AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I’ve tried. Oh, how I’ve tried to leave that girl in the past. I’ve become something of a serial dater. I meet a girl, keep her around for a bit, then break up with her when I get bored. It’s always something. She doesn’t smell as good as Andi did. Her laugh is too fake, her tits aren’t as perfect, her hair is too wavy, too straight, too… unlike Andi.
I take a sip from my beer bottle. No one ever does anything the way Andrea Sorrento does it.
IwaveatTerry as I approach him at the high-top table he scored. The restaurant is in the center of Sacramento, and newer, but is already a popular spot. The bar area is crowded, and a line is forming outside for the dining area. That he even got a high top in the bar is a major accomplishment.
When I reach him, I greet him with a hug, and sit down across from him, setting my purse beside me. I pull my phone from my purse to read a text from the friend I convinced to tag along.
It was actually pretty easy to convince Lacey. She’s a partier, and whenever I pull the ‘little lone lady going through a divorce’ card, she drops everything to make sure I’m okay.
“Lacey is parking the car,” I say, and put my phone away.
Terry nods. He’s still standing and is tall enough that the high-top comes to his waist, and it looks like he is sitting, anyway. “Dom should be here any minute. He didn’t work today, but had something come up.”
He looks over my shoulder, then grins and waves at someone behind me. “Dom!”
The man approaches and hugs his brother, his back still towards me. When Dom Black turns to face me, my face contorts at the sight of the blond, the one who broke my heart a decade ago. That heart is now racing, and the blood rushes to my cheeks as I clench my hands into fists, and glare at Terry.
So many questions rush through me that I can barely process what is happening. So many emotions, too. Relief washes through me. I am staring at a man I have been convinced died a decade ago, and I’m so grateful he isn’t dead. Then anger fills me and I’m overwhelmed with a sense of betrayal. Finally, my already broken heart receives one more blow. This man has been alive all this time, which means my very real relationship with Colby Monroe, didn’t mean as much to him as it did to me.
“What the fuck?” I stand as the shock settles in. I glance between Dom and Terry as my friend Lacey approaches.
Staring at the brothers, the truth sets in and I wonder how I never saw it before. They have the same eyes, same smile. They’re both tall as fuck, too. The signs were there, even if I couldn’t see them.
“Hey! I’m Lacey!” My friend holds her hand out for Terry, but quickly pulls it away when she realizes I’ve turned a shade of red I reserve for arguing with my ex-husband. “Andi, what’s wrong?”
Ignoring her, I continue glaring at Terry. The person I trusted with my daughter has gone and put me in a position I never could have imagined being in. Ten years of fantasizing about being in this situation, and I still wasn’t prepared.
“Did he put you up to this?”
Terry wears a deer in the headlights look. It is really cute that he’s still pretending he doesn’t know.He mentioned his brother had been in a serious relationship when he was undercover. Surely, Terry knew that was me. I am the woman his brother claims to have fallen for. They’re brothers, for fuck’s sake. I’m sure they tell each other everything.
“I’m sorry. What?” Terry asks. “Do you already know, Dominic?”
Colby, or rather Dominic, opens his stupid mouth to speak. I refrain from punching him. He is older, but he still looks the same. He has more wrinkles, but his soft smile he reserves for me when I’m upset is perfectly placed on his dumb fucking face.
Colby. My Colby is alive, only he’s someone else. “Andi, he didn’t know. I didn’t even know that you would be here tonight. Don’t be angry with Terry.” Dominic attempts to grab my arm, but I shake his hand from my elbow and shove him hard. He doesn’t fucking budge, the strong asshole that he is. Anger and sadness fill the hole in my chest that this man created. How could I have been so stupid?
“Don’t fucking touch me.” I grab my purse and turn on my heel to get the fuck away from my ex-boyfriend.
He follows me at a distance. I can hear his footsteps and feel his presence as I walk alone down the block. I don’t have it in me to turn around and tell him to stop. I know he’s watching. I can hear his footsteps at a distance behind me as my hands slowly turn from fists to resting open at my side, and I force myself to breathe… to calm down. My fast pace slows, and then I stop and drop to the curb. Before I know it, my face is in my hands.
It is all beginning to make some type of sense in my head. Why Colby disappeared so suddenly, why he always knew we would come to an end.
Colby Monroe only ever existed in an undercover operation. He was never real. When we met, he couldn’t even tell me he was Dominic. He had to be Colby. But that doesn’t explain the ghosting. He could have told me the truth when it was all over. Surely, we could have figured something out. It’s not like I was a part of that criminal world. Our meeting was pure chance.
I would have forgiven him. I know that I would have. Especially being pregnant with his daughter.
After a moment, he approaches and stands over me. He still has that fresh ocean scent, and I resist the urge to stand and kiss him. “Go away.” I don’t look up from my hands.
“No. I need to talk to you.”
“And I need you to be dead.” I turn so that I am looking at him. “I thought you were dead!” My yell rumbles through my chest and is full of all the emotions I’ve been holding in. I stand, getting in his face. If my energy can be transferred, it does, because his face pales at my outburst.
The fear that he was gone, and the grief for both my boyfriend and our daughter spills from the center of my cracked chest. My fists slam into his chest, and the tears fall now. Colby isn’t dead, but I kind of wish he was. I would rather walk around without knowing the truth than to imagine he never cared for me to begin with.
Dominic wraps his arms around me and strokes my hair. He whispers in my ear to calm me. “Please, Dominic, I can’t…” Wow, that was too easy to call him by his real name. Am I already coming to terms with this?
When I’m calm enough to listen, he explains. “Colby Monroe was dead. Look. I was never supposed to meet you during that operation, but I did, and when I was done with my undercover work, I got pushed right into S.W.A.T. I was working a ton of hours, I was beat. There was no room in my life for a girl. I wanted to be honest with you, Andi, but I just couldn’t... you were in love with a badass biker guy who was a career criminal, and that wasn’t me.”
