Font Size:  

She sighs. “Fine. I was going to ask if you’ve reached out to Lee, but I didn’t know if you’d want to talk about it if you did.” She cringes.

“He’s texted a few times, but I ignored him.” In truth, I blocked his number. “I’m not ready to talk to him. I’m still angry at him. I feel like the first chance he had to go with his plan, he jumped at the opportunity without thinking about how it might affect me. And honestly, I’m pissed at myself for getting into this situation in the first place. It’s going to take me time to untangle my feelings over being fired and losing everything I’ve worked for, and to separate that from my anger at Lee specifically and just my anger in general. My head is a mess.”

I let my head flop back against the couch and stare at the ceiling. Bryce squeezes my hand, and I lift my head and look at her.

“I’m here for you no matter what you decide.”

“Thanks. One thing is for sure, no matter what comes of this mess my life is in right now, I’m glad I took the job, otherwise I never would have met you.”

We both have tears in our eyes as we hug it out. At least something good came of this mess.

Thirty-Seven

Lee

“Cheer up, buttercup. I’m sure she’ll come around.” Brady clinks his beer against mine.

“It’s been two weeks and she still has me blocked. Still won’t answer the door when I go by.” I bring the beer to my lips.

We’re hanging out at Brady’s because he has his son tonight, but it’s after Theo’s bedtime, so he’s upstairs sleeping.

Being here reminds me of the night of the Halloween party and how fucking hot Shayna looked. Our make-out session in the guest room and how I convinced her to go home with me.

“Man up and move on.” Chase shakes his head. “Do you have any idea how much pussy there is out there for you? Hell, you’re Lee fucking Burrows!”

It’s the most I’ve heard Chase say in a long time.

“Don’t you think I would if I could?” I scowl at him on the other sofa. “I don’t want anybody else, just her.”

Miles looks between the three of us as though he wants to add in his two cents, but he stays uncharacteristically quiet when it comes to my life.

These three guys are the only ones who know everything that went down. I trust them, and they’ve been good friends to me since Shayna stopped speaking to me. Still, it doesn’t make it any easier to ignore the giant crater in my chest when I think of her—which is, like, every other second.

“She really did a number on you.” Chase takes a pull of his beer.

I scowl at him. “I can’t wait until you fall for someone someday and see what torture this is. I’m gonna laugh my ass off.”

That comment gets a rare smile out of him. “Never gonna happen.”

“Never say never,” Miles says.

“You guys, our friend has suffered a deep emotional trauma. It’s not to be made light of,” Brady says in a serious voice, then laughs.

I pick up the small football on the end table and throw it at Brady, but the fucker catches it of course.

He holds up his hands. “I should insure these things.” He shrugs his shoulder and drinks his beer.

This is what I mean by them being good friends. Sometimes they’re there to listen to me complain and whine, and other times they bust my balls to make me laugh.

“So what are you going to do? Seriously?” Brady asks, leaning back into the couch and propping his beer on his thigh.

I shake my head. “I don’t know. Sometimes I think the best approach is to leave her alone and let her come to me when she’s ready, but then other times I think, ‘Fight, motherfucker, you’re not some loser who stands by and watches what you want slip out of your hands.’”

“Women are complicated,” Brady says. “Listen to this. I had this one-night stand and she was fucking amazing in bed. Like, probably the best I’ve had, maybe ever.”

“Ever?” Chase asks with raised eyebrows.

“I’m telling you, I beat off like twice a day still and it was weeks ago. Anyway, afterward, I ask for her number.” He points at himself. “I’masking forhernumber. I don’t want to sound conceited, but I’m Brady Banks, Kingsmen wide receiver. Guess what she says?”

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
Articles you may like