Filed to story: Once Upon a One Night Mistake Book PDF Free by Simone Shirazi
It had been that moment when she realized, after a mere four months of dating, that she loved him. It hadn’t been a conscious decision by any means, or even a revelation she really wanted to have, but judging by the way her heart had felt like it was going to explode and her stomach had been doing the good kind of somersaults, what she felt was undeniable.
That was the night she’d ended up in the backseat of his car, his name on her lips as the countdown to midnight started. By the time the fireworks exploded in the sky, Taliana was experiencing fireworks of her own, for reasons better than it being the beginning of a new year.
Yes, she certainly remembered that night.
“How could I forget,” she murmured, desperately wishing she could.
Zak’s smile faded slightly as he continued to watch her. “Tell me what you remember,” he pressed, his right hand moving to rest between them. “I want to know.”
At the sight of the tattoos on his knuckles, the memory of his hands on her body came rushing back. But she couldn’t get lost in that again. What they had was over, completely ruined by a careless action on his part.
“Why do you even care?” she snapped, moving to get off the bed, even though she still didn’t feel much better. “It’s all in the past.”
His hand shot out to grab her wrist, keeping her from leaving. “It doesn’t have to stay in the past, Lia.” Zak leaned closer, his other hand coming to rest on her hip. “We can bring it back.”
Like it had in the past, his soft touch almost made her forget how to reason. She found herself getting lost in eyes once again, but somehow, she managed to stay in the present.
“That’s not an option, Zak,” she sighed, shaking her head. “You made it that way.”
He glanced away, acting as if after all those months, he was finally beginning to regret what he had done. “If I could take it back, I would,” he murmured, all traces of playfulness gone. “She didn’t mean anything to me, Lia. I was with you for a reason.”
Taliana’s mouth went dry as he moved closer, one hand sliding down her thigh while the other came up to her waist, pulling her into him. Had her head not been spinning and her stomach lurching dangerously, she would have pushed him away, but by then all she could concentrate on was simply getting a breath in.
“Tell me what you remember from that night,” he whispered, his lips only a few inches from hers. “I want to know.”
She found herself unable to speak with him so close, and everything she wanted to simply forget came rushing back.
“I don’t want to think about it,” she choked out, shutting her eyes as another wave of nausea came over her.
His lips ghosted over hers, and suddenly she was pressed against his chest, the heady scent of his cologne filling her nose, only adding to her sick feeling.
“Would you rather relive it?” he questioned, his mouth brushing against her jaw this time.
Bile burned in the back of Taliana’s throat, and she knew that any second she was going to explode. “I-I have to go.”
But Zak only tightened his grip, placing a kiss on the sensitive spot behind her ear that he knew she loved. “Stay with me.”
“I really can’t,” she insisted, taking a deep breath to keep everything down. “Zak, you should let me go.”
Instead of releasing her as she’d hoped, he buried his face in her neck and murmured against her skin. “If I say it, will you leave that prick upstairs and come back to me?”
Taliana froze, completely lost as to what he was referring to. “Say what to me?”
Zak lifted his head and met her eyes, his dark gaze unflinching. “That I love you.”
If his words weren’t shocking enough, the fact that she vomited on him mere seconds later definitely was.
It took him a second to comprehend what happened, but when the former contents of Taliana’s stomach began to drip off his once pristine shirt and onto the bed, Zak finally jumped back in horror.
“You fucking bitch!” he screeched, holding the ruined fabric away from his chest. “Why the hell did you do that?”
Though Taliana still felt like she was going to be sick, she couldn’t help but laugh at the situation. “I warned you.”
“You didn’t say shit about it!” he seethed, gagging as he looked down at his shirt. “Fuck, this is disgusting!”
“I told you to let me go,” shesaid nonchalantly, slipping off the bed and readjusting her dress. “You just didn’t listen. Then again, that’s nothing new.”
Zak’s face contorted in anger. “I’ll get you back for this, you bitch.”
Despite the fact he was threatening her, Taliana felt happier than she had in a while. “I’d like to see you try,” she taunted as she breezed past him.
A few moments later, she stumbled up the stairs and back onto the main deck. After searching the crowd for a certain familiar face, Taliana spotted Sebastian and Khalid and made a beeline for them. Sebastian looked vaguely surprised to see her, but pulled her to him nonetheless.
“Feeling better?” he asked, his hand resting lightly on her hip.
A few feet away, Zak finally burst through the door Taliana had just come out of, covered in vomit and still in a rage. It was the best thing she’d seen all week.
“You have? no idea.”
16
An Abundance of Sebastians
Apparently, vomiting on someone was a good method to keep them at bay for extended periods of time.
A week had passed since the disaster on
Big Bertha, and Taliana hadn’t seen much of Zak since. Blair had mostly stayed to herself as well, choosing instead to simply eye Taliana up and down whenever she passed by.
With their exes electing to stay away, Sebastian and Taliana had had it relatively easy. Despite being attached at the hip during school hours, when the final bell of the day rang, they went in opposite directions. Sure, they spent a minimal amount of time together outside of school in an attempt to convince people they were truly dating, but there was only so long they could be in the same area without wanting to commit murder.
So when the weekend finally arrived, Taliana couldn’t have been anymore thankful. She was sure Sebastian felt the same way.
At least, she thought so until her phone rang late Saturday afternoon.
“Why are you calling me?” she demanded upon picking up, annoyed that her peaceful stroll through the neighborhood had been interrupted. “I thought we agreed to stay away from each other until Monday. We nearly killed each other in our last day of detention.”