Page 29 of Right Side of Paradise
“You think we just moved on from that night because you left town a few days after?”
She ran her tongue over her teeth and looked contemplative. “What did Rico make us promise before we went in that hotel room? Do you remember?”
“Yeah.” I nodded.
“So, what was it? What did he make us shake on?”
“That it was a one-time thing and could never happen again outside that hotel room.”
“Exactly.” Harlow nodded, swiveling her stool so she faced me. Her knees brushed my thigh, and her salty, citrusy fragrance went straight to my head.
Forget the damn migraine; now my dick was fucking hard, and I couldn’t hide that if I wanted to.
“I don’t understand why he’s acting like this when he made the rules. That night was the beginning and end.”
“For you.”
She inhaled audibly. “What?”
The truth would set me freeor however the saying went, “Harlow, I never got over that night.”
And the more I thought about the way Rico was acting, I didn’t think he had either. He’d just been better at concealing it until now. I couldn’t speak for Soul. He was affectionate and loving regardless of romantic feelings.
“Christian, please don’t do this to me.”
“Do what?”
“Give me something to hold on to when I know damn well we aren’t those twenty-one-year-olds anymore.”
I licked my lips and smirked when she tore her eyes away from my face. “Okay. I won’t give you anything to hold on to.”
I grabbed her stool when she tried to face forward and held her in place.
“Tell me you don’t want me anymore. I think I need to hear it to let you go.”
Harlow scoffed, “I’m not gonna tell you that.”
“Why not?”
“You want me to lie?”
Silence.
The fridge hummed quietly in the corner of the kitchen but that was it.
No words. No facial expressions to dissect.
Just silence. And a tension so thick I could cut it with my favorite knife.
Harlow finally spoke, but it wasn’t what I wanted to hear. “We have family dinner at my mom’s house tomorrow. Are you coming?”
“Yeah, I’ll be there.”
She hopped down from the stool. “I’m going to bed. Good night.”
Her tone was soft but distant, the warmth vanishing before it could settle over me.
“Harlow, wait up.”
