Page 30 of Better Not Pout
I take a sip of my hot chocolate, letting it warm my hands as I walk beside him toward the gazebo.
We’re both quiet for a second until he says, “I was going to ask about what happened, but I didn’t want to overstep. Didn’t want to bring up old shit when he obviously bothers you.”
“It’s okay,” I say easily, even though thinking about what happened with Bradley feels anything but easy. It was hard, and it hurt tremendously, but it’s in the past. He’s not controlling me any longer. “It was messy and hurtful. He was my first real, serious relationship, and it just showed me everything to not want out of a relationship. He was charming… at first. And then, his true colors showed. He made me feel like I wasn’t enough for him, and it was hard to unlearn that after. Things were really toxic between us in the end.”
“What a fucker,” Wells hisses.
“Yeah. But I’m much better off, and I know that now. There aren’t any lingering feelings there or anything like that. It’s just old wounds being reopened when I see him, is all,” I say, pasting on a smile that I know doesn’t reach my eyes. “Anyway, I’m not going to let him ruin tonight. This is one of my favorite nights of the year. Bradley is a problem for another day.”
Wells comes to a sudden stop, his fingers tipping my chin up to capture my eyes, holding them intently. “Fuck that guy. Heshouldn’t ever ruin shit for you ever again, Rosalie. If it was up to me, I’d beat the shit out of him for every time he’s hurt you.”
I swallow down the lump of sudden emotion that rises in my throat.
His words are fierce, protective even.
“Now, let me spend the rest of the night taking you on the best fake date of your life, and you don’t have to let that guy cross your mind again.”
I nod, keeping what I want to say out loud to myself as we walk toward the gazebo.
It’s that he already has.
twelve
. . .
Wells
Sleighed It
Partof me is still contemplating turning back and hitting Bradley in his pompous, smug face, even after he’s gone out of sight.
I told her to forget about him, yet here I am, still thinking about punching the shit out of him.
But fuck, he’s such a goddamn prick, and I hate the way that he talked to her. The way he looked down his nose at her. How he acted like she’s so insignificant.
Possessiveness ripples through me.
It might be unwarranted, but it doesn’t change the feeling.
“Wells! Rosalie, over here!” I hear from across the snow-covered lawn, where Zander and Allison are standing beside the gazebo.
I grab Rosalie’s hand, tangling my fingers in hers and squeezing lightly. Not just because of who we’re in front of, but because I want her to know that we’re in this together.
There’s a soft smile playing at the corner of her lips as she looks up at me, her eyes bright in the reflection of the warm lantern lampposts around us.
“Glad you two lovebirds finally made it,” Zander chuckles as we walk up, his arm slung over Allison’s shoulders. “I was beginning to think you ditched us.”
“Thought about it,” I say, lifting a shoulder.
Rosalie’s elbow hits my side. “He’s lying. We just stopped for hot chocolate on the way.”
And because her ex is a douchebag who wants to bring her down any chance he can, but I keep that to myself, trying to push it out of my head so I don’t get annoyed again. Instead, I focus on Rosalie.
“Ally, this is my girl, Rosalie. Rosalie, this is Ally, my brother’s girlfriend. She’s basically part of our family at this point. They’ve been together since high school.”
“Hi.” Ally smiles, extending her hand to shake Rosalie’s. “I’ve been telling this guy I’m waiting on a ring for years now, but you know.”
Zander groans dramatically at the same time that Rosalie giggles, and he shoves his hands in his unruly hair that’s the same shade as mine. “You can’t rush perfection, love. I told you that.”
