Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 111676 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 558(@200wpm)___ 447(@250wpm)___ 372(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111676 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 558(@200wpm)___ 447(@250wpm)___ 372(@300wpm)
“Why are you here, Jade?”
“Because I saw your truck in the parking lot of a shitty bar, in the middle of the afternoon, after hearing you got suspended from the team.” I swept a hand toward his empty beer, Exhibit A of how well he was dealing with his suspension.
The bartender dumped our drinks in front of us. Wolf tipped that one back like all the answers to his problems were hiding at the bottom of the bottle. He never used to be so angry and evasive. Or frustrating.
“I was worried about you.”
“Don’t be.”
“Right. You aren’t my problem,” I said. “But I’ll still drive you home.”
“I don’t need you to drive me home.”
“You definitely do.”
“I can get home by myself.”
The thin, ragged thread of my patience snapped. “And how are you going to get back, huh? I’m not leaving you here to drive drunk.” It came out far more enraged than I’d intended, but I knew all too well he wouldn’t call anyone else for help.
He wouldn’t want them to see him like this. That was the problem. I knew him.
He downed his beer in a few gulps, then stood up, shoving his hand in his pocket. “You don’t want to leave?” He tossed a crumpled ten on the counter. “Then I will.”
Staggering, he brushed past me. What had I done except offer to help him? I didn’t have to stop. I could have just kept on driving. Anger had me on my feet and blocking his path, which was laughable, given that he could swat me away like a gnat if he wanted to.
“Is this what you do now?” I asked, glaring up at him. “Just drink and run away from your problems?”
“What I want to do is get away from you. You’re my problem.”
It shouldn’t have hurt so much.
He moved around me, weaving between the tables. I should have just left. I didn’t. I told myself it was out of concern, but truthfully, I just wanted to lash out and hurt him right back.
“Yeah, I’d love that, too. But I can’t get away from you, can I?” I followed him outside, squinting against the bright daylight. “I gave you a year and a half where you could pretend I didn’t exist, until you—”
“No.” Gravel crunched beneath his feet when he spun to face me. “You pretended I didn’t exist.”
Yeah, it seemed he’d been really torn up over that when he jumped into a new relationship. “Oh, yeah, you really missed me. I’m sure you were crying about it while screwing Nora.”
“What’s your fucking deal with Nora?”
I hated her. Hated that he’d moved on from me so easily, and so quickly, when I never could quite move on from him. I’d been the one to instigate our “break,” which he turned into a break-up. So, really, I’d had no right to be upset when I found out he was actually dating—not fucking—but dating her. Something he’d only done with me. Something only I had from him. I’d reacted by doing exactly what he was now: drowning my sorrows in alcohol.
That one drunken night was how I’d fallen into Brent’s bed. He’d been my friend, and it seemed so simple to think he could be more, that maybe he could come close to meaning what Wolf had. If I were brutally honest with myself, I’d used him to try to Band-Aid the bleeding wound left from discovering I’d meant nothing to someone who’d meant everything to me. Look how well that had worked out. So, yes, I fucking hated Nora Locke. Almost as much as I hated myself for letting Wolf go and basically handing him to her.
“I’m simply stating facts,” I said, fighting the sting of threatening tears. “You clearly didn’t miss me.”
“And how the hell would you know?” He stepped closer, the anger and hurt in his eyes taking me by surprise. “You just dropped me, Jade. So, how would you know how fucked up that made me?”
“I didn’t drop you!”
“You blocked me!”
“What?” No, I hadn’t. He had changed his number. “I blocked you? Sure.” I threw up my hands. “Whatever you need to tell yourself, Wolf.”
His dark brows pulled together. There was no point in having any kind of conversation with him when he was that drunk.
“Fuck you, Jade.” He turned, stumbling to the side before he headed across the parking lot.
“No, fuck you!” I stormed after him. Like hell I would be the bad guy. “You could have—” Tears stung my eyes, and I quickly sucked them back. Could have what? Fought for me? Wanted me? What was the point in hashing all this out with him? It was just picking at an old wound. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. We were never going to last. Thinking we stood a chance was stupid.” Outside of Dayton, he and I were a pipedream. I kept trying to hold on to him, but he’d felt like sand slipping through my fingers, along with everything else.