“Blaise…” Dad sighed.
I stood up and dusted myself off. “V’s waiting for me. I don’t have time for this.”
“Kid, I need to talk to you.”
I fixed him with a glare. “You had years to talk to me about serious things, but you became a shell of a person. I sure as shit don’t want to be like you.”
The hurt on my dad’s face told me I’d hit a nerve, but I was so angry with him, I didn’t care. It was like as soon as I came back here, all that resentment I felt from my younger days came bubbling up to the surface.
I walked out of the office without another word and made my way to Veronica. A tiny brunette sat next to her, and they looked in deep conversation. I wrapped an arm around Veronica’s waist and pushed her hair to the side so I could nose across her neck. “I don’t want to be here,” I whispered in her ear.
I felt her tense, but then she relaxed once she saw it was me. She angled her head, giving me better access to her neck as I kissed her greedily. “Mmm, hey baby,” she purred.
“Can we please leave?” I whispered. “I want to bury myself inside you and make you scream my name.”
Her hazel eyes widened, but then she nodded. She turned back around to the other woman, who smiled at me. It took me a minute to realize she was Noah’s fiancée, Dinah. “You two need to get a room,” Dinah joked.
I winked at her. “That’s the plan.”
Dinah barked out a laugh. For a tiny woman, she had such a commanding presence.
Veronica put a hand on the other woman’s arm. “It’s gonna be fine. The wedding will be great, and you and Noah will live happily ever after, okay?”
She nodded. “I know. It’s…”
“He’s going overboard. It’s only because he loves you, and he wants everything to be perfect,” Veronica assured her. Her eyes slid over to me. “I better go. Someone wants my undivided attention.”
Dinah laughed. “Have fun, you two.”
Veronica went to pay her tab, but I threw some bills down instead. “You have a jacket?” I asked. She was only wearing that thin leather jacket she always wore, and it was a far walk to my car.
She shook her head. “Nah, I’m good.”
I grumbled and took off my suit jacket, then helped her into it. I liked the way her head dipped down, and she thought I couldn’t see her smile at the gesture. “Can we go to your place? I don’t want to be home.”
“It’s far,” she warned.
I rubbed my thumb across her cheek. “I don’t care. I just want to be with you right now.”
“Okay, sure. Let’s go.”
I spent the night doing exactly what I said I would, burying myself inside her. Making her scream while I gripped her hair and told her who was boss. I would have felt bad about using her to forget my issues if she hadn’t made it clear she did the same thing.
A part of me wanted to tell her what was going on, to share the issues digging deep inside. But that teetered on the relationship line, and we couldn’t cross it. We were only pretending and fucking until our expiration date. None of this shit was real. I had to remind myself of that.
Chapter Fourteen
VERONICA
When I woke the next morning to an empty bed, I wasn’t surprised, but a part of me was disappointed. The fucking last night had been wild, animalistic sex, just the way I liked it, but Blaise was like a robot. He was pissed about something, but instead of asking him about it, I let him take me until I couldn’t take it anymore. Until he had spent all his negative energy into me.
I didn’t hear him leave this morning, but maybe it was better this way. If I got used to waking up beside him, it might make my heart think big foolish ideas. I shoved the feeling down inside and got up.
And immediately got annoyed by a text message from my ex.
SETH: Can you take my shift today?
ME: Eat a dick.
SETH: Come on, Roni. Don’t be that way.
ME: FUCK NO!
I made breakfast and ignored his texts before meeting Olivia at the King of Prussia mall. Olivia was all smiles when I met her inside, and she gave me a big hug.
It surprised a lot of people when they found out Liv was my best friend. She had such a bubbly personality, whereas I was a cynical asshole. Liv truly believed there were good people in the world, and I loved her for that, but I knew better.
“Okay, so why are we shopping?” she asked as she dragged me into the nearest department store.
“For asshat’s wedding,” I said through gritted teeth.
Her big brown eyes went wide. “You’re really gonna go?”
“Yeah, to be petty about it and show him I’m better off without him.”
“You are better off without him,” she agreed. She rifled through the racks looking for something that would work for me. “So spill. What’s up with you and the hockey hunk?”
I bit my lip at that because Blaise Holmstrom totally was that and more. That man knew exactly what I wanted in the bedroom, and I loved this fuck buddy situation we had going on.
“We’re not really dating,” I explained. I took the navy blue dress she shoved at me, making a sour face that she was trying to get me to wear colors.
She handed me a few black dresses. “Can I put you in any happy colors?”
I shook my head. “Black’s my happy color.”
She groaned. “But it’s so boring!”
“Classic,” I argued.
She shoved a bright blue dress at me to spite me, then she shooed me away to the dressing room. She was nipping at my heels, though, because of course I was going to try these on and show her. We’d probably take pictures too and decide what was best. I already knew it was going to be whatever black dress looked hot on me.
She shoved me into a dressing room, and I put on the bright blue dress to appease her.
“What do you mean you aren’t dating?” she called through the closed door separating us.
“We’re fake dating,” I explained and tried to shove myself into the dress. I only got the zipper halfway up before I had to open the door and ask for her help. She zipped it all the way, and we inspected it in the three-way mirror.
“Not bad,” she said. “Okay, what do you mean, fake dating?”
I took a picture of myself in the dress and sent it to Blaise.
ME: What do you think??
ME: For the wedding.
“We’re pretending until the wedding,” I explained.
“What does he get out of it?
“Sex.” I shrugged and went back into the dressing room. I put on the navy blue dress and made a grossed-out face at my reflection in the mirror. It looked a little too mother of the bride.
I opened the door, and Liv wrinkled her nose. “Ew, no, not that one!”
I laughed and went back to try on one of the other black dresses. Ooh, I liked this one. It had thick straps up top but a sexy thigh-high slit in the leg. It was floor-length, but since it was a November wedding, it would work. I snapped another photo and sent it to Blaise.
When I walked out to show Liv, she looked appraisingly at it. “Hmm…that one’s promising. But you need to back up on what you just said.”