Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 94106 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 471(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94106 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 471(@200wpm)___ 376(@250wpm)___ 314(@300wpm)
We stared into each other’s eyes until Bella opened the front door. “You ready to go, pain-in-the-ass big brother?”
She was completely oblivious at what she’d walked in on. I took one last, long look at Valentina’s face and nodded. “I guess so.”
Val and I stood. “Take care of yourself, Val.”
“You, too, Ford.”
Valentina walked out first, then Bella, then me. By the time I locked the house up, Bella was already getting into the passenger seat. Val stood at the bottom of her stairs, holding onto the banister. I had to fight myself with every step I took down the stairs and to the car not to run back and grab her—scream what she meant to me and fuck letting her go.
But I wasn’t walking away for me. I was doing it for her, and somehow that gave me the strength—though just barely.
I started the car and looked up from behind the wheel one last time before backing out of the driveway. Our eyes met. Inwardly, I said what I needed to believe was possible, but on the outside I only waved.
Same time next year, maybe?
Chapter 28
* * *
Ford
Two weeks dragged by.
I had no contact with Valentina after I left with Bella. Our only connection had been Montauk and Match, and the summer was over. Though I had taken to stalking Match.com once or twice a day—checking to see if her profile had changed to active. Logically, I understood that I hadn’t fought for her because she needed to see other people—so her profile should change to active. But it was going to slice my heart in two when it did.
In a fucked-up way, I wanted that to happen. I wanted the pain, wanted to know she’d moved on. Maybe being jealous and pissed off would make it easier for me to do just that.
Tonight I’d made plans with Logan, even though I hadn’t been in the mood to go out. He’d busted my balls about being scarce all summer until I agreed to meet for drinks. I figured one drink wouldn’t kill me. We sat at the bar bullshitting for two hours. I’d intentionally picked a place I knew wasn’t a hookup hotspot. I wasn’t in the mood to spend the night talking to a bunch of women I had no interest in.
But I guess that didn’t work out too well.
“Are these seats taken?” a tall blonde said.
I looked around the bar. There were plenty of other open seats. But Logan beat me to the answer.
He pulled out the stool next to him. “We were holding them, just waiting for the two of you to get here.”
I rolled my eyes.
The women giggled.
“I’m Gianna,” the blonde said. She had on a low-cut red shirt, and her tits were spilling out of it.
“I’m Amber.” The brunette offered me her hand.
“Logan Flint.” He lifted Gianna’s hand and brought it to his lips.
No one flirted more than Logan. He didn’t know how to turn it off. It either got him laid or got him smacked—it was fifty-fifty, odds he did pretty damn well with.
“Ford.” I nodded and shook Barbie Number One’s hand.
I might not have been in the mood for company, but there was nothing wrong with my eyesight. They were both pretty. Sexy, actually. Though, I found myself comparing them to Valentina.
Val had a natural beauty, a girl-next-door look that let you see who she was right away. Most women wore masks. I’d never understood why they put so much makeup on, especially when they were young. They painted their entire faces—eyebrows, eyelids, cheekbones, noses, lips—until their skin looked artificial. They thought it hid their flaws, but to me it hid their beauty.
Logan called the bartender over and told him to put whatever the ladies were drinking on his tab. While they were ordering, he leaned over to me. “Dibs on the blonde.”
“You can have both, buddy.”
He squinted at me like I had two heads. As fucked up as it was, it felt wrong to be talking to women in a bar.
I was single and hadn’t spoken to Valentina in two weeks, yet my heart felt like it was cheating. I had to force myself to stick around and finish my beer while making conversation. Despite my mood, the ladies turned out to be pretty nice. I’d judged them because they cared about their appearances and approached men in a bar. But Amber turned out to be an attorney, and Gianna was a teacher. I found myself asking Gianna questions about her job—what she’d thought of her first year teaching and what time she got out in the afternoons.
Basically, I was desperate to know how Valentina was enjoying her first few weeks and used this woman as a substitute.
The bar had gotten busier, and they’d turned up the music, which made it difficult to hold a conversation.