Page 27 of Addicted to the Bad Boy
And I want to slap it right off his lips.
“So you want to get married?” he asks.
No, not really. “Yes.” I nod.
His smile broadens, and he moves in, slipping a snake-like arm around my waist. “Great. We’ll start planning today.”
The kettle screams, and I slide out of his grip and go to it.
I don’t feel safe.
I don’t feel loved.
I don’t feel wanted.
I feel numb. And for now, that’s good enough. It’s better than what I was feeling. And if I can’t have a life with Finn, maybe I can have one that doesn’t hurt.
10
FINN
It’s five o’clock,and I don’t need a psychic to let me know that something’s wrong.
Mira hasn’t texted me back. Not once. She hasn’t answered any of my many calls either. I haven’t had a single word from her since the tiny little half-asleep mumble she murmured when I left her in bed this morning and came in to work. I kissed her pretty forehead, scribbled my note on a piece of paper, and left it for her before climbing out the window.
Since then, I’ve been checking my phone every five minutes like a goddamn teenage boy.
Still nothing.
Not a heart, not a thumbs-up, not a smiley face or some silly meme or emoji. Not even read receipts. It’s like she’s just gone.
But this is the real world. People don’t just vanish, and girls don’t just not respond to texts unless they’re pissed at you. And that’s why I’ve been on the verge of panic all day. And when I see the clock tick to five, signaling the end of the day, I toss my wrench aside, tear my gloves off, and storm outside to my bike. I slide into the saddle and gun it, speeding down the road toward her house like I’m outrunning a fire.
Mira is mine. I know that in my bones.
So why is it that I feel like I’m losing her?
The same twoguards from last night are at the gate again, but this time I just pull right up and park in front of them. They both glance nervously at each other, clearly wondering if they’ll actually have to do their job today.
“Let me in,” I growl. They don’t move.
“She won’t see you,” one of them says. “You’re not welcome here, pal.”
My stomach twists like I’ve been speared by a hot poker. “No. Mira wouldn’t say that. You’re lying. Go and get her.Now.”
They shake their heads and step forward as a unit.
“Tyler said you’d say that.” My heart lurches. Tyler? What’s that bastard gotten up to now? “He said to tell you that the engagement is back on.”
The air drains from my lungs. The whole world seems to twist around me.
“What?” I snarl, clenching my fists.
“You heard him,” a new voice calls out.
Tyler.
I glance past the guards and see him through the gate, a smarmy grin on his face, suit jacket slung over his shoulder like he already owns the Coolidge estate. “Sorry, grease monkey. You were a nice little distraction, but that’s all. Just a little fling, and that’s over now.”
