Total pages in book: 196
Estimated words: 186555 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 933(@200wpm)___ 746(@250wpm)___ 622(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 186555 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 933(@200wpm)___ 746(@250wpm)___ 622(@300wpm)
But I could play this game. I was good at it. I’d had fourteen years to perfect this with her. I’d even practiced on Randall Rhodes. I should’ve invited him over and unleashed him on her.
“He had so many options. Wouldn’t you rather he be totally confident than question everything later on?” she asked.
I nodded seriously.
She bared her teeth in something that tried to resemble a smile but actually made her look like she was being tortured. Which this probably was for her. “He misses you, Aurora. Very much. He wants you back.”
She emphasized that “back” like it was some sort of fucking Christmas miracle—no, not a Christmas miracle, an immaculate conception. Like I should fall to my knees and be grateful.
Instead, I just nodded seriously some more.
“He’s tried calling everyone he knows to get them to give him your new number. He’s begged Yuki and that sister of hers.”
They might have gotten along while we’d been together, but I was their friend. A real friend who cared about them and worried about them and loved them for no reason other than they were great people. Not because they could do something for me.
“One of the private investigators we hired had to get creative to get your phone number once he located you. He has tried getting back in contact with you. I know he’s emailed you and you haven’t had the decency to respond.”
And that’s when I snapped.
Decency.
Decency was a strong word that usually people the furthest away from being decent would use. Because decent people didn’t use the word as a weapon. Decent people understood that there were reasons for everything and that there were two sides to every story.
And I was a decent person. Fuck it. I was a good person. These motherfuckers were the ones who wouldn’t know what decent meant if it backhanded them.
And I wasn’t going to get dragged through the mud more than I already had. So that’s when I stopped her.
I leaned forward across the table, reached toward the woman who I had never really loved but had cared about because someone I’d loved adored her, and set my hand on top of hers, the hand she had sitting on top of her Hermès purse. And I smiled at her, even though I absolutely didn’t feel like smiling at all.
My smile was the only weapon I needed then.
“I didn’t respond, not because I wasn’t decent, because I am, and the next time you approach someone to try and get them to listen to you, maybe don’t disrespect them. There is literally nothing I want from Kaden. Not six months ago, not a year ago, and definitely not today. I told him, Mrs. Jones, when he showed up at our house after spending the night at yours, that he didn’t mean what he said. That he would regret ending our relationship. And I was right.”
I exhaled through my nose and pulled my hand back, aiming another one of those deadly smiles at her so she would know her time for talking was done. She was done. “I don’t give a shit if he actually misses me or if he misses what I did for him and that’s why he wants me back. I know he loved me, at least he did genuinely for a while, and I hope he knows I loved him. But that’s the thing, I don’t anymore, and I haven’t in a long time. He killed every inch of the love I felt for him. You helped kill every inch of the love I felt for him too.”
I met her gaze and asked her as seriously as possible, “That’s why you’re here, isn’t it? Because he regrets ending our relationship? More like he regrets letting you talk him into it, right? Is he mad at you now? Are you here trying to clean up his mess because he blames you for this happening instead of being an adult and taking responsibility for his actions? I bet that’s exactly what it is. That should tell you everything though. Why your spoiled kid won’t get what he suddenly decided he wants again. Why I will never, ever go back.
“You all shunned me. Embarrassed me. You turned people against me, and that’s on them too, but it’s on you two for putting them into that position in the first place. At this point, I don’t wish bad things on either of you, but if you’re looking for a blood transfusion or an organ donor, don’t bother looking in my direction. I’ve moved on. I’m happy, and I’m not letting you or Kaden or any of your lackeys take that away from me.”
I was glad the waitress still hadn’t come. I was glad I could leave. I started to get up, taking in the furious but astonished expression that had taken over her entire face.