AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Can you figure out what that flower means? It’s a chrysanthemum. Brad only gave me flowers if there was a meaning to them. Everything was a fucking puzzle.”
“Says they mean I love you,” Mav says, looking up from his phone.
“We should just go back to the hotel and skip going out tonight,” Willa says, squeezing me in a way that’s supposedto be supportive, but my ribs are still a little sore. I groan instead and she jumps back. “Fuck. Sorry.”
“It’s fine. We’re going out. I’m not hiding.”
“Are you sure?” Mav asks, but he doesn’t look as against it as Willa does.
“Brad is a coward. He’s hiding behind notes and flowers that someone else probably set up for him. He’s probably not even here. Plus, if he is, he won’t approach me when I’m with you guys. I couldn’t even get him to Christmas at my parent’s house because he hated how my dad always confronted him about his attitude.” Hindsight is a real bitch.
“I don’t know…”
“Willa, please. I need to live again. I can’t be his victim anymore,” I beg.
“I’m going to take pictures of these,” Mav says, gesturing to the note and flowers. “Then we can change and head out.”
I smile at him appreciatively. “Can you send them to Cal? He’s been handling all this through his lawyer.”
“You got it,” he says, snapping the pictures and sending them before he leaves the room.
“I’ll leave with you or one of the guys if I start to feel uncomfortable. I’ll alert security if I see Brad,” I tell her the moment she opens her mouth to protest again.
She sighs and pinches the bridge of her nose. “Fine. I’m staying glued to your side the whole night, and I don’t want to hear any arguments.”
I laugh but agree. Willa is tiny, but I would bet on her in most fights. “A night out with my best friend? Howterrible for me.”
“Shut up,” she laughs. “Let’s go before I try to drag you to the safety of the hotel instead.”
I’m crammed into a booth in a pub that was built before America was founded. The bar is original, as the flirty server has mentioned to Willa several times over. She giggles every time he tells her, though, so I guess that’s working for him. The floor and tables are sticky, and it smells like beer and fry oil, but I’m having a great time.
Except for the fact that I’m squished in between Willa and Mav, with Cal and Kai sitting in a booth directly next to us. Cal paid the security team extra to come with us and stand guard so no one can approach. Any time anyone other than our server attempts to approach the table, Cal practically growls at them, so I’m not sure the security was necessary. Kai glares at strangers for so much as entering the pub. Apparently, he can hurt me, but no one else can.Fucking men.
“Someone needs to move before I pee myself,” I announce.
“I’ll go with you,” Willa says, sliding out of the booth.
“Stay. I can pee by myself.”
“But —” she tries to argue, but I hold my hand up, stopping her.
“It’ll take me two minutes. I’ll be right back.”
“Fine, but I’m timing you,” she says, making me chuckle.
The bathroom is around a corner and down a dim hallway. Shit. Maybe I should have let her come with me. I feelsomeone behind me and whip around, my hands up in front of me.
Kai laughs. “What are you going to do? Karate chop me?”
“Maybe? I don’t fucking know. Why are you creeping up on me like that?”
“I wanted to make sure no one else followed you back here. It’s dark,” he explains.
I pull my hair in frustration. I’m tired, both physically and emotionally. I can’t take his hot and cold personality right now.
“Do you hate me, Kai?” I ask him, taking him by surprise. His eyes go wide before he schools his features.
“I don’t know,” he says softly.
