Frankly, that was part of how he’d used it as well, though his wounds were emotional. He wasn’t trying to dig into any of that tonight, however. He stepped back so Titus could greet Dante, and Trev decided he might as well address the elephant in the room.

“Yeah, so you want to explain why you never told me Sarah was cheating on me before we broke up?”

Dante dropped the bag of chips, picked them up, and headed straight back to the kitchen as Titus froze, wearing a distinctly deer-in-headlights look. “How’d you find out?”

“She apologized for it a few months ago.”

“When did you see her? What was she even doing in St. Claire?”

Trev gave him a look. Those questions were deflections, and the answers didn’t matter, but he gave them anyway. “She was here for her cousin’s wedding, and I happened to run into her at Seven Grand. You still didn’t answer the question.”

“And you’re just now bringing it up?” Titus asked.

“You’re one to talk.” Trev hated this stuff, so much that his stomach churned. Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned it? I’m being sensitive, just like my family says. Wait, no, he needs to explain. That wasn’t how friends should treat each other.

“Hey, you let shit fester.” Titus wore a defensive expression, but then he sighed. “I didn’t want her to hurt you more than necessary! I told her to make a clean break after I saw her—”

“Right, honestly, I don’t give a fuck what Sarah was doing.” Trev clenched his teeth around the surge of anger he’d been repressing. “You’re supposed to be my best friend—your words, by the way. And if I’d known back then that she was messing around, I wouldn’t have blamed myself so much. If someone else was involved, the failure wasn’t all mine. You don’t get that I could’ve—fuck. You should have told me,” he finished flatly.

“Yeah. You should have,” Dante said from the kitchen.

He’s not just Titus’s friend. Dante’s got my back.

Titus clutched the six-pack he’d brought, looking frankly miserable. “I’m sorry. I made the wrong call. Should I…go?”

Since Trev was already raw from how easily Leanne had cut him loose, he shook his head. “It’s ancient history. Thanks for the apology. I’ll get over it now that I finally said something. Let’s just…chill, like we planned.”

This was a prime occasion to get baked if ever there had been one, but he wouldn’t do that at Dante’s place even if he had stuff with him. Which he didn’t. And he was trying to lean on that less. It was one thing to do it for pain relief or recreation, another not to have any other means of coping with his problems.