AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Nice shirt.”
I could tell by the surprised look on her face she hadn’t realized what she was wearing. She tried covering it up by folding her arms across it.
“Tyler, go home,” she ordered, in her bossy, ‘I mean business’ voice. “This isn’t what you think.”
I laughed so hard it actually felt good. “It’s not?”
“No,” Lexus declared matter-of-factly. “I was at a bar, and I had too much to drink. We shared an Uber here because it was closer, and because I was exhausted, and—“
“Don’t be an asshole,” Ariana jumped in. “We found your car parked around the corner, two blocks over.”
Lexus flinched visibly. I could see by her expression she was torn between going back at Ariana or continuing her stream of made-up bullshit. Of course she chose the latter.
“I mean we started here,” she continued nervously, “with a whole bunch of people. Then we went to the bar, and then we—“
“I put my hand on the hood,” I told her. “The engine’s still warm.”
Those intense blue eyes flashed with anger, instead of shame. They really were beautiful eyes, too. The rest of her kind of sucked; an apparently well-known fact I was realizing just now. But her eyes were still pretty fucking amazing.
“And what about you?” Lexus demanded suddenly. “What the hell are you doing running around with her at midnight anyway?”
Jerking a thumb at Ariana, she suddenly didn’t look very sleepy anymore.
“Are you with her now, Tyler? Have you been fucking her the whole time, or—“
“Maybe he has,” Ariana snapped, stepping forward. The grin on my friend’s face wasn’t just evil now, it was almost demonic. “And I mean the whole time. Fucking, that is. Friends with benefits, since the very beginning. Is that what you want to hear? Because we sure as hell should’ve been.”
Lexus blinked back at us in shock and surprise. For the first time since she stepped outside, she actually looked rattled.
“Or maybe he hasn’t,” Ariana went on coyly. “Maybe this amazing, incredible guy who’s given up everything to be with you has been nothing but loyal for some stupid fucking reason none of us can quite understand.”
Holy shit! I was in total awe now. Completely in love with how smoothly and easily my best friend was dealing with my soon-to-be ex-girlfriend. I should’ve let this happen years ago. I was certainly seeing years’ worth of pent-up rage on Ariana’s part, all being let out at once.
“So maybe you should stop deflecting, Alexandra,” she went on. “And for fuck’s sake, stop calling yourself ‘Lexus.’ That’s not even a name. It’s a car that rich people drive.”
Lexus’s mouth hung open through several long seconds of midnight silence. No one had spoken to her like this in years. Maybe even ever. Somewhere behind her, Malcolm shifted uncomfortably.
“But… I…” Lexus swallowed hard, and her brows knit together. “How the hell did you find me here, anyway?”
“Google,” I shrugged. “I should’ve been able to track you, but since you upgraded your phone a couple months back you never accepted my tracking request. Which in retrospect should’ve told me something was up, but it wasn’t a big deal to me, and I guess I wasn’t looking for signs.”
“Or he didn’t really give much of a shit by that point,” Ariana offered helpfully, smiling sweetly.
“Yeah,” I agreed with a chuckle. “Or maybe that.”
Lexus was staring back at me now, and I witnessed the exact moment her will was broken. Her apologetic blue eyes searched mine, perhaps trying to find a tiny kernel of what used to be there so long ago. But that ship had sailed, and we both knew it. We knew it without even having to say it.
“Tyler, I—“
“Hey, stop,” I told her calmly. “Save it. You might not believe me when I say this, but trust me, it’s all good.” I went to smile at her one last time, but realized I was already smiling. “Better than good actually.”
I turned to face Malcolm now, who looked totally unsure what to expect.
“You’re not a bad guy, I don’t think,” I told him. “The truck is a little over the top, and I’ll never understand the whole ‘doing Jager Bombs for every goal you score’ tradition,” I admitted. “But you guys don’t score that many goals to begin with, so I guess it’s pretty harmless.”
Reaching down, I picked up the large canvas duffel bag that had been at my feet the whole time. Malcolm was shocked as hell when I shoved it into his chest.
“Tag, you’re it.”
