Chapter 13
"You can't go to Manhattan again." Alexa is rummaging through one of my dresser drawers. "All hell breaks loose when you're in that city."
I know she's trying to lighten my spirits but she's right. I can't go back there. The last three trips I've taken there have all ended in disaster. Since I got home yesterday, I've tried to push the memory of Hunter's face as he left my hotel room out of my mind.
"Do you seriously think he's marrying her out of guilt?" She pulls a light blue shirt out of the drawer before holding it in front of her.
"I think so." I scrunch my nose when she looks at me. "That's not your color."
"You're right." She tosses it thoughtlessly over her head so it lands next to the others she's thrown on the floor. "That's fucked, don't you think?"
"That blue isn't your color?" I tease. "You'll get over it."
She pulls her hand to her hip and cocks her head to the side. "Not funny. It's fucked that he's so full of guilt that he's throwing his life away for that bitch."
"That is fucked," I whisper. "The whole situation is fucked. I wish I'd never met him."
"You don't mean that." She swiftly undoes the buttons on her blouse revealing a sheer black bra. "You're in love with him."
"It doesn't matter." I point to a black sweater that is sitting on top of my bed. "Try that."
"Why doesn't it matter?" She pulls it over her head and I'm instantly reminded of how much better my clothes fit her than me.
"You should wear that." I nod at her reflection in the mirror.
"Don't avoid the subject." She pulls the fabric taut, which only accentuates her breasts even more. "Why doesn't it matter that you love him?"
"Alexa." I move behind her, pulling her blond hair back from her shoulders. "He's marrying another woman. I have to stop loving him and let him go."
"It's not that easy." She pats my hand with hers. "Love doesn't disappear like that."
"You don't know that," I pull a thin grin over my lips. "You've never been in love."
"I will be after next Friday." She turns so she's facing me directly. "I'm going out with an older man."
"How much older?" I grimace at the question. I'm always slightly worried about my best friend's choices in dates. I don’t want her getting involved with someone too old.
"He's thirty." She winks at me. "Didn't he tell you that?"
I feel my stomach drop. "Who?" I cringe as I ask the question.
"Who do you think?" she cocks her head to the side. "Clive."
I run my fingers across my eyebrows as I let out a heavy sigh. "
Alexa. No. Why would you do that?"
"Why would I go out with a hot as fuck guy?" She pulls her tongue across her lips. "Let's see. Let me count the ways."
"Don't." I throw my hand up in protest. I don't want to hear about what she's planning on doing with Coral's older brother.
"He's almost a decade older than you." I whine. "You don't think that's too big of an age gap." I want to be diplomatic but during the brief time I spent with Clive in New York, he didn't strike me as the type of man who chased after girls our age.
"He thinks I'm twenty-five." She smirks.
"He what?" I almost scream the words at her. "You can't lie like that."
"Sadie." She grabs hold of both my shoulders and gives me a slight shake. "I'm not marrying him. I'm going to fuck him."