Page 25 of Fighting Fate

I don’t know what was in her drink, but she’s full of beans. Quincy is never this pushy…out of the three of us, she’s the softy that panics at the first sign of confrontation.

“Your usual type is shit, so try something new. It might surprise you.” There’s a low honk outside the cafe as Jamie’s Range stops in view. Picking up her handbag and jacket, Quincy puts cash down on the table towards the tab. “I better get going.”

“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”

“You’re just salty because I’m right.”

She’s in the car and out of sight when my phone vibrates on the table with a text alert from her.

Quincy:Say yes to the date. Mmmwah!

“Since when hasshe been this…forceful?”

“Quincy made a good point,” Dorian points out. “Your usual type is sketchy.”

“It’s the perfect scenario. You can have a fling with a guy that you’ll never have to see again if you don’t want to. It’s a winner.”

“Oh, when you put it like that…” I’m rolling my eyes, but it makes perfect sense, even to my stubborn defences.

“You’ve fucked a lot worse.” Beth shrugs.

“At least I’m not the one fucking my best friend’s replacement.”

“Say what?” Dorian’s wide eyes flash to Beth.

“Prick,” Beth spits at me, her cheeks flaring a deep crimson.

“Is that why you’re so obsessed with me and Rory?”

Clearly, my taunt works because she holds her middle finger up at me brazenly while she curses aloud, “Bitch.”

“That’s karma.”

“It’s going to bite you in the arse. You just wait…”

Maybe it will. But as my phone lights up with a text from Rory, my chest squeezes so tight that I can’t catch my breath to carry on with our verbal spar. And anyway, I’m done talking in circles over a decision that Rory so guilefully coerced me into. It doesn’t matter how many times I talk myself out of it because, in the end, it’ll be the unrelenting itch that yells the loudest.

Besides, the more we have this back-and-forth right now, the more I miss the push and pull Rory and I have. It’s so natural that I get lost in it. For all the million things that are constantly revolving around in my thoughts, when he’s near me, they all fall silent, and it’s as though I can finally catch my breath again. My chest isn’t strangling my heart, and all this hurt that I can’t shake doesn’t feel like it’s smothering my lungs.

As much as I hate to admit it, I’m drawn to Rory in a way I’ve never been drawn to anyone before. While I know that there’s no future or potential for one between us, I can’t help but go back for that little bit more. And anyway, I don’t want more whimsical promises that lead to nothing but disappointment. I want fun. I want hot sex. I want a carefree fling.

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