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So, this is what losing feels like. I swallow the sickly bitter taste of my own medicine. This is no doubt how Matteo felt when I bragged about bedding some stranger, only to come face to face with her at dinner the following night when Matteo introduced me to his fiancée properly.
I’d confessed on the spot and watched as his future spiralled out of control.
I suppose it’s only fair he subjects me to the same treatment.
I’ll let him believe he has a chance. The abrupt realisation that he has Lauren alone and could easily take her home has me driving after them. I don’t believe for a moment she will invite him up to hers. She was embarrassed when Perry and I entered her apartment. If anything, they will go to his. I drive directly there, hoping I’m wrong, but when I park up, I locate his car in the distance as Perry calls me. I answer over the hands-free.
“Where the fuck are you? I thought you said you were on your way?”
“I am,” I growl.
“Ooh, moody, looking forward to seeing you,” Perry teases. I stab the button to cut him off and turn the engine over as Matteo walks Lauren into his.
Fuck!
That lucky bastard.
I can’t quite pinpoint if I’m more disappointed in myself or her.
I drive to Perry’s, angry and dejected. I’ve never felt jealous of another man, let alone my fucking friend. Any decent man would concede he has lost, but this only propels me to challenge the attraction between us further. Lauren is going to have a choice to make because I don’t fucking share.
Perry is waiting at the kerb, chatting idly with the doorman. He springs my way, and when I notice a break in the traffic, I lean to swing the passenger door open as he bends down to say something through the open window. The door bounces off his face with a loud thud.
Perry roars, rearing back and cupping his mouth. “Cain! You twat!”
Laughing, I hop out as he walks to the pavement, blood dripping out of his bust lip. “Now you know how Lauren felt,” I muse.
“Fuck,” he hisses, leaning to check his reflection in the wing mirror. “You arsehole.”
“I reckon the girls will dig it.” I shrug as more blood seeps out. “You need to get it checked out.”
“Call Matt,” Perry says as we head into his building.
“He’s with Lauren.” My friend spins with a look of shock on his face.
“Even more reason to call him,” Perry replies, calculated. Grinning, I dial his work phone, and we take the lift up to his place.
“You might need stitches or glue. It looks deep,” I observe as he keys his way in.
“Feels it,” he grumbles.
Matt answers, and I give him a brief rundown, feigning an emergency. Perry pouts, and I cut the call, dropping down onto his sofa. “He took her home,” I impart and Perry whistles, or at least attempts to, but it produces a bloody bubble instead. I grimace, and he huffs, grabbing some paper towels to hold to his face.
“Why are you so indecisive with her? You want to fuck her, and I’m pretty certain the feeling is mutual.”
“Like you said, she's nice. If things turn sour, it could come back to bite me on the ass, and I don’t need anything to fuck up my plans for Royce.”
“So, Matteo. How’s that feel?” Perry eyes me with a twinkle in his eyes. I don’t find him funny.
“Like I want to punch him clean in the face.”
“I mean, if it’s any help, and I’m talking from experience—” he begins, and I shift to look at him. “I think a punch isn’t substantial enough. Why not advance to a car door,” he drawls, and I bark out a laugh. “Seriously, you need to make a move. If what you said about Lauren’s ex is true, she won’t want to dip between mates.”
“I know.” I sigh as the door knocks.
“That was quick,” Perry murmurs, standing.
Too fucking quick. I hoped Matt would take Lauren home first—either he has left her back at his or she is with him, and I don’t like the possibility of either of those outcomes.
