Page 43 of Fate Forever and Always

“Callie, can we focus, please? What are you calling me for? And why the fuck are you whispering?”

“What I mean is, I let my emotions get to me, and I basically told him I regret wasting time on Jake because I wished I was with him that whole time. I literally almost said it to his face. I was crying about how blocking Jake makes this all so final and all this other stupid crap I was feeling, and then I asked him tofucking kiss me. He was hesitant, but then I kissed him.” I said it all in one breath, trying to get it out as fast as possible.

The phone was silent for about thirty seconds. I was just about to ask if she hung up when she spoke. “You are still talking to him? You told me you blocked him. Bitch…did you lie to me?”

“Calm your tits. I know I fucked up, okay? I just…I can’t.”

“Do...do you want to get back with him?” she asked quietly.

“No. Absolutely not.”

“Okay,” she whispered. Her tone took me aback because Aubrey was not usually someone to give one-word answers or whispers, for that matter.

“Tell me what you want to say. Be honest.”

“Callie, he hurt you, and a lot of us knew it had been going on for a while. You just wouldn’t admit it. I think I’m just worried you are going to fall into old habits, and I can’t watch—”

“I won’t…I promise. Aubs, I want to talk about what I said to Nick.”

“What is there to say, Callie? You finally admitted you are in love with the man. He has to be so fucking excited…No?”

“I never said I loved him,” I said curtly.

“Well, you do, don’t you?

I was silent. I couldn’t say no because I do love him. He is one of my favorite people in this world. I also couldn’t say yes because...Well, I don’t know if that would be a lie, too. She wasn't asking if I love him as a friend, and I’m just not ready to admit something like that.

I heard the hotel room door open, so I whispered into the phone, “Gotta go. Love you.”

Before I could hang up, Aubrey whispered back, “Tellhimthat, not me.” It made me smile as I hit theend callbutton.

I exited the bathroom and found Nick making our drinks.

“Hey, how’s Aubrey?” he asked. He wasn’t looking at me, but I could tell he was smirking.

“Why would you think—" He turned and looked at me with that knowing smirk. I smiled. “She’s fine.”

He handed me a drink, and I took a sip. I made a funny face when I tasted it.

“What is this?”

Nick laughed. “It's this amazing thing called lemon water; they just invented it.”

“Asshole,” I muttered. I took another sip. “I just wasn’t expecting it.”

Nick kept laughing and started getting his bed ready on the couch.

“What are you doing? I asked.

Nick looked around the room and then at me. He pointed to the couch. “Getting ready for bed. Why?”

“No reason,” I said quickly.

I returned to the bathroom so I could change into my pajamas. I walked out to grab a hair tie out of my bag and he was sitting on the couch, smiling. When I walked back into the bathroom to brush my teeth, I watched him in the mirror as he passed by the open door. He was bringing some cups and things we had left around the room into the kitchen.

He was wearing gray sweatpants that fell just below his hip bones, his bare chest was on full display. Staring at him had my mind buzzing with the memory of our kiss. I bit my lip, thinking about how his hands fit in my hair. How his lips overtook mine and put the perfect amount of pressure on mine. The way his tongue entered my mouth with such care. The way his dic—

“Sweets. Did you hear me?”

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