Page 50 of Begin Again, Part 1

"I'm sorry if saving myself for our wedding night was such a terrible inconvenience to you! And I'm sorry I pushed you straight into the arms of one of my good friends. I should have known your dick couldn't handle a little patience!" Eden said, scrunching her face in disbelief. He truly was her parents' son and had perfected their art of blame-shifting to a T.

"You call four years a little patience?" Simon threw up his hands, his eyes rolling heavenward. "So much for saving yourself. You gave it up to Liam fucking Anderson as soon as he looked at you!"

"Shut up!" Eden warned him. "And how the hell do you even know about that? Are you keeping tabs on me?"

"Don't flatter yourself, sweetheart!" Simon sneered, his eyes narrowed, his mouth twisted in disgust. "I saw you leave with him that night. Of all the rebound guys, you had to choose him?"

"Yes, Simon, I did, and you know what, he was bloody amazing! If I could sleep with him again, I would!" she said, stunning everyone with her confession.

Simon carried on playing the victim. "Clearly, I meant nothing to you since you jumped in the arms of the first man that came along."

"What the hell did you expect me to do? Shrivel up and die of a broken heart? Beg you to come back?" Eden scoffed. "And you know what? You're right. Looking back, that wasn't love. You were a comfort zone, a beautiful place to be, but nothing ever grows there."

She shoved him aside and began walking away, but he followed her and grabbed her arm.

Eden gritted her teeth, recoiling from him. "Don't you dare touch me! You lost any right to touch me when you slept with one of my friends."

Simon held up his hands. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for what I did to you. I've been thinking—"

She cut him off. "Please don't. You'll hurt your pretty little head with all that thinking."

"What do you want me to do?" Simon groaned in his hands. "I'm trying to apologise. I'm sorry, okay? I'm so sorry!"

Eden grinned coldly. "You can take all the sorries you've collected these last two years and shove them where the sun doesn't shine! My life is so full I don't have any room for them."

"Edie—" Simon tried again, but she froze him out with a single look.

"Don't call me that! You lost any right to call me that. In fact, from now on, being in my presence is a privilege only a few have. And you are not one of them!" She pushed him aside again. "Now, if you can all excuse me, I have to check on my son!"

Before she'd even made any progress, two hefty bouncers came out of the shadows and laid down the law. "Sis, you have to leave. The exit is that way."

They sounded polite enough, but Eden knew they weren't above using force if they had to.

She pointed at herself. "Me? Why should I leave? I didn't start this nonsense!"

"Yeah, we paid for a VIP table, and we're not leaving until we've finished our drinks!" Lydia chimed in. They may annoy each other, but she was one friend Eden knew would roll up her sleeves and jump into a fight with her. Cassandra would help bury the bodies, and Sienna would bring bail money if they ever got caught.

"It wasn't a request." One of the goons flexed his guns.

"Okay, ladies, let's get out of here," Sienna said. She was terrified of bouncers because of an incident back in varsity when her then-boyfriend was beaten to a pulp by a few burly security guards. She never got over the attack. None of them did. So whenever a bouncer asked them to leave—which was rarely—she was always the first to round everyone up and take them to safety.

"At least let us grab our stuff," Cassandra pleaded with the men.

"You have five minutes."

It was more than enough. They scurried back to their booth and gulped down their drinks as they collected their stuff.

"Can you believe these guys?" Eden shoved her contract back in her bag and hooked the strap across her body. "Why are we getting kicked out again?"

"Well, if you didn't lose your shit on Simon," Sienna pointed out.

Eden rounded on her. "Are you saying this is my fault?"

"No one said anything." Cassandra propped herself between the two of them, stopping another argument. "But you were savage as fuck."

"Yeah, I could bang you in a non-sexual way." Lydia winked at her. "That was hot!"

"I need some serious banging right now," Eden confessed as they left their booth.

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