Page 12 of Contrition

Fuckingmefor feeling heartbroken as soon as I walked away.

The only men safe from my wrath were the other shitheads in that damn band, and even then, I probably wouldn’t protect them if some weirdo came at their million dollar hands with a baseball bat. Simply because they were connected to the men who ruined me.

Survive the weekend,I told myself.Survive the weekend and then you can run away.

I continued even as my words had the faintest hint of a drunken slur. Had I eaten anything that day? I couldn’t even remember. That probably wasn’t a good sign. “And you know, maybe I will hear them out. Maybe I’ll even try to see if there’s anything that can be repaired. But I will do that on my goddamned terms! They don’t get to boss me around as if I am that young, naïve, twenty-one-year-old girl anymore.”

Derek’s eyes pinched together with a questioning head tilt. “Would you take him back? Or takethemback into your life at all?”

I plopped my elbows up on the bar top before dropping my head in my hands. “I don’t know. I came here thinking I would throw the—yet again—rejected divorce papers in his face. I’ve been over him for years. I wouldn’t have slept with you or anyone else if I thought we had a chance ever again. And then…one look at the men that I used to call my best friends had me in more pain than I've been in years.”

“That’s not good.”

“No hay mierda, Sherlock.”

“Hey! You texted me. No cursing at me in your fancy…really sexy tongue. I’m trying to be a friend, and that only turns me on. So shut up. I’d rather not think about fucking your face while you’re crying over your piece-of-shit husband and brother-in-law.”

I groaned.

“Well, doesn’t this look cozy,” a voice I would know anywhere said as a heavy arm was thrown over my shoulder. “Excuse me if I misunderstood or anything, but did you just talk about fucking her face?”

My shoulders grew impossibly tense at the drop of a hat. I looked up in a daze to confirm my already-known assumption. “Theo.”

His blue eyes flew to mine, and I flinched at the anger that they held. Somehow, they softened when he saw my reaction. “How much have you had to drink, princess?”

Derek spoke for me. “She’s had a lot.”

“And that’s your doing?” Theo asked, his eyebrow raising in fury as he turned back towards my…friend?Could you be considered friends with someone who gave you really strong orgasms?

“Me? No. There’s no controlling that fireball of a woman. But I have matched every single one of her shots. If I’m buzzed, I don’t even know how she’s going to stand.”

Theo sighed as his gaze turned back toward mine. “This is my fault, isn’t it?”

I laughed. It almost sounded like the Joker had possessed me at that moment. I spoke as I tried to shrug him off me. “Yes. Yes, it is. I’m so glad you could come to that realization yourself. Now, get your arm off me.Estás pesado y yo estoy cansado.”

“Did you just call me fat?”

A very unladylike snort flew out of my mouth. “Maybe.”

“Alright.” Theo sighed as he pulled the barstool away from the tabletop. I squealed as his arms wrapped around me, with one arm going underneath my knees and the other going under my arms, before he lifted me effortlessly. “Time to get in bed. C’mon.”

“Let me go, you mongrel!”

Derek stood up abruptly before he was directly in Theo’s face.

In my face.

I gulped at the testosterone that surrounded me, all in the blink of an eye. God, I really was blasted.

“Hey, hey, hey. Listen, I don’t care if you’re her brother-in-law or not—not after what she’s told me. If she doesn’t want to go with you, then she’s not going anywhere. So, either sit the fuck down with us until she makes up her mind, or you’re gonna have to go through me first. Don’t make me kick your ass because I will.”

Theo took in a deep breath before he looked down at me. “Will you please go with me?”

A part of me wanted to spit in his face.

The other part of me just wanted to burst out in a fit of drunken tears.

Fuck, life was unfair that week.

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