Page 32 of Nodus Tollens
“I had a little too much to drink after I saw him with someone else, and I drunkenly claimed to have a broken heart and was crying all night.”
Yikes.
“It was horrible and embarrassing, and as of right now, I’m going to pretend that night never happened.” With a light thump to my head, she signaled with the brush that she was done with my hair, and I pushed myself off the ground and onto my feet. Now facing each other, I could see just how much she was suffering over what had happened. When earlier I said her makeup was messy, it was because my poor best friend had been crying her eyes out last night. Even now, as I looked closer, I noticed the redness in her eyes and the splotchiness of mascara surrounding them.
It technically wasn’t Hendricks’s fault because he didn’t even know she existed, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t want to punch the guy for hurting my friend.
“Ugh, I need a shower.” Kate groaned as she ran a palm through her disheveled curls. Even disorderly and rumpled, she was still as gorgeous as ever. She then started gathering around her shower necessities while I threw myself back into bed with my Instagram app opened and searching one name in particular. Typing in Hayes Decker, the first name that popped up had over a hundred thousand followers. At first, I thought there was no way that was his profile, until my eyes took in his photos.
Oh my.
Only three photos were posted, but they were enough to light a fire within me. The first one was a shot of him out on the ice. His jersey was slightly pulled up as if wiping something off his mouth, but it was his exposed abdomen that had my thighs clenching. Hard lines of abs were coated in sweat as they glistened in the photo. Almost like they were shining and begging for my mou…
Nope.
Curious, I tapped the photo and found it had over twenty thousand likes.
Of course.
Rolling my eyes, I switched onto the next two photos which were much tamer. One was of a sunset that was falling behind a mountain, while the other was a group picture of all the Vipers together. I tried pinpointing him out but had no luck. Then, as I went to exit out of his profile, my finger had accidentally hit the follow button and immediate panic swept through me. I didn’t know what was worse, doing that, or hitting the unfollow button instantly after.
I closed out of the app and prayed to God I had done it quick enough to where he wouldn’t receive any notifications, but unfortunately, I wasn’t.
New Message:
Hayes_Decker: You know it’s rude to follow, then unfollow someone?
Oh my god.
I wanted to die of embarrassment.
Hayes_Decker: It’s okay though. I’m just glad that you’re thinking about me just as much as I’m thinking about you ;)
I contemplated blocking him, but that was until I received another notification.
Hayes_Decker requested to follow you
My teeth found my bottom lip and gnawed at it aggressively. I stared at the request for longer than I should have. Going back and forth on what to do.
Then another message came through.
Hayes_Decker: You see what I just posted?
Narrowing my eyes at the screen, I quickly went back onto the app and found his profile. What I saw sent my heart into chaos.
A plain, blue picture. Nothing else and the caption read,my new favorite color.
As if my phone had caught on fire, I threw it in front of me until I could finally catch my breath again. Emotions were running too high, and I wasn’t equipped to handle them. Not when every part of me despised Hayes just as much as it wanted him. A fear of what else he had up his sleeve sent my heart hammering. It made my skin tingle in curiosity.
But that’s all this could ever be.
That’s all I could let myself feel.
So, on a sigh, I rolled over and imagined a life where possibilities were endless and a future I yearned for was feasible. Where my heart wasn’t a factor and my fear no longer existed. What would life be like?
I would never know.
Then closing my eyes, I finally let my dreams take me away from this nightmare.
