AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He looks at me, brows raised. “What else is there?”
Love. Why can’t I say the word? Instead, I hold his gaze. “You’re willing to let me be a small part of your life, to go out with you once in a while and be seen with you. That’s what you call a relationship, isn’t it? And when you’ve had enough of the sex, which is what this is really all about. That will be the end, wouldn’t it?
He throws up his hands. “God! I don’t understand you. What the fuck do you want?”
Love. At least a chance at it.
But his thoughts can’t even go there. That’s how alien the idea of love is to him.
“I can’t do this,” I whisper. I want to cry. This whole thing with him is so heartbreaking. “I can’t… Just go away, Landon. Just leave me alone.”
He looks like he’s going to say something else, but then he turns and stalks down the stairs, taking them two at a time. I watch him until he disappears, my heart feeling raw, then I take a deep breath, unlock the door and walk into the apartment.
WHEN I close the door behind me, I’m still trembling. Laurie is lying on the couch, her hair piled atop her head, glasses on. She has earbuds stuck in her ear, and her face is deep in one of her gigantic law books. She sees me and rises to a sitting position, taking off her glasses and earbuds.
“So, how was the date with the Jacksshole?” She does a small grimace as she says her version of Jack’s name. Obviously, she’s still mad at me for ‘sabotaging’ my relationship with Landon.
“Whatever, Laurie,” I say tiredly. “I’m going to bed.”
She springs up from the couch, looking apologetic. “Rach... I’m sorry about the things I said yesterday.” She pauses. “You came in crying, obviously distressed. I should have been supportive, instead of blaming you.”
“Yeah, you should have,” I reply, not ready to be mollified.
She makes a contrite face. “I’m sorry.”
“Well, at least you did good right up to the moment I mentioned Jack.”
She gives me another small grimace. “I may not understand why you agreed to go out with him, and for the record, I will never understand or support Jack’s continued presence in your life.” She sighs. “But I understand how hard it must have been to have no clue where you stand with Landon.”
I draw in a breath, willing myself to forget Landon, and how my body reacted to him only a few moments ago. “How are you doing?” I ask Laurie.
She shrugs and drops back on the couch. “Trying to stop refreshing Brett’s Facebook page. We’re still in a relationship, it seems.”
“Have you spoken to him?”
“A few times.” A pained frown flits across her face. “He asks how I am, I say I’m fine. Long awkward silence. Then bye-bye.”
My shoulders drop. Momentarily forgetting my own heartache, I join her on the couch. “You think you guys will work it out?”
She is silent for a moment. “I don’t know,” she says finally, shaking her head. “What about Landon? Is it really over with him?”
I nod, filled more with the hope that I can let him go than with any kind of certainty.
Laurie sighs. “What are you going to do?”
“I’ll just have to forget about him.”
She laughs humorlessly. “If only it was as easy as saying it.”
I get up, my mind going back to just a few minutes ago when my body succumbed so easily to Landon’s touch. “I’ll just have to try.”
“Hmm.”
“I’m going to bed.”
“Okay.” She puts her glasses back on and gives me a small smile. “Night. Night.”
THE next morning, Mark Willis dumps an article from one of our celebrity writers on my desk. I spend the morning reading about her two-week stay in a three-hundred-year-old St Petersburg palace owned by some Russian billionaire and making notes for Mark.
