AllFreeNovel
Share Us
9
“So, let me get this straight…”Henna’s caramel hair swung to the side as she narrowed her focus on me. “You were in love with her back in college, and you’ve been treating her like shit because…?” She waved her hand, encouraging me to continue.
“She broke my heart,” I said around a mouthful of cereal, the crunch muffling my words.
“Right. So, ten years later, you find out she’s working here, and you request she show us around, and…oh god, Ryan.” Henna covered her eyes in disgust. “We practically dry-humped in the pool in front of the poor girl.”
Yeah, not my finest moment, but I wanted to hurt Bexley, and whatever I had been doing the previous few days hadn’t been working.
“That’s why you got pissed and basically blew me off after she left the pool? And why you haven’t wanted to have sex since we got here?” she asked, connecting the dots.
I stayed quiet.
“You’re still in love with her.” She beamed, like she’d just solved the puzzle.
“I’m not in love with her, but I am still pissed at her,” I explained, finishing my food then walking it to the sink. Henna wasn’t happy about what I had said to Bexley the night prior, before the restaurant. Literally as soon as we’d sat down, she had wanted to go back to the villa, where she had promptly started packing.
She knew something was wrong, but more than that, she’d never known me to be that much of an asshole to anyone. Henna was self-centered about most everything in her life, but she wasn’t cruel to the working class. Her team of people had been with her from the beginning because she appreciated loyalty and paid well. She got to know their families, gave them bonuses when she could, and had even bought them each a new car the year before.
She had also happened to witness the coffee incident, overhearing Bexley yell all that shit at me. Afterward, she’d demanded to know what in the hell was going on.
I had told her I’d tell her this morning, while we waited for her driver.
“Ryan, don’t mess this up. You’re one of my best friends—I know that’s strange because of sex and whatever, but you are. I truly hope this works for you, but I promise you, you’re not going to win her back by being a dick.”
I stood up to hug her goodbye, seeing the black sedan pull up outside.
“I’m not trying to win her back. I don’t want to go back down that road with her.” I tried to explain, but even saying it felt strange.
“You can’t lie to me, Ryan Prince. I’ve been around you too long for that.” She laughed into my chest, only to pull away a second later. “My ride is here. You know I love you in my own way, right? Just not enough to declare anything or fight for you. Because even if I did, something tells me I’d lose to that girl.” She kissed me on the cheek before grabbing her luggage and walking outside.
She wasn’t exactly eager to stick around. She’d been getting tired of me even before I became a massive asshole, so we’d agreed to bring our little vacation to a close. Except, I had no plans of leaving—not until I knew everything I needed to know about Bexley.
Four days earlier, when planning to take Bexley to coffee, I’d entered the sports center where Bexley worked, asking one of the kids there if they knew when she’d be in for her shift. One of them had let it slip that she had asked for the evening off to go on a date.
My mind immediately went back to when we were on the tennis courts and she mentioned her new hair, how she’d gotten it done for the date Shay had set up. For whatever reason, that image of Bexley on a date burned me from the inside out, maybe because I also couldn’t omit the memory that she’d gotten waxed for that date.
Suddenly images of her writhing under some fucking stranger ran on repeat in my head, torturing me.
I’d been out of her life for ten years; you’d think I would have more than acclimated to the idea of her dating and having sex. I mean, she had two kids with another man, for Christ’s sake, but still—I was a jealous, wounded man.
When I saw Bexley again after herdate, I just wanted to make her hurt. I wanted her to pay for the pain she’d caused, from ten years earlier and from the stupid date she’d gone on. I wanted her to feel the sting of rejection and having to see me with someone else. So, when she was in the pool with us, yeah—I fucked up and made out with Henna. I was such an idiot, but I couldn’t stop, not because of Henna, but because of her. I knew I was getting a reaction, especially when she got up and left, which was exactly what I wanted.
Then her little girl called her on the way to the restaurant, and whatever was left of my heart shriveled up and died.
Bella…a name I knew well. A name that was still sewn in pink stitching on the inside of my college letterman jacket, near the inside breast pocket. Bexley had sewn a boy name and a girl name…to help me stay humble, to stay grounded. She’d remind me that fame was a wave to ride, but family would be the beach I settled on—with her, with the kids we’d one day have.
She had picked Bella for the girl name we’d use if we were ever blessed with one, and Reese for the boy.
When she said the name out loud in the car, I swore she did it to hurt me, knowing it would be like an arrow to my heart. That was why I said what I said, why I wanted to cut her down as swiftly and harshly as she’d cut me.
The wound she’d created ten years before was suddenly gaping, and there seemed to be nothing at all I could do to stop it.
So, call it madness…call it a vendetta, but I wasn’t done with Bexley Black. Although I wasn’t proud of my next move, I did feel it was justified.
I slouched down in the leather seat of my SUV while waiting in the parking lot of the sports center. The sun was hidden behind a darkened sky, indicating a storm was likely on the way. I checked the dash clock and saw that it was nearly twelve thirty in the afternoon, which meant my contact should be walking out the front doors in…
I looked up, counting down from five to one in my head. Right when I got to one, I saw the glass doors swing open and the kid come trudging out with a piece of paper folded in his hand. He seemed the hungriest for cash, so I had leaned a little hard when I made him the deal.
