Page 43 of No Ordinary Love

"I hate this psychology shit."

Basil laughed. "Don't hate me because I'm smart."

"What do you think he wants now?"

"He wants you back."

"There were too many things against us and that has not changed. We apparently sucked at communicating what we were going through. His family hates my guts."

"Except Rena," Basil pointed out. "She hooked you up with Jax."

"Right. But that woman scares the bejesus out of me."

"She's intimidating," Basil agreed. He'd encountered Rena Covington at university fundraisers.

"What do you think I should do?"

Basil shook his head. "I can't tell you, Sunshine. I am just telling you what I think is going on. You have to figure out what you want."

I pulled my legs up and leaned my chin on my knees. "I don't know what I want."

"Yes, you do. You're afraid to want it, but what you want is to go back in time and be with Lucas like none of this happened."

I sighed. My friend knew meverywell.

"But wanting what was in the past is not going to take me into the future," I remarked. "I'm going to think about it."

"Yeah, and while you're at it, you shouldn't eye fuck Lucas quite so blatantly when you do."

"I did not eye fuck him." I picked up a cushion and threw it at Basil.

He laughed as he caught it and threw it back at me. "All through dinner. I thought you were going to drag him into your bedroom."

I hugged the cushion. "He looked delicious. And he smelled so good. I miss sex."

"Just sex?"

"I miss sex with him," I admitted wanly.

"The first step to recognizing a problem is admitting it," he stated condescendingly.

"I don't have a problem."

"Do, too."

We talked into the early morning, and it felt like no time had passed since I last saw him. That was the true test of a good friendship—after months apart, we were still perfectly in sync.

Chapter 16

Lucas

Iwas in a bad mood when I drove to her parent's place to talk to Kath.

Since she broke up with Mercer, Kath had been living with her parents in their mansion, complete with sprawling gardens and towering magnolia trees. Kath had her own wing in the house. The driveway alone was enough to make anyone pause—it was lined with ancient oaks, their gnarled branches casting shadows over the cobblestone path leading to the grand entrance.

The Bellamy estate was even larger than the Covington family home where my mother now lived. After my parents married, Grandma and Grandpa moved into an old family house on The Battery, right on the Ashley River. I had left home when I went to university and, aside from a few nights here and there, had never moved back. The place felt too ostentatious, and I preferred something more muted. Like the townhouse I'd lived in for fourmonths with Amara. That had been perfect…until she left. Now it was grim, mocking me.

I stayed in the car after I parked it, waving away the Bellamy family valet who wanted my key. I wasn't planning on staying long.

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