Page 96 of Closer

She sighs and stares up at me with forlorn eyes. “It doesn’t matter. You and I just aren’t meant to be. We’re hopeless together. We rip and tear one another to shreds.”

“Yeah, but we also put one another back together again.”

“Not this time.” She shakes her head. “Don’t come back here.”

“Brie, don’t do this,” I say through my teeth. tamping down my anger.She’s always so fucking stubborn.

“Why? Why shouldn’t I do this?”

“Because, you love me. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be this upset right now.” I pause, roll my eyes over her from head to toe. Fuck, I miss her body, and her lips, and goddamit, I even miss her angry French girl attitude. “If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have put my necklace on tonight.”

She sighs. “It went with this outfit. I didn’t think about it at all, or you.”

“Bullshit.” I slide my hand into her hair and pull her closer. I don’t kiss her though. “I call bullshit. I know you feel it. I know you’re just as fucking miserable as I am.”

I kiss her, a soft peck on her cherry red lips. I’m met with resistance. Not the response I was hoping for. “Just. Will you come to my hotel?” She shoots daggers at me with her glare, and yeah, I’ll admit, that could have come out better. “Not like that. I didn’t mean like that. I just mean. So we can talk?”

“We’re talking right now.”

“Please, Brielle. Please, just give me one night. Just one.”

“Why?” Tears prick her eyes, but she’s so stubborn she refuses to let them fall. “Why should I give you anything when you took everything from me?”

“Because I love you, and I’m pretty sure you still love me. Please come. 213.” I hand her my hotel room key; it’s easy enough to get another from reception when I head back. “You’ll come?”

“I don’t know. My mother is with me.”

“Where? Let me meet her.”

“No.” She shakes her head. “You cannot meet her.”

“Why?”

“Because, it would give her ideas, and you cannot just show up here and expect everything to go back to the way it was.”

“Okay, I get that. I know I have a lot to answer for. I know I hurt you—”

“You think?”

“Please, Brie. Please come.”

She tucks the hotel key into her palm. With a sigh, she rests her head against the wall and closes her eyes. I leave her to her adoring fans and pray like hell she has time to see one more later tonight.

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