Total pages in book: 123
Estimated words: 115833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 115833 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 579(@200wpm)___ 463(@250wpm)___ 386(@300wpm)
My upper lip twitched as a hotness slid down my throat. I swallowed and took a deep breath to cool my temper.
“You know what, Giselle? I used to feel sorry for you. A woman without parents, adopted into a family that ended up despising you.” At that, her cocky little smile sagged, and her mouth pushed downward. “But now I see why they hated you—why they didn’t want you. You’re a miserable, shallow person who only gives a damn about herself. Yeah, the world looks at you and sees your face, your body, but what they don’t see is how fucking ugly you are inside. And that’s why you’re mad I moved on and why you went behind my back to find the woman who was actually making me happy. Because she’s beautiful inside and out and you wanted to see it for yourself. You wanted to see what it was like to be her—what it was about her that makes me want her, makes me smile, makes me feel like an actual person and not just a damn prop. You wanted to witness a good woman and not the woman you are now—one who is rotten to her fucking core.”
The parking deck was completely silent as we stared at each other.
Her bottom lip trembled, and her eyes became misty as she stared right back. When she finally blinked, she took a step away from me, but only to extend her arm and slap me across the face. The slap stung, but I barely flinched.
“Fuck you, Deke,” she snarled before twisting on her heels and scampering away.
I watched until I could no longer see her, then dropped my head and stared at my shoes. A hand touched my shoulder, and I cut my eyes to Javier, who wore a mask of concern.
“Go get her back,” he finally said after some time, and for a split second I thought he was talking about Giselle. When he realized I was about to protest, he held up his free hand and said, “Davina. Go get Davina back.”
I felt a stinging in my eyes, which I kept trying to blink away. I hated this feeling, this disappointment. For once, I just wanted shit to go right in my life and to remain on a steady path. It felt like no matter what I did or how hard I tried, it was never easy.
I had to agree with Davina. Sometimes it felt like God made my life complicated too. I don’t think it was to punish me, though, but to help me learn lessons—lessons that often left me feeling raw and gutted afterward.
“Do not let this defeat you, Deke,” Javier said. “Get Davina back, and prove to her and everyone else how wrong they are about you.”
FORTY-SEVEN
DAVINA
My phone buzzed on the kitchen counter as I dunked a tea bag into a porcelain mug. I gave it a glance, not surprised to see Deke’s name on the screen.
“Is that him again?” Tish asked from the living room. Her eyes were glued to the TV, her hand deep in a bowl of popcorn as a reality show streamed.
“Yep,” I muttered, picking up my mug and phone and carrying it with me to the living room.
“You’re gonna have to answer one day, Vina,” she said, still staring at the TV. “Oh! I knew that girl was lying! She was all over Darrell in the last season!” She pointed at the TV, and I huffed a laugh as a woman with red hair commentated.
As I settled onto the couch and sipped my tea, my phone rang once again. I sighed. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to talk to Deke, I just wasn’t sure what to say to him or what the hell to even ask.
What’ll happen when you’re tired of me too? Will you toss me to the side like trash? Pretend I never existed?
I knew one day our fling would end, but that didn’t mean it’d be on good terms . . . and that’s probably what was scaring me about this whole agreement. Deke seemed like a great man, but the way he handled his relationships with women, sex buddies or not, seemed completely unhealthy. My heart couldn’t handle being scarred again, especially not while it was still in the process of healing.
Frankly, I was afraid that if I asked anything about it, he’d give the wrong answer and I’d have no choice but to look at him differently. I’d be disappointed in a person I thought was making my life better.
“Girl, just answer the phone,” Tish insisted, finally putting her attention on me.
“I don’t know what to say to him, Tish.”
“Don’t say anything. Just answer and let him do all the talking.” Her shoulders hiked up, nearly touching her earlobes. “That’s what I do to Lorenzo when he’s pissed me off.”