Filed to story: Swallow Me Whole (Sadie & Ashton) Book Free
She shuffles her feet. “I should go.”
“Yeah.”
But neither of us move.
I tell myself to turn and head for the exit. To put an end to this crazy night. Instead, my feet eat up the few feet between us until we’re standing close enough to touch. “You asked me if I believe in fate.”
“Do you?” She tugs her bottom lip between her teeth.
“Until tonight, I didn’t.”
“But you do now?”
“I think so.” Curling my fingers around the nape of her neck, I lean down and brush my lips across her cheek. “I hope you find what you’re looking for, Jules.” I pull away, and her eyes are huge and bright with an unmistakable sheen. Before those orbs pull me under, I turn on my heel and walk away without looking back.
5. Three Simple Rules
Jules
We’re a couple miles up the highway before Lesley’s maniac driving pulls me from my sexy stranger induced stupor. My cheek still radiates heat from the spot where he kissed me. I remember how his hand felt at the nape of my neck, and how the rugged scent of him made my head swim. I grow warm between the thighs just thinking about it.
“How was your flight?” Les asks, her voice instantly landing me back in reality.
“It was okay.”
And terrifying and exhilarating—an experience I wish I could do over again, just to see him one more time.
“You sound exhausted,” she says, swerving around a slower moving vehicle.
I grip my seat as she zips up Interstate 5 in her VW Bug. She’s gotta be doing twenty over. Traffic isn’t too heavy, but the scattered cars sharing the five-lane highway are moving along at a steady pace. Lesley races around them like she’s a professional driver on a closed course.
“Any chance we can get there in one piece?” I ask, only halfway ribbing her.
“Have you lost faith in my driving?” She quirks an indignant brow at me, but amusement plays on her dark-painted lips. Pink streaks her black locks. Her style has always been on the punkish side, and she’s embraced it here in Seattle.
“I think I’m still on edge from the flight.”
“Thought you said the flight was alright.”
“There was some turbulence.”
And a lot of hand-holding, not to mention an almost-kiss that was panty-melting. God, what would it have felt like to have those lips on mine? I’ll never see my sexy stranger again, so there’s no chance of ever finding out.
“Okay, I’ll be good and slow down,” she says, conceding with an exaggerated sigh. “But only because I know how much you hated every minute of that flight.” As Lesley eases up on the accelerator, she shoots me a questioning look. “So…you gonna tell me what happened back in Shit Town?”
She hates Whiskey Flats. She hates Chris even more.
“Promise no ragging on Chris?”
A shrug of her shoulder is all the promise I’m getting. “What happened, Jules?”
For the next ten minutes, I tell her why I fled Oklahoma. Keeping her eyes on the road, she chews over every word as the windshield wipers swish back and forth on the glass.
“I can’t believe that motherfucker walked out on you like that.”
“Can you blame him? I slept with another man.”
“Yes, Jules. I can blame him. In fact, I think he had it coming. He neglected you. He fucking messed with your head every chance he got. The jerk made you feel like a nag for wanting what any girl wants from her man.”
“He’s not a bad guy,” I say, wringing my hands. “Maybe we just weren’t meant to be.”
“I’m so glad to hear you say that. Finally.” Swiping her dark bangs back from her face, she shoots me a pointed look. “Because a real man puts his woman first. Chris didn’t. He cared more about drinking and goofing off with his buddies. He never fucking grew up, Jules.”
“Still, that’s no excuse for what I did.”
“Okay, so you made a mistake. It’s not the end of the world. But knowing you the way I do, you think it is, and you’ll punish yourself over it forever. Trust me, Chris isn’t worth it.” Lesley is accelerating again, her irritation with my ex dumping lead into her foot.
“Les, you’re speeding.”
“I always speed.”
“Well, I’d rather you not do it while you’re angry.”
“I’m not angry. I’m…outraged on your behalf.”
I bite back a snort. How ironic, considering I’m the one in the wrong. But Lesley won’t ever see things the way I do. After all, she’s the one who caught Chris kissing another girl at a party once when he was shit-faced. He’d groveled the next morning, and I’d forgiven him. Truth is, I’d been too scared to stand on my own without him, so I’d convinced myself it was only a bump in the road.
But Lesley is stronger than me, and she would call it game over if anyone ever treated her like that.
“I’m glad you’re here,” she says after the silence stretches too long. “Chris is a dumbass. And Perry’s a sleaze. Why him? I’m just curious.”
“I don’t know,” I say with a shrug. But my gut is burning with shame. “The worst part is, I don’t even remember it.”
She reduces speed before taking an exit and heading down a tree-lined street. “You don’t remember fucking your boss?”
“I don’t remember, Les. Nothing. It’s a complete blank.”
“How much did you drink that night?”
“Too much, apparently.”
Lesley makes a right turn then pulls into a driveway overrun with three other parked vehicles. She comes to a stop behind a pickup, nearly kissing the bumper. “I’ve never even seen you drunk, let alone blackout wasted.”
The night is eerily quiet after she shuts off the ignition, and her words seem to echo in the dark between us. Soft rain pitter-patters on the roof of the car, but not even that drowns out the roar in my ears. The fact that I don’t remember unsettles me more than I want to think about.
“Chris and I had a huge argument.” I don’t mention how it was over money, or how his drinking escalated the past few months. He’s never carried his weight since we moved in together, and that’s just one more reason Lesley hates him. “We both said some really hurtful things, and after he took off…”
“You decided to bury your heartache in a glass?”
“Yeah.” Looking back, I can see it clearly now. We’d been heading for an epic breakup for a while. A permanent one.