Page 47 of Love or Leave

He stared at her for a moment, at a loss. Did he want that?

He finally seemed to wrap his mind around moving on after his parents' party. He'd made plans to move out of that studio and into a more permanent apartment, and he was even ready to admit to everyone in his life that his marriage had indeed failed, and he was officially getting a divorce.

He needed to move forward with his life, not backwards.

Right?

Or did he just come to that decision because he believed Fran had totally moved on?

Or maybe he never would have been able to move on until she did, and now that she had, he could finally see a way out for himself.

"Is that why your mom invited me to the anniversary party?" Fran asked, pulling his attention back to her.

It had only been a couple weeks since that party, but it felt like years ago. So much had changed since then.

"Thatwaswhy," he said.

He had changed his mind since, though. Right?

He was better off letting go of Fran and moving on. Right?

Fran searched his eyes. "What about the girl you brought?"

Antonio shook his head, trying to push Cara from his thoughts. He'd promised himself that he wouldn't let Cara enter his mind, for her sake and Max's, and he intended to keep that promise—no matter how impossible it seemed.

"She's… nobody. Just a girl I know. I only brought her after I found out you were bringing Elliot."

Fran's long eyelashes fluttered closed. "Please don't call him that," she said as she turned away. "I have to go."

Antonio smirked at her cringing embarrassment and wanted to feel bad about it but couldn't. The only thing he was certain of in that moment was his spiteful happiness that Fran was about to be miserable.

"Make sure you cover the whole rash. In and around his anus, too."

A shudder worked over her as she spun and left, her heeled boots clicking along the linoleum floor to meet up with Blake.

Antonio smiled to himself as she went. It was childish, but he couldn't help it. He could picture her gagging as she rubbed prescription cream all over Elliot's butt hole.

He stood from the desk and gathered his things. The dense fog covering his life seemed to lift, albeit fractionally, and a touch of dim light shone through.

He took a swig of coffee and set off in search of Ramit, feeling lighter on his feet than he had in a long time. The sooner he briefed him, the sooner he could get out of there and pack for his weekend away with his friends.

thirteen

Cara stood on the sidewalk in front of Brin's Café and balanced a load of coffee on one hand as she pulled her scarf up around her neck to shield herself from the icy wind. She'd offered to grab coffee for everyone that morning so they could get on the road to Montreal, but if she'd known how cold it was going to be, she wouldn't have been so nice.

Because the sun hadn't risen, the streetlights were still on, and a thick frost coated everything. She was the only person in sight, which wasn't a surprise since the only place open was Brin's.

She peered through the window back into the café and checked the time on the wall. The limo bus had likely left Monroe Manor already, so hopefully she wouldn't be waiting for long.

She'd been bouncing on her toes in the foyer, waiting for Antonio to arrive at Monroe Manor when she realized how desperate she'd been to see him and bolted out of there. The last thing she needed was someone noticing how eager she was to see Antonio again.

She hadn't slept a wink all night. She'd never been to Montreal before, or out for a bachelorette party, or even away with friends for a weekend.

But mostly she'd fixated on Antonio.

As she had for the past week.

No matter how many times she slapped herself to rid her mind of saucy images of him, they always came back. Quicker and hotter.

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