AllFreeNovel
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I just wrapped my guest role for her pilot season of The Tour, and I thought that was the only one she shot here. I’m on a break until production starts shooting season three of The Band this spring in LA.
“I want to move production here for your show, too,” she answers as we head to the bar. “We can shoot in Atlanta, use Tybee for beach scenes.”
I order a seltzer for me and a bourbon for Lorraine while I don’t buy it.
“So that’s the only reason?” I eye her, handing her the drink before I sip mine.
She watches me over the rim of the tumbler before she admits, “You need to be here, don’t you?”
Do I? I’ve only stayed here in my almost empty house because my mama, little sister, and nephew are here. They come over a lot. Hell, I think my mama’s trying to move in. And I like my AA group here.
Malibu has my other sanctuary home, but returning there will only remind me of what I’m missing.
Everywhere I go, it’s Cade.
I’m a dumbass to think I can keep running from her. No, she’s a part of my heart that’s bleeding, that’s leaving a trail of pain behind me, and there’s only so much I can lose before I have nothing left.
“You don’t have to do that.”
I hug Lorraine. She’s so tiny in my grasp. This woman; I’d give her my last kidney.
“Well, it’s not a done deal.” She squeezes me back. “The head of the Georgia Department of Revenue is here tonight, and I gotta win her over.”
“Shit,” I huff. “You’ll have ‘em eating out of your hand.”
She winks, “Maybe,” and pulls us into the sea of people in fancy formal wear.
I’d prefer getting four cavities filled to the hour we spend working the room. My cheeks hurt from giving selfies. My bladder is full, and my brain is empty from small talk. Lorraine’s stuck in a droning negotiation about tax incentives while my glazed eyes rise to a vision entering the ballroom.
It torpedoes my chest, and I didn’t know pain like this was possible. I see the most beautiful woman standing there, and all the times I broke her heart?
This is retaliation.
The elegant red dress she’s wearing bombs through me. The sexy slope of her bare neck not wearing our infinity necklace scatters shrapnel into my lungs. Her stunning smile sends bullets flying.
And the man on Cade’s arm?
The one who looks like my fucking twin?
This is war.
A cruel one like the one I waged on her fucking every woman who reminded me of her.
I was drunk as hell.
And that’s no excuse.
But this guy? His navy suit says money. His hair knot says he doesn’t give a shit about it. His full lips whisper into Cade’s ear, and the way she looks back at him, she’s happy.
Fuck, this hurts.
And damn, I need to inhale.
Because… I’m not happy.
I made Cade leave, and I didn’t do it so I’d be happy. I did it so I’d stay sober. So I’d live.
But seeing her on the arm of another man? A man who I’d even turn my chin for? This is a life I don’t want to live. Because he’s hot, and he hasn’t fucked her yet because when he does, we’ll have the same look in our eyes.
