, she hadn’t exactly given Melody a reason to believe she was to be fully trusted alone again. But she was trying.

  “I saw you leaving with her and her friends.”

  “They needed a ride.”

  “You drove?” The boom of Melody’s voice caused the hair on the back of Kadence’s neck to rise.

  Kadence bowed her head. “She drove us to yours, so I said I’d drive us back.” She dug her toe into the floor, preparing for the woman’s wrath.

  “Drinking and driving is dangerous, Kadence! You know that.” She slammed her coffee cup onto the table. The hot liquid sloshed over the ceramic edge, splattering onto the surface of the table and onto her hand.

  “Mel.” Kadence saw her sister’s skin turning red from the scalding temperature, but Melody shook her head. “I…it’s not a big deal. It’s only a fifteen-minute drive, twenty tops.”

  “It is a big deal.”

  “It takes thirty minutes for the effects of alcohol to metabolize—”

  “That’s not the point and you know it.”

  Kadence sighed in defeat. “I know, but I’ve done worse.”

  Melody softened, coming to her side. “That’s what I’m worried about.”

  “It’s okay. See, I’m okay.” She gestured to herself with a wry grin. “My tolerance is still just as high as it used to be.”

  Her sister gave a pointed look.

  “Sorry. It’s…I wasn’t thinking.”

  “Look.” The older woman pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’m glad you had a good time. I’m happy to see you finally breaking out of your shell again. After the…after it happened, I was so worried about you, Kae. And when I found out that I could have lost you, I just…”

  “I know.” Kadence gave her hand a squeeze. “I’m sorry, Melody.”

  “Please, be careful. I want you to be able to move on, but does it have to be her? I just don’t trust her. You deserve better than that.”

  “I don’t deserve anything.”

  “Hey, don’t say that. You’re lucky. You’re still alive.”

  “At what cost?” Kadence felt her chest constrict. “Shit.”

  Melody’s eyes widened. “Kae? You still with me?”

  She felt her body collapsing in on itself. Her ears rang and her head rattled with the blare of sirens. Red and white lights flashed behind her eyelids as she clutched at her chest, struggling to breathe.

  The squealing of tires. The crunch of metal. A blood-curdling scream. Her arm ached. Iris’s blood splattered across the dashboard.

  “Kadence!”

  She looked at her girlfriend, head hanging limp, eyes closed.

  “Iris?”

  No response.

  She flung off her seatbelt, leaning across the center console to search for injuries.

  “Calm. Breathe. Come on, count with me,” Melody urged, combing her fingers through Kadence’s hair.

  “No.” She felt her hand trembling. “Please, don’t do this.” She prayed to whatever higher being existed. “Take me instead.”

  “One, two, in, out.” She heard her sister’s voice in the distance.

  “Baby, no!” She felt for a pulse but was met with nothing but rapidly cooling skin.

  “One, two, three, in out,” Melody said again.

  There were arms around her, pulling her away from her girlfriend’s lifeless body. “Ma’am, we have to get you into the ambulance. Your friend needs immediate care.”

  “She’s not just my friend,” was all she managed to say.

  “One, two, three, four, in, out.” They cycled to thirteen before her vision refocused. Kadence whimpered, falling onto her sister’s chest as tears tracked down her cheeks.

  “Shh.” Melody wiped them away. “Are you okay?”

  She gave a weak nod.

  “Do you want me to stay here for a few days?”

  Kadence shook her head in refusal. “I don’t know what happened. I was doing so well.”

  Melody hummed sadly. “Let me at least take you to lunch?”

  Kadence simply nodded, not bothering to put up a fight.

  ***

  After slipping on their coats, the siblings made the way down the street, opting to walk. Melody was right. What she had done was stupid. Kadence couldn’t believe she had let herself lose all sense of
judgment just because of a pretty girl. She hadn’t done something so reckless in a long time. When it first started, she drank to numb all the pain. She wanted to be in control again. After that horrifying image of her girlfriend’s body ingrained in her brain, the only way to wash it away had been with alcohol. But then, it became the problem.

  It took a while until she found a new, healthier outlet to calm her anger with the unjust world. And she thought it was working. Her nails dug into her palms, and jaw clenched as she observed the city streets. Every person walking by was consumed by their own world. They were unaware of how each life could overlap. How one action could cause a chain reaction. All of this would be accessible knowledge to them if they would look up from their damn phone. It could have changed an entire lifetime. It could have rewritten a love story, instead of ending one.

  “Hey, don’t beat yourself up, okay? Like you said, you’re okay. Just…” Melody’s voice cracking would have been undetectable to most, but Kadence knew. “Just don’t do it again.”

  Kadence could read the silent words in Melody’s shimmery gaze. You’re all I have left.

  “I want you alive.”

  “I am alive.”

  “You are, but you’re not living, not all the time anyway. But I saw the old you, a happier you, last night. The Kadence that drank to have a good time, not the Kadence that drank to shut herself away from the world.”

  She nodded in agreement.

  “I’ve missed that Kadence.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Me, too.”

  The conversation fell silent, the only sound between them being their footsteps against the concrete as the somber atmosphere eclipsed them.

  Melody cleared her throat. “Hey, Jordan is coming home from his business trip this week. He wanted to go hiking with Danny and his girlfriend.”

  “She has a name, you know. We’ve been hanging out for months.”

  “Yeah, well…”

  Kadence shook her head with a chuckle. Melody was never one to easily warm up to others, especially those who were close to her friends and family. It was just part of her nature. After their mother left them, Melody stepped in to fill her place. Their father was a musician and he used to spend afternoons making up songs just for his daughters. When he passed away, Melody took it especially hard, opting to cling to the only family she had left. At times, it would result in a very terrifying and overbearing Melody, but that lightened after she met Jordan.

  “Fine. Emma. I guess she’s all right but I still…”

  “You can stand her, but only for so long?” Kadence filled in the rest with a knowing grin. With Melody, that was basically as good as it got. “You cold-hearted bitch.”

  “I’m highly selective,” the older woman defended, tilting her nose into the air. “But I will say that she is better than his other ex. What was her name? Clearly she didn’t make much of a lasting impression on me.”

  Danny was Melody’s best friend and they had grown up together. When Emma first came around, Melody was extremely wary of the girl, especially after his messy break up.

  “Cat,” Kadence recalled with a grimace. “She was so fake. At least Emma lays it all out there. She’s blunt. Like you.”

  Melody released a puff of air from her nose, the closest thing to a laugh she ever let out anymore. Kadence missed hearing Melody really laugh. Kadence knew that her sister was afraid Kadence would get attached to someone. She was even more scared of that someone leaving her. There was only so many times Melody could pick up a shattered glass heart before she got cut herself. Kadence needed to try harder to be better.

  “Let’s just forget about her. When do you wanna go hiking?”

  “Saturday, after you’re done teaching your class. We can all meet at the studio?”

  “Works for me.”

  Chapter Four

  AVERY YAWNED, ARMS THROWN above her head. Her throat felt dry as she licked her chapped lips. She started to extract herself from the sheets, but soon realized a weight pressed against her. An arm was draped across her waist. She gave a gentle slap to her roommate’s butt. Emma swatted it away in a half-conscious state.

  “Hey, Em. Wakey, wakey!”

  “Your breath stinks,” Emma mumbled, burrowing into the sheets.

  “So does yours,” Avery countered with a grin.

  “Why are you in my bed?” Emma huffed while using her leg to nudge Avery out of her personal space.

  “You know you’re in my bed, right?”

  Emma sat up slowly, surveying her surroundings. “Shit.”

  “You’ve always been a drunk cuddler.”

  “You’re so loud,” Emma moaned, covering her ears. “My head hurts.”

  “You shouldn’t have drunk so much.”

  With great effort, the two migrated to the bathroom. Emma handed her the tube of toothpaste and Avery gave it a squirt, allowing the gel to coat her brush before shoving it into her mouth.

  “I had to do something to drown out the sexual tension between you and Kadence.”

  Avery pointed a foamy brush in Emma’s direction. “There was no sexual tension.” She returned the bristles to her mouth, scrubbing a little harder.

  Emma nudged her in the hip and Avery sidestepped so she could spit into the sink. “You sure? Cause I’m pretty sure I saw you eye-fucking her on multiple occasions last night.”

  Avery followed, turning the nozzle to wash the bubbles of toothpaste down the drain. “I’ll have you know, she was the one who gave me her number.”

  Emma’s forehead wrinkled in surprise.

  “Ya, girl’s still got it.” Avery ruffled her hair in the mirror, winking at her own reflection. She pointed a finger at mirror-Avery before following Emma to the kitchen. As she rounded the corner, she found her roommate nursing her headache with a glass of water and pain relievers. Two boxes of cereal sat in front of her, as well as a cup of instant noodles.

  “Pick.”

  “Ramen. No competition.”

  The redhead pushed the foam container across the table and Avery chuckled at the lethargy of her roommate. Pulling back the lid, Avery broke off a piece of the uncooked noodles, popping it into her mouth.

  “Come on, Avery. Use water.”

  Avery rolled her eyes with a grin, taking the cup and placing it under the hot water dispenser. “Fine, Mom.” She tapped the counter as she waited for the noodles to cook, watching Emma struggle to open the cereal box. The plastic crackled, irritating her headache, each piece of cereal clinking against the ceramic bowl.

  Emma groaned and Avery snickered at her friend’s theatrics, returning with her now cooked noodles.

  “So, are you gonna call her then?” Emma asked after downing a spoonful of cereal.

  “Call who?”

  “You know who.”

  Avery shook her head, not wanting to give her roommate the satisfaction. “Not unless it’s for a booty call.” She pretended to grope at an imaginary figure.

  Emma glared.

  “What?” Avery shrugged. “I was kidding.”

  “Don’t make this awkward.”

  “Why would it be awkward?”

  “Because you can be an ass sometimes. And Kadence is my friend. If you screw around with her, you may be able to avoid her, but I won’t. We do yoga together and her sister and Danny are close.”

  “Kadence is a big girl. She can make her own decisions.”

  Emma set her spoon down. “I’m serious, Avery. Kadence is different.”

  “I mean, she’s just another girl.” Avery shrugged and inhaled another mouthful of ramen.

  “I mean it. Don’t.”

  “Why are you freaking about this? I wasn’t going to call her anyway. Relax.”

  “Why not?”

  “Too easy.” Avery scarfed down the last bit of noodles, ignoring the way Emma’s face began to match her hair.

  The redhead took her spoon and flung a soggy piece of cereal in Avery’s direction. “You’re such an ass!
I’m trying to level with you.”

  Unaffected, Avery leaned back in her chair. “So, then level with me, I’m all ears.”

  “I don’t know. Kadence is just different, okay? When we first met, she was quiet. Not shy, just…” Emma ran her tongue across her teeth, searching for the right word. “Guarded. She only talked to Melody.”

  Avery snorted. “So, she had a stick up her ass?”

  “No.” Emma massaged her temples. “She just seemed, well, I don’t know…broken, I guess? I just don’t think you should play around with her. If you’re going to do this, you can’t make it a one-night stand. You can’t toy with her.”

  Avery tried to lighten the mood. “You’re being particularly suffocating this morning.”

  “Damnit, Avery. It’s time to grow up.” Emma’s spoon clanged against the tabletop. Clearly the hangover was not going well. “You can’t just use her. She’s not another girl you can just fuck and chuck. I get that Logan hurt you, I do. But you’re treating her like that doesn’t make you any better.”

  She did not just go there. “You calling me a fuckboy?” Avery glared daggers into Emma.

  “No,” Emma groaned. “I’m just saying Kadence doesn’t deserve—”

  “And I did?”

  “That’s not what I—”

  “Save it,” Avery bit out before storming away. “I’m going out.”

  ***

  She had gone to his apartment to surprise him. He wasn’t supposed to be back for another day, but Avery wanted to do something special for her boyfriend. She walked in to find clothes strewn on the floor, a pair of panties that were definitely not hers atop the mix. Then she heard a grunt and an “Oh, Logan! Don’t stop!” Two voices chorused into their orgasm.

  Avery had never run faster in her entire life.

  The next day, Logan texted that he was back from his trip. When she confronted him about what she had seen, or rather, heard, he had brushed it off with a shrug, stating that it wasn’t like they were exclusive or anything. Yet, just a few weeks before, he had promised her forever.