Page 31 of Petals of Blue: Part One
I blink, then blink again, remembering those first few months when Violet kept asking for her dad and my aunt,her mother, would scoff and walk away. Still, to this day, I hurt for the little girl I took under my wing.
"Then I unpacked my bags, gave her my secret food stash and did my very best to be what she needed after losing her amazing father."Shit, don't cry.
"Bee—"
While clenching my right fist as tight as I can in my lap, I shake my head. "Don't, Jared." I'm annoyed and frayed. "I have to go?—"
"No, please don't," Roman begs, grabbing my fist before I can protest.
I tug but pause when Felix's accusing tone assaults my vulnerable heart. "Why are you here, Blue? We're stupid enough to let Roman manipulate the situation to get us all together, but you saw us before approaching. Why stay?"
Observant motherfucker. "Doesn't matter," I huff.
"Like hell it doesn't," Felix snaps back, his dirty blond hair flopping over his eyebrow with aggravation.
Give me patience...
"Felix, I really don't think you've earned literally any kind of explanation from me." Silence. "Do you?"
"Clearly we did something toearnyour attention today, Er—Fuck! Blue." Flustered is a good look on Felix. A few times now I've been the reason his perfect jaw clenches and his shoulders heave with big breaths.
Go me.Fuck him.Oh my god. That's my new motto.
"Are you even listening?" Felix growls, leaning forward as if to intimidate me.
"Are you still here?" I fire back, letting my sass flag fly.
"Listen—"
Declan grabs Felix's bicep to stop the bigger man from attacking me.Not that he would, but damn does he look mad.Watching both of them freeze and look at the place they're touching is definitely not something I saw coming.
Declan's face heats from his cheeks to his hairline. Then he gulps, and I swear on all chocolate that these guys are going to have something pretty fucking serious to talk about after this.
They've either fucked in the past or will very soon. Judging by Felix's shuddering breath and the way he leans closer to Declan, there's definitely something mutual going on there.
My stomach twists.Jealousy—what a bitch.It's clear as day they have a connection, which means I have only two to kick off my heels.
Jared clears his throat, making it obvious that he either knows something or felt their sexual tension too. I shit you not, the two horny bastards don't even twitch. Eyes locked, it's like the rest of the world doesn't exist.
Interesting.I bet I could slip away without anyone noticing.
Jared coughsagain, and Roman...clueless fucking Roman asks if he needs a water.
The sound of Roman's voice is like a bomb going off if the two lovebirds' reaction is anything to go by. They jump away from one another. I can't help my laugh.
I almost laughtoohard. Holy shit, you know? Witnessing what I just did was wild. I'm choosing to ignore the horrible feeling of loss of something I didn't even realize I still wanted.
Eleven years later, so much anger and heartbreak, and yet I'm still a pathetic bitch.Ugh, get me out of here.
"So this has been great." I stand, dragging my plastic cup along the table as I do so. "But I'm ready to call time of death, aren't you?"
"What doesthatmean?" Declan demands, still red in the face.
I raise a brow, unable to stop myself from taunting the flustered man. "That meeeeans," I take a sip of my beverage and gesture to our merry band of broken men, "this isn't happening. We aren't friends, and I got everything I needed today."
"Wait," Roman gasps. "I asked you to come sowecould explain. Not you. You haven't heard anything about our side of the story."
Sadness fills me. While I could benefit from an explanation, I have a life to live, not a past to dwell on. "I only have so many blank pages, Rome. And I'm choosing to fill them withBlue. Erica's story ended a long time ago. I gave her a short chapter today because she needed it. I'm moving on. You should too."
