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“You should probably knock next time.” I tug the hem of my dress down and cross my arms over my chest, looking flatly at Chloe’s sheepish figure.
Roman clears his throat, wiping my lip gloss from his mouth as he brushes past me. “Chloe,” he greets casually, as though she didn’t just see him trying to bed me. Literally.
You don’t want that, baby.
The memory of him calling me ‘baby’ makes me flare with another agonizing rush of lust. I squeeze my thighs together, my damp panties chafing against my heat. I dislike Chloe even more for interrupting what could have been. If he can make me burn so bright, full-clothed, what might he have done to me if we’d carried on?
With a calm, measured smile Chloe’s way, he walks right out without another glance at me. Like I’m not even in the room. Just as quickly as I came undone under his touch, I stitch myself back together with pure anger. He has some nerve, sauntering out like everything’s fine.
Chloe’s mouth hangs open in disbelief as she watches his broad shoulders vanish back down the stairs. She snaps her attention back to me finally, closing the door behind her.
“Madison…”
I should be ashamed, but isn’t this what I wanted?
I raise my brows confidently. If Chloe thinks she has any right to comment on what she just saw, she has another thing coming.
“Look, I get that you’re angry, but this isn’t the way to get back at me.” She steps forward, and I step back. Her betrayal has opened a chasm between us, and I don’t want to fall in. I don’t want to be anywhere near her right now.
“Angry?” I scoff.
Yeah, I’m angry. I’m also hurt. Confused. Abandoned. Was I just forgotten when I left? While I was living nightmare after nightmare, everyone else was moving on, playing happy family like I never existed.
“I thought we were best friends.”
“We are. Of course, we are.” Chloe’s brows knit together with sympathy, but that only makes me feel more nauseous. I’m pitied now. She gets to be the rational, newly-engaged princess while I’m the bitter bitch standing in her way. It isn’t fair.
“But you didn’t think to tell me you’re dating my brother?”
“I didn’t keep it a secret on purpose, and I really didn’t want you to find out that way.” She tucks her hair behind her ear, takes a seat on my bed and glances down at the sparkling silver ring on her left hand. I must have been blind not to have noticed it earlier. It’s difficult to miss now.
“But we grew apart when you left. I tried and tried to keep in contact?—”
“No. You don’t get to blame this on me. That’s not fair!” I cut in, shaking my head. “I couldn’t help being busy.”
When everything went south, the last thing I wanted to do was call the people I missed most. Homesickness was already eating away at me, and I wasn’t sure I’d be able to keep myself together if I heard Chloe’s or anyone’s voice.
And I didn’t want them to worry. They know me so well that they’d spot I was in trouble immediately, and it wasn’t their burden to bear. It was mine. Perhaps even part of me was embarrassed: I’d boasted about my new au pair job in Italy to everyone, talking it up as a glamorous, exciting new milestone in my already cushy life.
I’d failed. It had been none of those things.
“I don’t mean that… but I can’t tell you things if you’re not around, Maddie.” Chloe’s chin wobbles with sadness. “I couldn’t force you to pick up the phone. Even when we talked, I could tell you were somewhere else. You were barely listening to me. I just figured you’d outgrown me.”
None of it sounds like good excuses to me. Friendships ebb and flow, a natural part of life, but even in our quietest moments, I’d never keep a secret like this from Chloe.
The anger makes me cold. I give her a stony glare. “Maybe I have.”
Tears glitter in her round eyes, and I almost regret saying it. She fidgets with her manicure, the silence suffocating until she finally breaks it.
“Okay, then. If that’s how you feel. I’m sorry, Madison. I didn’t want this.” She stands up, smoothing down her cream skirt. I helped her pick it out in Macy’s last year; the reminder of it is just another punch to the gut. “I won’t tell anyone about what I just saw, though I think maybe you want it to piss off Brandon…”
“You can do what you want.”
She winces as though my words are a physical blow. In the mirror behind her, I don’t even recognize myself. Italy might have broken me, but it’s hardened me, too. I’m made of steel now, unwilling to be vulnerable with people who can so easily hurt me. I didn’t think I’d have to slip into this new armor so quickly, but after so much pain, I’m glad for it.
“Just… be careful with Roman. We both know he isn’t right for you, and I don’t think it’s worth it for a little revenge. I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
I can’t decide if I agree or not. As the haze of Roman begins to clear, regret seeps into its place. The petty side of me wants to get back at Brandon, but I already feel childish for it — especially considering Roman’s maturity.
