Page 5 of Accidentally Forever
Been there. Done that. Punched a hole in the wall.
Without words we paid our check and headed to the bar next door. I had my two drink limit and didn’t want to go home. Because going home meant sitting alone in my house with the TV going, or a book in my hand. Or maybe countless files of paperwork I had on my desk. Between the gym, various other businesses I owned, and upcoming fights, I always had work to do.
The fact that somehow investing in real estate was only my side job helped me when I knew I wouldn’t be getting any sleep.
It was hard to sleep when I only had thoughts of the one woman I couldn’t help. Because she never wanted my help.
The three of us took a high top in the corner, the bartender getting us three beers on draft without evenasking what we wanted. Either he remembered us or was in the mood to guess. I didn’t care at the moment. My mind was in a thousand different directions, and I needed to focus.
I had a project I was itching to complete—a painting I knew I needed to focus on. So many things that weren’t going to happen.
Not when Aria hadn’t texted me back.
My jaw tightened as I checked my phone once again, waiting for an acknowledgment. She had promised me she would text when she got home. Promised that she would let me know she was safe.
It didn’t matter that we hated each other. It didn’t matter that sometimes we wanted each other. And it sure as fuck didn’t matter that I loved her.
She had gone out into the state park by herself for a project and had promised to text when she got home.
And now it was dark, and she hadn’t done so.
If she didn’t text in the next thirty minutes, I’d call. I’d stop by her house. Just like the stalker I was.
I hated her just as much as I loved her, and I needed to make sure she was safe.
“Since we can’t talk about your love life, can we talk about your upcoming project?” Lex asked, and I pulled myself out of my worries.
“You know I don’t like talking about that shit.”
“Don’t call your work shit,” Dash prodded.
“It’s always shit until I’m done. You know how it is.”
Dash rolled his eyes. “With the number of artists in our family, yes, I do. You and Aria are the exact same. You never like your things until it’s finally on the wall. And even then, you both growl about it.”
I did my best not to react at the sound of her name, but with the way that Lex looked at me, I had a feeling I hadn’t been as nonchalant as possible. Nobody knew how I felt about Aria. Not even Aria herself. I’d barely allowed my own faults to penetrate my mind. But Lex was not allowed to know what I felt about her. It would just fuck up everything that we already had. There was no future with her. It had taken me far too long to realize that. I was not about to ruin the one good thing I had in my life— the Montgomery family.
If they knew what Aria and I had done, how dirty and disrespectful we were to each other when I fucked her raw against every surface in my house, they’d never let me back in again.
“You should be ecstatic with the fact that Hunting Memories ended up in New York? That’s a great accomplishment. I’m proud of you.”
I shrugged at Dash’s words. “It is what it is. There’re countless other people out there that are better than me.”
“Where is the arrogant asshole of an artist that I know and love?” Lex asked, and I flipped him off.
“I’m in a mood. Get over it.”
“You just need to get laid.” Dash raised a finger. “But I’m not doing it. Sorry, I’m not going to be the next Montgomery Prince.”
I burst out laughing and flipped him off as well. “You’d be the frog, not the prince. Everybody keeps calling me the Montgomery hanger-on, but I’m just trying to join the family the old-fashioned way. Marriage. I’ll sleep my way into the family rather than having them adopt me as an adult. It makes sense.”
They both rolled their eyes, and I drank my beer.
Because the joke was on me.
Aria Montgomery had already latched her claws into my heart, and there was no coming back from that scarring.
The problem was, she hadn’t even done it on purpose. She was just herself.
