The Checklist (Explicit Version)

Chapter 3

   "Thea," he rasped but I shook my head.

   "Answer the question, Remi."

   His eyes squeezed shut before he let out a ragged breath. "It... it was only yesterday. I swear to you, Thea. I swear. It's just, it was my birthday and you weren't there and I was upset. Then Valerie showed up with a bottle, and we ended up drinking the whole fucking thing. I don't even remember it. Fuck. The only reason I know what I did was because we woke up—"

   I lifted my hands and pushed him before rushing out angrily, "I don't want to hear it."

   "Thea." His eyes were pleading before he reached out for me. I jumped back before he could, and his expression shattered with anguish. "Please. I was drunk."

   "So was I, Remi. So was I." I pointed at my chest hard. "I got drunk yesterday after I found you sleeping with my roommate. My friend. Borderline blackout drunk, and you know what I didn't do? I didn't fuck anyone! It was that easy to keep it in my pants." I threw my arms out in frustration. "You cheated. You cheated on me. There's no excuse."

   "You didn't show up for my birthday—"

   "I was going to surprise you!" I clenched my jaw to stop myself from shouting. More and more people were starting to look our way. "Are you going to say I'm the reason you slept with Valerie?"

   He rubbed a hand over his mouth. "No. No. I just felt like I wasn't your priority in that moment. I had a goddamn moment of weakness. Are you seriously going to break up with me?"

   "Yes, I am."

   This time, he laughed humorlessly before shaking his head in disbelief. "You know what, Thea? You need to fix your expectations. You always want a fairy-tale, but you don't know how the real world works. We have real problems, so we need to fix them. So we should have communicated better, but you're always expecting me to be fucking perfect. I'm human."

   "I never said you had to be perfect. But cheating on me isn't a problem that needs to be fixed. There is no fixing something you broke."

   "Again with your expectations." He rolled his eyes, and something in me snapped because one second I was throwing my fist toward his face, the next, I was being tugged back.

   It took a few heaving gasps of air to clear my blurry vision, and the first thing I saw was Remi's disbelieved expression, but he wasn't holding his cheek or nothing. I hadn't hit him before I got yanked away.

   After another moment, I dropped my head and felt my cheeks redden when I saw Myles arm wrapped around my waist in a steel grip. I tapped his arm twice to let me go, but that only made him tighten his hold before I felt him breathing next to my ear.

   "Get the fuck out of here before I finish what she was about to start," he threatened tersely before carrying me inside the tattoo shop. I yelped in surprise by how easy he lifted me, but before I could kick him, he lowered me onto my feet and set me down.

   Feeling slightly woozy, I hurriedly locked my knees so I wouldn't collapse in the entrance of Myles workplace—which was dimmer than I expected.

   "How the heck do you tattoo with this lighting—whoa!"

   Myles had my hand in his while tugging me at the opposite end of the parlour. I didn't have a chance to look around before he thrust me into an office. Next thing I knew, he was closing the door behind him and locking it.

   I widened my eyes surprise when he turned to me. "What did I do?" I raised my hands playfully in surrender while he glared. He didn't say anything, so I let them drop before checking out the office. "Why are we here? Does this belong to you?"