Page 11 of His Bittersweet Regret

“Don’t judge.”

“Have you ever had a committed relationship?”

“Not really,” she replied quickly. “What’s the point? I’m young and look great. Might as well enjoy everything life has to offer, right?”

“Uh-huh. And what about when you’re home and feeling lonely? Wouldn’t it be better to have someone there to hold you at night when you’re having a bad day and need to know that someone has your back, no matter what?”

She threw her napkin down. “If it was so great, why did you break up with your girlfriend?” Before I could answer, something vicious flashed in her eyes. “For that matter, I wonder who is holding your ex while she cries about the fact that you left her high and dry when she was apparently expecting you to propose any day.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

She laughed. “You really are clueless, aren’t you? Cassy said your girl was expecting you to buy her a ring and propose because it was ‘time’ according to some grand plan you both had.”

No. Fuck. The plan. I’d forgotten all about it because everyone was always in my fucking ear about all the shit I was missing out on by being with Opal.

“Ah, it’s starting to click, huh? You left your girl right about the time she thought you were getting engaged. I wonder who held her all night and had her back while she cried over your sorry, judgmental ass?” She shook her head and stood up.

“Cassy was wrong. I don’t know why she’s waiting around to get a chance to jump on your dick. I don’t think you’re worth the ride after all. You want to know why I’m just out having fun and enjoying myself?” She leaned in close over the table, flashing her cleavage as she did, but even though it was there in my face, I couldn’t look away from the emotion displayed in her eyes.

“I never wanted to be the sad, lonely girl crying in my bed after the love of my life dumped me and left me there like yesterday’s garbage. I watched my mom go through it four times before she finally gave up and became a shell of the person she once was. There are only so many times, and so many ways, a person can be broken before they end up completely destroyed and I won’t allow that to happen to me.”

“Seems to me maybe it already has,” I mumbled as she left me sitting there to pick up the bill for the dinner that neither one of us managed to eat.

So far, I hadn’t been missing out on anything by being with Opal. Maybe, I’d missed the chance to get a few sexually transmitted diseases if everyone else’s sexual numbers were anything like Tandra’s or my brothers’.

“What am I doing?” I asked myself again before I threw down enough money to cover the bill and tip and then left the restaurant. For a moment, I almost broke down and drove to the apartment I used to share with Opal. The thought of her crying, alone in our old bed, hit me right in the heart and left a scar there that I didn’t think would ever heal.

I pulled my phone out and texted her again.

Marsh: I’m sorry if I hurt you. That was never my intention.

As with the last texts I’d sent, it didn’t appear to go through.

7

Opal

“It’s been three months,” Bethany whined.

“And do you know what hasn’t changed in those three months?” I asked sarcastically.

“Your attitude?” She asked with just as much sarcasm.

“Ha! No. The fact that I’m pregnant, Beth.”

“So what? No one else knows that yet.”

“You don’t think it would be dishonest to go on a date with a man and not tell him I’m pregnant?”

“Honestly, if you did, it probably wouldn’t be a deal breaker for most guys.”

I glowered at her, unsure what the hell she meant by that. “Why the hell wouldn’t it be?”

“If you’re already pregnant, they can’t get you in that state.” She shrugged as if it was a given.

“Ew! I am so not having sex with anyone else while carrying Marsh’s baby,” I informed her.

“Marsh doesn’t care about that baby, or you, otherwise you would have heard from him by now. You are almost five months along. When are you going to stop carrying that torch for him?”

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