Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 100628 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100628 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 503(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 335(@300wpm)
I fucked up, didn’t I?
The tears that had been threatening for the last couple of hours finally made their presence known as I put the phone under my pillow.
He hadn’t fucked up. He hadn’t done anything wrong. I was the one who’d fucked up.
Because even though I’d been super clear to Rumi and myself that we were just screwing around, that hadn’t been the case, not really. How the hell were you supposed to keep feelings out of the equation when you already loved someone and then added intimacy to the mix? Unfortunately, I hadn’t realized what a terrible idea it had been until I was already so deep that finding him fucking someone else had completely shattered me.
Chapter 13
Rumi
We’d made no promises. We’d agreed that we were just having fun. She’d been on a date the night before. I was fully within my rights to hang out with someone else. Technically, I hadn’t done anything wrong.
The expression on Nova’s face when I’d looked over my shoulder and found her standing inside my front door told a completely different story. Just imagining her taking off from my house like a bat out of hell and her car door flying open while she drove made me feel like I was going to vomit. She’d been so upset and she could’ve fucking died.
After a mostly sleepless night, I was on my way to Nova’s house to pick her up for the barbecue at the clubhouse. I was seriously considering just taking off once she was in my truck and bringing her someplace that we could talk shit out—but I knew I shouldn’t. The barbecue had been pulled together to welcome my brother’s girlfriend and their son into the Aces fold and I’d be an asshole if I missed it.
My stomach was in knots the entire way to Nova’s place and for the first time since we’d started hanging out at thirteen years old, I was nervous as hell to see her. As I turned into her trailer park, I debated whether or not I should get out and knock on the front door or just honk when I got to her place. Why that question was so important, I had no idea.
For a split second, I imagined her paying me back by letting me find her fucking some random guy on her grandparents’ couch.
I shook my head, knowing that would never happen, but my hands fisted on the steering wheel anyway, and I decided to just honk when I got there.
It turned out that I didn’t have to do either thing because Nova was sitting outside waiting for me when I pulled up.
She hurried around the hood of the truck and climbed into the passenger side.
“Hey,” she said easily like she hadn’t been ignoring every call and text I’d sent her. She’d obviously been getting them since she’d known when to wait outside for me.
“Hey,” I replied through my teeth.
I wanted to figure shit out. I wanted to fix things. But the longer she acted like there was nothing going on and tried to pretend that everything was fine, the angrier I got. It was as if she was trying to make me feel guilty by ignoring the entire situation. Passive aggressiveness at its finest. I felt like shit that she’d walked in on me with someone else because I knew if the roles were reversed, I would’ve lost my shit—but I hadn’t actually done anything wrong. I hadn’t broken any rules. She was the one who’d shown up unannounced. I never would’ve had Lauren over to my place if I’d thought there was a chance that Nova would show up.
“Where are you going?” she asked as I passed the turn-off to the club.
“Short detour,” I mumbled. I knew I shouldn’t be late, but there was no way I was going to let the club’s women swallow her up before we had a chance to talk.
The weather had been overcast but not raining and I was crossing my fingers that no one would be at the little park about a quarter of a mile away. When we pulled in there was only one car in the lot, but no one in sight.
“What are we doing here?” Nova asked, looking around.
I put the truck in park, took off my seat belt, and turned to look at her.
“Can we just go to the barbecue?” she asked wearily, taking off her own seat belt so she could lean against the door. “My nana’s expecting us to be there.”
“I’m sorry,” I said for what felt like the millionth time. “I didn’t know you were going to show up.”
“I know,” she replied quickly.
“If I’d known, I never would’ve brought someone back to my place,” I continued like she hadn’t spoken.
“It’s your house,” she argued. “You can bring people back there whenever you want. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have just barged in like I owned the place.”