“I was drunk, Will.” She stopped fidgeting and walked away from me to stand in front of the window, facing out toward the inky ocean beyond it. “I was so drunk.”
“So was I. You didn’t see me all over the news making out with someone else.”
She didn’t turn to face me, her voice smaller than ever before as she kept trying to justify her actions. “I said no the first time he tried to kiss me, but I was so drunk that when he tried the second time, I just let it happen.”
“You let it happen?” My brows swept up, my grip on my arms tightening. “What did I just say about bullshitting me? I know it was more than a kiss. There was passion there. You wanted to kiss him. Fuck, Angelina, he had his hand up your skirt and your hands were all over him.”
She sighed and brought her palms to her face. “That’s not true. It was an accident. I swear. I didn’t want him. There’s nothing between us.”
“You can try to deny it until you’re blue in the face, but you’re fighting a losing battle here. It’s kind of hard to lie about it when the fucking images of what really happened are out there for the whole world to see.”
“I was just drunk, Will,” she snapped. “Don’t tell me you’ve never done anything you’ve regretted while you were drunk.”
“I haven’t, actually. Whether I was drunk when I did it or not, everything I do is what I want to do in that moment. You’re the same way. Are you trying to claim he took advantage of you? Because that’s a dangerous fucking allegation if it’s a lie.”
If I hadn’t seen it with my own two eyes, I might’ve believed her. Since I had seen it, however, I was one hundred percent sure that wasn’t what happened. If I’d thought that for even a second, I’d have been on a plane last night to put my fist in his face before going to the cops. I’d have ruined him before the sun had risen this morning, and he’d never work in this town again.
I had a few friends in high enough places to make it happen, and I wouldn’t have hesitated for a second. No man who would take advantage of an inebriated woman deserved to be called a man, never mind to keep walking around without facing the consequences of his actions.
I saw the moment when Angelina realized I was right about her fighting a losing battle. Her shoulders rose when she spun to finally face me, the fight was back in her eyes, and the tears were gone.
“Fine.” She lifted her chin, her gaze defiant on mine. “I panicked, okay? Is that what you want to hear? I never saw myself getting married and everything was just moving too fast for me.”
My head reared back, my arms dropping to my sides like lumps of coal. I didn’t shock easily, but for the second time tonight, I felt like she’d knocked the breath right out of my lungs.
“Too fast?” My jaw went slack and my throat worked. “We’ve been together for two and a half years. We’ve been talking about getting married for over a year now. I thought you wanted this. I’m in love with you, Angelina. That’s the only reason why I even fucking asked that question. It’s not like I thought I’d get married either.”
“I do want this.” Her voice softened, her expression turned sad, and her lips turned down at the corners. “I just had a little misstep, that’s all. It doesn’t have to be a big deal. I made a mistake, but everyone does. I’m only human.”
She pouted, slowly sauntering across the room toward me as she batted her long, pitch-black lashes and kept her eyes on mine. I recognized the look she was giving me. It was her “take me to bed” look, all pouty and seductive with her lids heavy as she peered up at me between those lashes.
“Come on, baby. It was just a little mistake. Nothing serious.” When she reached me, she rested her hands on my chest and smoothed out the wrinkled T-shirt I’d thrown on earlier. “You know you’re going to forgive me. Why don’t we go up to our room, and I’ll show you how sorry I am?”
“Our room?” I closed my fingers lightly over her wrists and pulled her hands off me, putting some distance between us again. “It’s my room. It might’ve been ours one day, but that’s not going to happen now.”
“Don’t be so dramatic, Will.” She rolled her eyes before pushing her chest out and flashing me a flirty smile. “You’re not going to leave me. We’re engaged. All I’m proposing is that we skip all the unnecessary fighting and get to the making up.”
I stared at her. “Do you really think I’m going to fucking touch you right now? You can’t possibly be that delusional.”
“What are you saying?” she asked, her cheeks growing paler as if she was realizing for the first time that I wasn’t just going to sweep her back into my arms and tell her everything was forgiven.
“I’m saying that I need time to think. Time alone.” I put emphasis on the word, hoping she’d get the fucking point already.
Clearly, she got it and didn’t like it.
“If you’re going to take some time,” she said, “I’m going to do the same, but you’re sadly mistaken if you think I’m going to give you the ring back. I’m still your fiancée.”
With one last glare pointed at me, she pivoted and stormed out before I could correct her. The whole altercation left me itching for another drink, but I resisted.
I’d already tried drinking my way through all the alcohol I could stomach and it hadn’t helped one bit. In fact, it’d left me feeling worse. I didn’t know what the answer was, but I didn’t think more alcohol was it.
Chapter 6
ANNA
My father grinned when I showed up at his apartment on Saturday night. I lifted the dish of homemade lasagna in my hands, and the grin grew even wider.
“Did you get that from Mrs. Dunn?” he asked, stepping away from the door and motioning me in.
I walked past him and set the food down in his small kitchenette. “You know it. I ordered a salad to go with it. It’s all in there.”
As soon as my hands were empty, he wrapped his arms around me in a giant bear hug. “How did I get so lucky to have a daughter like you? How are you, sweetie? How was your week?”
I hugged him back, just as over the moon to see him as he was to see me. “It was good. You know how much I love it when we start getting busy.”
“I have no idea where you got that from,” he joked before releasing me. His dark brown eyes were warm on mine when he stepped back. “It sure as hell wasn’t from me.”
“Yeah, right. Says the man who’s forever picking up extra shifts on the docks.” I smiled and watched as he walked to the fridge, pulling out a chilled bottle of my favorite white wine. He poured me a glass, neither of us venturing into the territory of who else I could’ve gotten it from.
My mother was long gone. She’d left us shortly after giving birth to me, never to be seen or heard from again. We didn’t talk about her much. I used to ask a lot of questions, and Dad had given me all the answers he had. There was nothing left to say about her since we’d never heard anything more.
I’d long since come to accept that I was better off without her. If she didn’t want us, I wouldn’t have wanted her to hang around anyway. I was the most important thing in the world to my father and he’d always doted on me. I was lucky to have a dad like him, and I’d never cheapen that by wishing for a woman who’d taken off in the dead of night.