Filed to story: Once Upon a One Night Mistake Book PDF Free by Simone Shirazi
Sebastian took a stunned half-step back but recovered quickly. “We don’t have much longer to go, Talia. It’s just a few more days, maybe a week, until Amir leaves the country. I promise it’ll all be over soon.”
“Unless it ends right now, it won’t be soon enough.” She shook her head, arms coming up to wrap around her stomach. “I’m sick and tired of having to sit back and watch while you fawn all over her and forget about me. I can’t do it anymore.”
“Why are you putting me in this position?” he seethed, finally losing the composure he’d been trying so hard to maintain. “Are you jealous of her or something? What is this about, Taliana?”
“Yes, Sebastian, I’m jealous,” she confessed, though that barely skimmed the surface. “I’m jealous that she sees you more than I do. I’m jealous she gets all your attention while you practically forget I exist. I’m jealous of what you two have.”
“We don’t have anything!”
Taliana was getting sick of hearing that phrase, and she was certainly tired of saying another. “I don’t believe you.”
“Of course you don’t believe me.” He laughed dryly. “You never believe a word I say, do you?”
“You haven’t given me a reason to.” She held herself tighter, not sure if she was trying to keep herself from falling apart or exploding. The two didn’t seem so different at the moment. “Who’s it going to be? Me? Or Blair?”
“What is this? An ultimatum?”
Taliana shrugged. “Call it whatever you want. Just know that if you pick her, I’m done. I can’t do this, Sebastian. I’ve had enough.”
He said nothing for a long moment. “This is bullshit, Taliana.”
Her arms fell, her fury building once again. She’d finally reached her boiling point, and there was nothing he could say that would stop the inevitable.
“You’re right, this is bullshit,” she said, shaking from trying to keep it all in. “I’m done. I’m done with this. I’m done with you. I won’t continue to put myself through this.”
As her fight began to build, it seemed as if his began to fade. Shock had finally settled over his features, eyes wide as realization dawned on him. “What? Are you serious?”
“We’re done, Sebastian. Get the hell out of my house.”
Taliana watched as a series of emotions crossed his face, starting with shock and morphing into hurt. “This isn’t the way it’s supposed to be.”
“You should’ve considered the possibility of this before you started lying to me. I can’t and I won’t do this. We’re done.”
“Talia,? please .”
She wanted to scream, to demand he get out of her house and never come anywhere near her again, but softer, far more damaging words she never thought she’d say slipped out instead.
“I used to think I loved you, but it’s obvious I never did and never could,” she lied, unable to tear her eyes from his. “This would have hurt so much more if I had.”
That was all she had to say.
The next few moments were a blur, punctuated only by the hurt on his face, the sound of the front door softly clicking closed, and the feeling of the hardwood beneath Taliana’s knees as she tried to comprehend what the hell she’d just done.
But if one thing was clear, they were undeniably, unmistakably over.
42
Undeniable
This was the last place he should have been. It had only taken one step inside the house to know he’d made a mistake, but Sebastian had no plans to correct it.
“Did you two have a fight?”
He didn’t bother to look up from the floor, deciding it was best not to say a word to the pacing girl in front of him. Acknowledging her would have been a mistake, yet ignoring her was impossible.
“What was it about?” Blair pressed, coming to a stop in front of where he was seated on the couch.
A hand came to rest on her hip, a hardly noteworthy action, but the movement caused Sebastian to catch a whiff of her jasmine perfume. It was a scent that had once never failed to make his heart race, but now it just made him feel ill.
He finally worked up the nerve to meet her gaze, answering the question without a word. He didn’t need to; she could read him like an open book.
“You,” he said. “Us.”
“I’m sorry,” she murmured, lowering beside him on the couch. “I really shouldn’t have expected any different. She was obviously against this from the start. I don’t know why she agreed if it was just going to end up like this.”
His gaze dropped back to the floor. “Tell me about it.”
Blair sighed as she crossed one leg over the other, causing her already short hemline to rise higher, and Sebastian couldn’t stop himself from following the smooth lines of her thighs.
“Are you two still together?” she questioned gently, sounding genuinely concerned.
He shook his head, embarrassed by the presence of tears prickling behind his eyes. Taliana had never loved him, had never felt the same way he did, and made it clear she never would. He blinked them away, focusing on the bitterness instead of the pain. It was over. Truly and undeniably over.
And even though she had been the one to say the damning words, it had been his fault.
“No,” he said, surprised his voice didn’t break. “She ended it. I… She…” He stopped to draw in a breath, to gather his thoughts. “She means so much to me, but we’re done. It was her choice, but I didn’t fight it. I don’t think she wanted me to. I should’ve known it was never going to work with us.”
And it killed him.
Blair lifted an eyebrow, obviously unable to understand. “If you feel so much for her, why are you here?”
Because you’re the only one who still loves me.
Sebastian wished that wasn’t the answer, but as he sat there, he knew it was the truth. At first, he hadn’t been sure why he’d driven here instead of his own house after the blowup with his newest ex-girlfriend, but now it was clear. Maybe he and Taliana really just weren’t meant to be. Maybe his destiny was sitting beside him.
He just wanted her to make him forget.