Page 20 of Enraged

She was standing there, her thin body swimming in my clothes. Her face had been scrubbed free of all her wedding makeup and her messy pinned hair tumbled around her elbows in haphazard curls.

She is beautiful. Jace really played his fuckin’ self.

She nodded.

“Good.”

After finally finding another pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt, I hauled ass to the bathroom to change.

Fuck, boxers. I forgot boxers.

“Commando, it is,” I spoke softly to myself.

“Did you say something?” she called out from the other side of the door.

Not as soft spoken as I thought, apparently.

I opened the door and stepped out, shaking my head.

“I was just thinkin’ out loud,” I clarified. “Are you hungry? I’m not sure what we have here but Dad usually keeps it pretty well stocked and up to date.”

She shook her head.

“You need to eat, Loo,” I scolded gently. “I’m going to make you something and I really hope you’ll try a few bites, if for no other reason than to shut me up.”

Curling up on the couch, she pulled a blanket over herself, trying and failing to hide the smile on her face.

I rummaged around the kitchen, looking for anything I could turn into something. As luck would have it, there was a few pounds of frozen hamburger meat in the deep freezer with a label in my dad’s messy handwriting from only three weeks ago and a few cans of tomato sauce in the cabinets. If I could find some pasta, we would be firing on all cylinders. After finally finding everything that I needed, I fired up the gas stove.

Nothing says happy failed wedding day like piss poor spaghetti with the other scorned party of the groom’s hidden affair.

Jolene

The smell of garlic and tomatoes flooded my nostrils.

Damn, maybe I am hungry.

Companionable silence stretched across the living room. I guess one of the perks of being friends as long as we have, we didn’t feel the need to fill the silence with idle chitchat.

“Dakota?”

He jerked his head up from whatever it was he was chopping on the kitchen counter.

“Hmmm?”

“How long do you think it was going on?”

Sighing, he set down the knife and stepped around the island.

“I dunno. I like to think it couldn’t have been very long because it hurts less that way, but I guess it could have been happening for years.”

He walked over to the sofa.

“Why would she accept your proposal? And why would he ask me to marry him if they wanted each other?” I questioned, unable to disguise the pain in my voice.

Ruffling my hair, he shook his head. “I wish I had an answer for that, Loo. Maybe for the thrill? The adrenaline?”

Surely, they didn’t tear our fuckin’ world apart over some goddamn adrenaline.

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