Page 72 of Finally Loved

“We’re just friends.” If Alba had a dollar for every time she’d said that lately…

Charlie rolled her eyes. “It’s been all over her since she met you, since we ran into you in that café. But you’re going to leave her and hurt her, just like everyone else. And you know who’ll be there to pick up the pieces, just like always? Me. You’re not special. You’re not different. You’re just like all the others.”

“AllIwant is for Neve to be happy.”

“Yeah, right. It’s all over you too. You want her. But you won’t. Not when you find out she doesn’t want sex.”

Alba growled. She wasn’t sure she’d ever made that sound before, but something inside of her was white hot and angry on Neve’s behalf. “Some friend you are. As it happens, I did know that, but I’m not in the business of discussing my friends’ sexualities without their permission. I’m also not in the business of diminishing their worth because of how much sex they do or do not want.”

“I’m just looking out for her. And, the quicker you’re gone, the quicker we can all get back to normal.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“She’s not going to change her mind just for you. You’re not as special as you think you are.”

Alba gathered her belongings and walked around the table, standing directly in front of Charlie. “Is that what it is? You need to be special to her?”

Charlie’s jaw twitched again. “I am special to her. I’ve been there all along. I’m the one who picks up the pieces when people like you hurt her.”

“And who picks up the pieces when you hurt her?”

“I don’t hurt her. I look after her. She needs me.”

“I don’t think she does.”

“You don’t know anything.”

Alba smiled darkly, the whole thing finally hitting her like it had been staring her in the face the entire time. “She turned you down. See, we don’t talk about you all that much—you’re not that important—so she hasn’t mentioned how you two met, but that’s it, isn’t it? You met her, wanted her, and she turned you down.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I think I do, Charlie. It’s written all over your face. She turned you down and you made it your mission to never let her get away from you?” Alba seethed. “You never deserved to even look in her direction.”

Charlie’s face turned beet red. “She didn’t turn me down.”

“Oh, did she not?”

“She chose me. She’s my best friend.”

“Funny. I have a best friend and I don’t treat her the way you treat Neve.”

“She lives with me.”

“She shares an apartment with you. You and yourgirlfriend, Charlie. What are you playing at being with Alice if you’re spending your whole life—what? Trying to get Neve to realize you’re the better option?”

“I love Alice.”

“Just not enough.”

“Of course it’s enough. I love her.”

“Do you?” Alba watched her closely. “Then what’s your play with Neve? What’s the point? She meets someone you suddenly believe she’s going to be interested in, and hate me, to what? Push her away from me? Prevent her from making friends? Prevent her from potentially dating me? What are you after?”

“I’m preventing her from getting hurt.”

“She doesn’t need you to prevent her from living her life, Charlie. She wasn’t interested in you. Let it go. She gets to decide who she does and doesn’t want in her life. Trying to keep her reliant on you forever doesn’t make her yours. Isolating her doesn’t make you the good guy trying to keep her safe. She’s a fucking adult, Charlie. She gets to make her own decisions.”

“She’s asexual. She needs someone looking out for her.”

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