Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 75519 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75519 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
We couldn’t.
I couldn’t.
She may have been my brother’s best friend, but she was also the only woman I’d ever loved. It didn’t stop me from breaking her heart, though.
Bottom line, I did what I had to do.
My fingers lingered against her soft cheek for a second before she abruptly snapped back.
“Don’t touch me.” Maintaining the hard edge in her tone, she bit out her words. “I won’t ask you again, Adrian. What the fuck are you doing here?”
Unable to hold back the grin, I baited her. “I don’t remember you having such a dirty mouth, Cherry. What happened to my good girl?”
She narrowed her vicious gaze at me. “She grew up and realized she was just another conquest for you. Like all the other girls before and after her.”
“Paige,” I coaxed, remaining in control. “Is this how you’re going to behave?”
“Don’t talk to me like that.”
“Like what?”
“You know exactly what you’re doing. Now answer my question, why the hell are you here?”
I did the only thing I could do, I replied with the truth…
“I’m here to see you.”
One
Paige
Then: Nineteen years old
“Cade, I can’t believe you’re moving in with your brother.”
He simply shrugged, throwing a stack of shirts at me. “Hang those up.”
I smiled, cocking my head to the side. “I didn’t hear the word please.”
“I thought you were going to help me unpack?” He grinned.
“What do you think I’m doing?”
“Riding my ass about moving in with my brother.”
I rolled my eyes. “You two have a love/ hate relationship, remember? You always have, so it’s a little surprising you agreed to be his roommate is all.”
“I needed a place to live, and his roommate just graduated. It worked out for both of us. Besides, Adrian graduates this year. This may be the only time we’ll have to bond before he enters the real world.”
“Bond. Really?”
He smirked, shaking his head. “Why do you have to analyze everything?”
“Because I’m your best friend and that’s what best friends do.”
“You don’t see me riding your ass about choosing to live in the dorms.”
“I didn’t have much of a choice. It was included in my scholarship.”
“Oh, come on! Don’t give me that shit. Your mom is an ER doctor, she could have footed the bill.”
“That’s wouldn’t be very independent of me.”
“Fine, you could have moved in with me and I could have footed the bill with my trust fund.”
“I know, but we’re in college now.”
“And that matters why?”
“In high school, everyone knew we were just best friends.”
“Point being?”
“I don’t want people getting the wrong idea.”
He threw his shirt in my face. “Like you’re not going to sleep in my bed anyway.”
“No, sir.” I adamantly shook my head. “You have a girlfriend now. We don’t have slumber parties when you have a girlfriend.”
“Never stopped you before.”
“But I like this one. She’s sweet and smart.”
With an infatuated expression, he stated, “Hayley’s great. She’s sexy as fuck too.”
I nodded, placing his shirt he just threw at me on a hanger. “She does have a great rack.”
“And her ass,” he added with a huge smile. “It’s a ten out of ten.”
“Why, Cade.” I beamed back at him. “You sound awfully smitten. Is she the one?”
During the summer, he met Hayley at Clearwater Beach, and they have basically been inseparable ever since. They’d been together for the past month. From the moment I met her, I knew she was different from most of the girls he usually dated over the years. I liked her. A lot. She genuinely seemed like she was falling in love with him and that’s all I wanted for my best friend.
One of the best parts of their relationship was that Hayley wasn’t intimidated by the friendship Cade and I had. She knew we learned early on we were just meant to be best friends. At thirteen, we were one another’s first kiss. We thought maybe there was something there, but we couldn’t have been more wrong on that notion. It felt like I was kissing my brother and he said it seemed like he was kissing his sister.
No emotions at all.
Not one.
We both quickly realized we were meant to be best friends and nothing more.
In the past, our close relationship was an issue for all his girlfriends. They constantly complained about our friendship and as soon as they did, Cade would cut them loose. He never entertained their demands of putting them before me.
It was always us before anyone else.
No matter what.
Hayley never made me feel like the third wheel I was. They included me in everything they did. It wasn’t anything new for Cade to have some sort of girl in his life. He was kind, respectful, funny, and extremely good-looking. Not to mention, he was Adrian Drake’s younger brother by three years. Girls were constantly trying to use Cade just to get to Adrian.
It was as sad as it was pathetic.