Chapter 8
The words blurred before my eyes. I got up and drew back the curtains.
There he was, exactly where the comments said he’d be. Harrison, leaning against a
tree in front of my parents’ building, looking like the loneliest man alive.
But he wasn’t alone. Audrey stood just a few steps away, and they were talking.
Then Audrey stumbled, or faked a trip, and fell right into his arms.
I let the curtain fall and grabbed my phone.
[Divorce. Take everything or nothing. I don’t care. We’re done.]
She fell into his arms, and he just let her? He couldn’t step back? Put his hands up?
What a hypocrite. Sweet to my face, holding another woman the second I wasn’t
looking.
I threw myself onto the bed and turned my phone off. Whatever he had to say, I didn’t
want to hear it.
At some point, I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I remembered was
morning.
By morning, I looked bad enough to scare my parents. They called in reinforcements:
my best friend.
She dragged me out of bed, told my parents she was taking me out to get some air, and drove me straight to The Neon Lounge.
The bass hit me like a wall the second we walked in. Between the noise and the lights,
my brain snapped back online for the first time in hours.
“See? This is exactly what you need.” She had to yell over the music. “The best way to get over one man is to surround yourself with ten hotter ones. I’m getting us bottle service and the hottest guys in this place. Right now.”
Half of me wanted to laugh. The other half wanted to crawl under the table. I dropped
Chapter 8
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into the nearest booth instead.
Ten guys, a hundred guys, it didn’t matter. The only man I wanted was the one I was trying to leave.
She slid into the booth next to me, dropping the party girl act. “Okay, for real, what
happened? You two were all over each other last week. Your parents called me in a panic.
Did he cheat?”
I nodded, then shook my head.
How was I supposed to explain this? Technically, he hadn’t cheated. He’d just met the
woman he was apparently meant to be with.
“Elena.” She grabbed my arm. “Yes or no. I can’t help if you won’t talk to me.”
I shook my head again. There was no version of this that wouldn’t make me sound
insane. Hey, I can see floating comments about my life and apparently I’m a side
character in my husband’s love story. Yeah, no.
I leaned my head on her shoulder, and something reckless slipped into my voice, something I barely recognized. “Didn’t you say you were getting me ten hot guys? Do it.
Everything tonight is on me.”
“Oh my god.” She blinked. “Since when are you this loaded?”
“When have I ever not been?” I smiled, the kind that didn’t reach my eyes,
black card onto the table.
“Won’t Harrison lose his mind?”
“Are you getting them or not?”
and tossed a
“Getting them. Absolutely getting them.” She slammed both palms on the table and stood up.
“Bring us your top-shelf liquor and send over the hottest guys in VIP! Everything tonight goes on Mrs. Hayes’s tab!”
Our section of the lounge went wild.
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I laughed for real this time, loud and unhinged. I hadn’t touched a drink yet, something inside me had already come loose.
but
Within minutes, I was surrounded. Gorgeous men all around me, each one telling me I was beautiful, each one raising a glass to me.
I didn’t say no to a single one. Whatever they handed me, I drank.
The room started to tilt at the edges.
Then my best friend’s voice cut through the noise.
“Elena. Look. Is that your husband?”
