“Is all the alcohol because the breakup went bad or good?” He spun around and I had to back up a step to look at him. Dude was tall. And surprisingly good-looking for a guy who sported a mullet. Whoa. Where did that thought come from?
“What?”
A thick blond eyebrow lifted, and if I wasn’t imagining it, one side of his lips tilted into a smile. “How many times can you ask the same question, Amelia?”
I frowned, not following. “What?”
Titus cracked up at that, reaching out to pull me into a hug. “How drunk are you, sweetheart?”
“Mmm,” I muttered, my face plastered against a solid, granite chest. Drunk enough to moan over my best friend’s pecs, I guess. “Very.”
Titus rubbed my back and I curled into him, willing to purr if he’d keep going. Instead, he put his hands on my shoulders and pushed me back. “What did Daire say when you broke up with him?”
I slumped, not really wanting to talk about it. “Wait. How do you know I broke up with him?”
Titus shrugged and had a seat on my recliner, making himself at home. “Lucy told Bain, who told Rip, who told me. You, Amelia, could have just told me yourself, you know.”
I sagged onto my bed, that guilt from last night barreling back in. “I know. I guess I felt bad about how we’ve been since Daire came along and…” I trailed off, not able to put into words what I was feeling.
Titus leaned forward, putting me out of my misery like the nice guy he’d always been. “I know. So how did he react?”
I tilted my head to the side and figured it was a good sign when the whole room didn’t tilt and lurch. “I don’t know. I haven’t looked at my phone all day.”
Titus sighed, standing up to grab my phone off the floor, almost under my bed, where I’d kicked it during one particularly fun dance move. You never know what you’re capable of on the dance floor until your favorite jam comes on.
He put in my code, which I hadn’t changed in years, and scrolled to my message string from Daire. I looked away and tried to suck in some oxygen. I’d been putting this off all day in favor of White Claw and Drake. Avoidance for the win, baby!
Titus made a choking noise.
“What?” I stood up to look at my phone screen, but he moved out of the way and held the phone above my head.
His face was turning a weird shade of red. Almost had a pretty purple hue to it.
“You okay?” I’d had many years to categorize the many expressions of Titus Jackson and this one wasn’t one I’d ever seen before. “Your nostrils are flaring. Like actually spreading, dude.”
“I’m gonna kill him,” he growled.
I gave him my best mom look, the one I’d seen Lucy give Roxy. “That’s a bit extreme, hon. I’m sure he’s just angry and shocked and lashing out.”
Titus turned that scary face on me. “Don’t defend him, Amelia. He’s an asshole who doesn’t know how to treat women. He doesn’t deserve defending.”
I put my hands up in surrender. “Okay, sorry.” I grabbed the last White Claw—a huge gift considering I’d lived off these babies all day—extending it to Titus like a peace offering. “Want a chick beer?”
Instead of accepting my magnanimous offering, he slammed my phone down on my desk and headed to the door. “I don’t get you. I really don’t.”
“What?” I followed him, not at all understanding why he was so upset. Maybe I would have figured it out without an entire day of drinking under my belt, but as it was, he’d have to spell it out for me.
At the door, he spun back around, ninja-quick, and I skidded to a halt, nearly face planting in his chest for the second time tonight. Maybe if he wasn’t so mad, I could get him to stay and rub my back again. That had felt extra good. Maybe even better than the taste of the single bag of mixed salted nuts I’d consumed today.
“When the real Amelia is back, let me know.”
The door slammed shut and he was gone, just the faint trace of his cologne and the burn in my chest from his words to let me know he’d been there at all.
“Well, shit.” The back of my eyeballs started to sting.
Why was everybody being so mean to me today? First Lucy, now Titus. And probably Daire if I was ballsy enough to read his response to my breakup text. I frowned. Maybe that’s what got Titus so spun out.
I marched over to my phone and picked it up, reading Daire’s three responses. The room swayed and a very awful, no-good emotion claimed me. Shame. Humiliation. Devastation.
Not only was Daire happy we broke up, but he told me in very detailed ways how much I’d sucked as a girlfriend. Oh, and he’d been cheating on me the whole year we’d been together.
With that response thundering through my brain, I grabbed the offending bottle of vodka and twisted the cap until my hand came away with a blood blister. But I got that fucker open. I was done with my chick beer. I needed something harder. Something to knock me out. Something to take away the memory of those words thrown at me. Something to make me forget how miserable my life had become.
3
Titus
Why’d she have to be so fuckin’ beautiful?
Like being her friend sixteen long years when I wanted to be so much more, or staying away from her entirely the last month, wasn’t hard enough, the first time I saw her again, she was in a pale pink satin dress that hugged her curves and showed off her breasts. Her dark hair was curled and a little piece was pinned back by some sort of girl magic. Her makeup had been applied by an expert and her eyes sparkled as she looked at Lenora. She looked damn good.
I swallowed hard and looked away, grinding my teeth and silently apologizing to my dentist. He’d been warning me for years to stop grinding, but he didn’t know that nighttime was the only time I could take out snippets of Amelia and replay them over and over again, knowing I could never have her. Made for tough dreams. Some worn tooth enamel was bound to happen and, really, it was the least of my worries.
The tie around my neck felt like a collar. Why do couples always plan summer weddings and then expect everyone to dress in suits? When I got married—and yes, I snorted at the idea that it would ever happen—it would either be in winter, or we’d all be in swimsuits at the beach. No need for this straitjacket bullshit.
The music started and I moved over to take my place in the line forming behind the closed church door. Jayden and Lenora’s big day was finally here. Bain and Lucy stood arm in arm in front of me, canoodling as usual.
“Jesus,” I muttered. It was enough to make a single guy nauseous.
“Got something to say, Jackson?” Bain muttered, giving me the side eye. Lucy smacked his arm.
“Nope, just checking out your wife’s gorgeous ass,” I whispered back, knowing that would piss him right off.
He went to spin around, but Lucy yanked him back. “Serves you right, Bain. Leave the poor guy alone. He’s gotta walk with Amelia today.”
Bain visibly shuddered.
You see, word on the street was even though Amelia had broken up with Daire a month ago, she’d been having a rough time assimilating into the single life again. She’s been on a rampage all over town, and while that wasn’t the reason I’d been avoiding her, it was a nice little side benefit. I’d heard the rumors. She was one wrong look away from flipping tables and burning the whole town down. I was fairly confident the rumors were overblown, but then again, this was Amelia we were talking about. There was nothing normal about her.