Page 56 of It's Not Home Without You

“Oh... wow. Did you walk in on him?”

“Yep, the skank was wearing my shoes. I had so many it was hard to keep track. When I couldn’t find an item, I figured I lost it somewhere it in all the mess. I was wrong; the bastard let all his other women take my shit.”

“Why is he still breathing?” Emma grumbled.

I laughed. If only she knew.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Sometimes in life,you must do things that hurt you, and sitting across from my ex-boyfriend while I ignored a perfectly good dinner would hurt me.

No pain, no gain.

Twirling around I checked myself out in the mirror. I looked good. I looked better than good. I looked fucking fantastic. The white, long-sleeved bodycon dress looked amazing against my skin. It was like a second skin and made my ass look fabulous. The tan wedges were cute and not too painful on my feet. I thought about taking the truck, but I was sure I’d end up with dirt smudges. Besides, Grandpa wanted to visit Rusty’s pop, so Rusty was dropping me off, that way Grandpa got to keep the car.

“You look nice. This have anything to do with the outsider who’s staying at Lee’s bed-and-breakfast?” See, insmall towns, nothing was a secret for long. The weather was gloomy. I hoped it didn’t rain. It would mess with my outfit.

“It’s not what you think,” I said as I got in the truck.

“Not your fancy boyfriend coming to get you back?”

“It’s more complicated than that.” Rusty didn’t tell me about his wedding. I didn’t have to tell him about Ashton.

Sue me, I might never get over him getting married without me.

Franny’s was justlike I remembered it, old and outdated but it smelled divine. They still covered the tables in burgundy and cream cloths with a candle in the center. It was charming. Max used to bring me there all the time. We also sat in the last booth away from everybody else. I had to fight the urge to look at our spot.

It wasn’t our anything anymore.

As soon as Ashton saw me, he got up. “You look beautiful, Freya. I hope you don’t mind, but I went ahead andordered for us.”

He grabbed my chair and pulled it back so thatI could take a seat. Ashton was a gentleman, just not where it counted. Real gentleman didn’t cheat. Guess no one told himthat.

“Can we please stop with the bullshit, Ashton? I’m tired, I left, and I burned all the things you gave me. What do you want from me? Haven’t you humiliated me enough? Can we call it even and be done?”

Ashton took a sip of his water before he answered me. “I’m sorry,gorgeous.”

I used to think I was special when Ashton called me gorgeous. It made me feel something more than the emptiness I carried with me. Except right now it irritated me.

“You’re sorry or sorry you got caught? Because it didn’t seem like you were sorry when Vivian was bent over our couch screaming for you to fuck her harder,” I spat. The rage I felt that day was coming back.

“I made a mistake, Freya.” He reached across the table to take my hand. “I love you, gorgeous.“

When you had abandonment issues, feeling desired felt good. It made you forget for a second the hurt you felt when someone left, but eventually that soothing feeling faded and the empty ache was still there.

“When you love someone, you don’t cheat on them. There isn’t room for anyone else in the relationship because your heart is already full. When you love someone, you don’t hurt them, because hurting them hurts you. Every decision you make is with the other person in mind. You’d do everything for their dreams to come true, even if it means sacrificing your own.” My tone was soft but firm, getting my point across. Ashton was quiet, and that was when I felt the heat at my back. Stupidly, I turned, my eyes automatically going to the table in the corner.

They say time heals all wounds, but in my case, I felt like time just ripped them open again. I blinked twice, trying to tell myself that I was losing it. There was no way Max was sitting with Abigail in our spot.When our eyeslocked, it felt like we were the only two people in the room.

Nothing mattered except the two of us.

Except that wasn’t true, not anymore.

All those feeling we had for each other, he now had for someone else, and it wasn’t his fault, and it wasn’t her fault. Hell, it wasn’t even my fault. When you loved someone, you’d do anything for them, and I had. So, I looked at Max one more time, and I promised myself I would let him go.

“It’s hard to love someone who doesn’t want to be loved. You can’t say it was all bad, Freya. At first, it was wonderful. The more time passed, the more withdrawn you got. You never talked about your family, about your home. You were there with me, but you weren’t.”

“So, you had sex with someone else? It’s not like I wasn’t giving it to you,” I replied harshly.

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