“You think I feel bad about us sleeping together?”
“I know I do. It shouldn’t have happened. It was a mistake.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. How cold and detached her tone was. I didn’t recognize the woman I was talking to, this wasn’t my best friend.
This was a complete stranger.
“You think it was a mistake?”
“I know it was.”
I opened my mouth to respond but what the fuck do I say to that?
“Leo, I really have to go.”
“Are you trying to hurt me?”
“No. Of course not, but I really do have to go.”
“When will I talk to you again?”
“I don’t know. Let me get my schedule in order and I’ll give you a call when I can.”
“Lala—”
“Bye, Leo.”
Click.
“Wow,” I rasped, hanging up my phone.
It took every ounce of self-control to not punch the damn wall. I sat there staring at it, not regretting one minute of us having sex. I thought about it almost every night, fucking my fist to the image of her naked beneath me.
What she tasted like.
How she felt.
Her moans.
Her pants.
Her screaming out my name.
I hadn’t slept with anyone since Mila and the crazy part was that I didn’t want to.
All I wanted was her.
It didn’t matter in what way, I just needed her in my life.
How did this happen to us? How could I let this happen?
My eyes caught the picture frame I had of us on my desk. It was a photo from graduation that my mom took. Mila’s arms were wrapped around my neck from behind me and she was kissing my cheek.
She looked so beautiful.
So happy.
So enamored with me.
Unable to control my emotions, I grabbed it and chucked it at the wall, shards of glass flew everywhere until it crashed to the ground. Mimicking our friendship.
Leo and Mila.
Mila and Leo.
No longer a twosome.
No longer best friends.
No longer anything.
We were in fucking limbo and my heart couldn’t handle that.
Chapter 27
—Mila—
One month later
“We’re going out tonight, Mi.”
I handed Cain his lunch.
“Thanks, darlin’.”
Smiling, I held out my hand. “You’re welcome.”
He chuckled, grabbing some cash from his wallet. “No tomatoes?”
“I’ve been making your lunch every day since your plane landed. I know how you like it.”
“Why don't you let me show you how I like it in the bedroom?”
I ignored his smartass mouth. “Extra jalapenos. No tomatoes.”
“Good girl.” He handed me a ten-dollar bill.
“Where are we going tonight?”
Cain and I were spending a lot of our free time together.
Who was I kidding?
We spent a lot of time together in general. We both lived at the marina, and I worked for him so to speak. Cain used his employer status over me to his benefit. I made him breakfast, lunch, and dinner, on top of helping him with his catamaran whenever he needed it. We’d gotten close. On my days off, we were drinking buddies, sightseeing homies, or we were on the couch or in my bed, binge watching series after series like television junkies.
His catamaran wasn’t exactly ready to live on, but since he had all the amenities like a shower on the property of the marina, the only thing he used his sailboat for was to sleep. Although, he did crash on my couch more than he was actually sleeping on his catamaran. I didn’t mind, I enjoyed having him around. It felt like I had a piece of Leo with me and his presence in my daily life was comforting, to say the least.
Leo and I had only spoken twice in the last month. Both times were brief and on Facebook messenger. I ended up changing my settings to not show when I was online or else, he’d message me as soon as he logged on. To my complete and utter surprise, Leo spent a lot of time on Facebook. Stalking my page. Except he didn’t interact with my posts and the only reason I knew he was seeing them was because he’d call me out on whatever I recently posted when he’d randomly pm me.
The most recent…
Remember when I used to make you smile like that?
Leo was referring to the photo that the marina took of me and Cain on his boat. They tagged both of us in it. His arms were around my waist, about to toss me in the water. We had huge smiles on our faces and from an outsider looking in, it probably appeared as if we were a couple.
We weren’t.
However, I ignored that message from Leo too.
“You are off tomorrow, let’s hit up the bars tonight.”
“Awe,” I sarcastically stated. “You remember my schedule.”
“I pay attention to detail. It’s why I’m so smart.”
“You’re smart?”
He grinned before taking a bite of his chicken sandwich. “I convinced you moving here was a good idea.”
“It’s not like you had to twist my arm.”
Last weekend, we went to the carnival that was in town. We rode roller coasters the entire day, screaming and laughing with each other. He literally threw my body over his shoulder for a few rides, only the ones I refused to go on with him. We stayed there till the park closed and then went dancing until the sun came up.