AllFreeNovel
Share Us
CHAPTER24
“You’re such a shithead.”I sat on the edge of my bed, drunk.It had been a week since Hamilton Ford had paid me, a week since I’d broken my own heart and Valentina’s, and I was miserable.I couldn’t work.I couldn’t eat.I hadn’t seen my brothers.All I was doing was drinking and feeling sorry for myself.I knew I couldn’t go on like this.I knew I was scaring everyone in my family.
I grabbed my phone, stared at the screen for a couple of seconds, and debated calling Valentina again.I had tried a couple of times the previous weekend.She hadn’t answered either time.I’d also sent her five text messages, and she hadn’t responded to them.I knew I was practically stalking her at this point, but I didn’t know what else to do.I wanted to see her.I wanted to talk to her and apologize.
I looked at the painting hanging on the wall and smiled.Such a kind gesture, something I would never, ever forget.It was the nicest gift anyone had ever given me.
I stared at the phone again for a couple of seconds, then pressed the numbers and listened to it ring.I thought it would go to voicemail again when she finally answered.
“What do you want, Sam?”She sounded angry, but I didn’t care.My heart leaped for joy at the sound of her voice.
“I wanted to make sure you were still alive.”
“I’m still alive.You didn’t see a death notice in the newspaper, did you?”
“No,” I said.Even though she was angry with me, she still had a sense of humor.“How have you been?”
“I’ve been dandy.I’m still looking for the right space for my business.What about you?”
“Shit,” I said.“I’ve been feeling like shit.”
“Oh no,” she said softly.“Is it your mom?Is everything okay?”
That was when I knew I was even more in love with her than I’d imagined.She was so selfless.Even at this moment of her hating me and wanting nothing to do with me, she was still concerned about my well-being.She was still worried that I was hung up on my mom being back.
“I’m okay.It’s not why I’m calling you.”
“I know, but I know that hurt you.It would hurt anyone.”
“I hurt you, Valentina, and I’m sorry.”
She sighed.“You’re broken, Sam.I understand that, and you wanted to hurt me.I just don’t know why.”
“Because I saw you with him.I saw you—”
“You keep saying you saw me, but I don’t get it.”
“You lied to me, Valentina.I called you.I asked you if you were ready to come over, and you told me you were still at your parents’.You told me your dad was cooking some meal or whatever, and I saw you on the street holding hands with some blond dude.”
She was silent for a moment.“I’m sorry.I shouldn’t have lied, but I didn’t want to tell you that I was with my artist friend that I’d commissioned to make a painting for you because I wanted it to be a surprise.”
“I understand that now.But at that moment, I—”
“I get it, Sam.You were jealous.”
“Yes.I felt like my heart was being ripped out of my body.I thought that—”
“You thought what, Sam?You thought I hit it and quit it?That you were a one-night stand?You can be that person to women, but a woman can’t be that person to you?”
I was silent as she spoke.She was correct, of course.There had been many women I’d slept with and then made excuses not to see them again.But none were Valentina.None were women I’d had a connection with.None were women I wanted to wake up next to.
“I know, I’m a hypocrite, but I’ve never been in love before,” I said softly.
“What?”Her voice cracked.
“I said I’ve never been in love before, Valentina.”
“And you’re in love now?”
