Page 53 of Hothead

She shot him a glare. “This isn’t a movie, Wade. This is real life. And in real life, women fall for emotionally unavailable men every day, and do you know what happens to these women?” Wade’s brow raised, but he didn’t reply. “They get their hearts broken. That’s me. That’s where I’m headed.”

She couldn’t be sure, but her voice may have risen to crazy lady levels.

“How can you be so sure?” Wade asked, with an annoyingly nonchalant shrug.

“Because I don’t have the magical powers needed to change someone. Luke made it very clear to me who he was. And I went there with him anyway. Knowing full well he had the potential to hurt me.”

Wade hummed. He carried on humming as the waitress reappeared and placed hot coffee in front of both of them. It was only when they were alone again that she was treated to his musings.

“I think you should tell him how you feel.”

“What?”

Was he high? Or has he just not been listening?

Infuriatingly, Wade repeated what he just said and added a “He deserves to know” onto the end.

They went back and forth for a while after that. Bella argued that there wasn’t much point unless she was wanting to add humiliation to the whole heartbreak thing. Which she didn’t. Whereas Wade was insistent that there was a possibility that Luke returned her feelings. Bella wasn’t holding her breath.

By the time they were done, she’d drunk three coffees, had an enormous stack of pancakes, and was so high on caffeine and sugar that she was even more of a nervous wreck than before she’d sat down.

“Please tell me you’ll at least think about it?” Wade tried one last time as they each slid out of the booth.

“I told you I would. I’ll think about it. But if I decide not to say anything, you’re gonna need to respect that.” Bella stood and followed Wade toward the exit. “Which means you can’t say anything either, Wade. I mean it. This is one friend confiding in another, that’s it. Not another piece of gossip you can spread around.”

“For the billionth time, I’m not a freaking gossip.” She couldn’t contain her smile as she looked up at Wade as he shook his head while holding open the door. “I told you, I’m normally the last to know anything going on around here.”

“Good. Keep being a hermit, Wade Evans, that way you won’t be tempted to tell Luke about our little conversation,” Bella said, still grinning as she passed him and returned to the familiar terracotta sidewalk.

“You’re secrets safe with me, darlin’.” He winked.

God, she hoped that was true.

***

Bella had made a decision. Wade may have influenced said decision. Slightly. But she’d been the one to make it, so she still felt pretty proud. With two days to go before she was supposed to leave and never look back, she was going to tell Luke how she felt. Tonight.

She was feeling good about her decision. Confident. She was in no way watching the clock, counting down the hours of when Luke would be back home from his shift. Well, she might have checked her watch, but only a perfectly normal number of times.

Yeah. Okay.

“He deserves to know,” Bella muttered to herself as she entered Luke’s mancave.

She referred to it as his mancave frequently, mostly because it annoyed him. But, really, it was just a room at the back of the house where he kept his books, movies, and music collection. And there just so happened to be a pool table in there too.

After scouring the bookshelves in search of something to distract her, Bella settled on a murder mystery. There was nothing like a good “who done it” to pass the time. As she cradled her find to her chest, she swiftly turned toward the door. But a piece of paper hanging off a nearby counter caught her eye and caused her footsteps to falter. A letter.Theletter. Luke must have been re-reading it. Which was his business. It was just that her name was written. Not just once either, three times to be exact. She could see her name scrawled three fricking times from the other side of the room. What the hell?

Bella was all about respecting privacy and boundaries. She’d kept the letter safe all this time and had never once had the urge to read it. But her name. It was right there. Mocking her. Three times seemed over the top too for two paragraphs. If it was just the one time she probably wouldn’t care.

Wouldn’t you?

Okay, she might care a little. But one time wouldn’t merit walking over to the pine counter and picking up the paper. Which was exactly what she found herself doing.

Shaky hands lifted as she suppressed her inner voice and read. Not all of it. Just the part that had been screaming at her.

Bella needs help. She’s alone. Like we were. I’m the only family she has ever had and if I’m gone, she has no one. I’m scared of that most. I know I have no right to ask this, but I figure that even you wouldn’t go against a dead man’s wish. And I’m not above emotional manipulation so I’m going to ask. Look after her. Please.

I know it won’t be easy. Bella will tell you she’s okay, she’ll even act like it too. But don’t be fooled. She needs you. She needs a friend. I don’t care what or how you do it, but while she is there, I need you to form some sort of bond with her. Give Bella something to hold on to. Let her know she’s not alone. Introduce her to your friends, their girlfriends, anyone, just give her a safe place to come back to whenever she needs to.

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