For an hour, I watched them interact, swap places and laugh. Every time Chase got too close to Nadia, I tensed so hard the muscles in my shoulders cramped painfully.
It was a fucking torture; a disaster waiting to happen.
There was no guessing what my first reaction would be if he kissed her, but the end result was easy to predict—two black eyes and possibly a broken nose, too.
The screen turned black one hour and forty minutes later. I breathed a sigh of relief. They didn’t kiss, but she was cheerful around him. The ground was slipping from under my feet. I grabbed my jacket and almost ran out of the building then sped across the city.
Nadia couldn’t see that sorry-ass guitarist anymore. He wasn’t good enough for her. She deserved better. It was my duty as a friend to tell her that she was making a mistake spending time with Chase.
It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact I was jealous.Nothing.None whatsoever.
Amelia walked out of the kitchen when I barged into their house twenty minutes later. A tight, green dress accentuated her curves, making her red hair anddon’t-fuck-with-meattitude pop.
“What do you want, Thomas?” she huffed. “Nadia’s not here.”
“Where is she?”
For his sake, it would be better if she weren’t with Chase.
“Shouldn’t you be concerned about Chrissy’s whereabouts?” Venom dripped from every one of Mel’s words. “You moved on.Great, now stop messing with Nadia’s head. Leave her alone.”
My fists clenched, but I swallowed pride, hanging my jacket on the coat hanger. The thing I liked about Amelia most was her honesty. She wasn’t one to act nice for the sake of being nice. She called it as she saw it, and I needed that right now.
“Change of sides,” I said, my arms crossed over my chest. “I see. Fine, I get it. Just remember she left me, not the other way around. Don’t try to dump this mess on my head.”
Amelia mimicked my stance, crossing her arms. “Yeah, she did leave. I understand why you’re trying to forget about her, but it’s not working. You act like you don’t care, but you’re here whether she needs you or not. You can’t stay away from her, Thomas.”
She came closer, looking like she was ready to hit me, but instead, more brutally honest words poured out of her mouth. What Nick said was true—Amelia was one hell of a woman. She fought hard for people she loved, no matter the consequences and no matter the pain that her words inflicted. She knew where to hit to hurt the most.
“You’re too proud to forgive her, because how dare she leave you, right? How dare she go through hell tosavesomeone she once cared about! How fucking dare she be so selfless!” She threw her hands in the air, her face red, chest heaving. “But sure, you’re hurt so you can rub Chrissy in her face, because why not? You’re allowed to make Nadia feel like shit after all she’s done to you.”
Kick me, why don’t you?
“Nadia doesn’t care about Chrissy.”
A look of utter disbelief crossed Mel’s face. “Wow,” she mouthed. “Stop acting stupid. You’re not. You’re just cruel. Why do you think she packed her bags this morning? She moved back to her apartment so that she doesn’t have to see you.”
I rested my back on the wall, gawking at the floor while Mel’s words bounced in my head, hitting all the nerves. Shame mixed with annoyance, pissing me off that much more, because Amelia was right. I loved Nadia, and I was hurt. I couldn’t fucking imagine getting back together with her. I also couldn’t imagine not seeing her whenever I wanted, or worse—seeing her with someone else.
“Have you not seen her meltdown?” I spat out, focusing on the facts. “Who do you think that was about? She still loves Adrian. I won’t watch the psychopath take her away from me again.”
“He won’t. She spoke to him a few days back, and…”
“Shewhat?!” My jaw clenched; teeth gnashed.
Why? Why was Nadia so irrational? Was there something wrong with her survival instincts? She sure didn’t seem to have any.
“Ty called,” Mel began, and entered the kitchen, gesturing for me to follow. “Adrian jumped out of the second floor and made a run for the payphone because the doctors wouldn’t let him call Nadia, and he wanted to apologise. Ty found some fancy and—by the sound of it—a bit dodgy psychiatric rehab facility of some sort, but Adrian refused to be admitted until he spoke to Nadia.” She took a bottle of wine from the cupboard. “None of that matters, really,” she continued, handing me a glass filled to the brim. “What does is that she’s still here even though she knows Adrian tried to kill himself. She told him he has to get better for himself because she’s not a part of his life anymore.”
I took Mel outside so that I could have a smoke. We sat on the fallen bough, arm in arm, wine in hand. Amelia was beyond pissed off, but she was also worried. Her best friend went through one of the worst things a man can put a woman through, and it was hard on Amelia. It was hard on us all, but between me, Nick and Mel, she was the one who could relate to Nadia most, even if it was only because she was a woman.
A single tear rolled down her cheek, and I wrapped my hand over her shoulders pulling her to my side. The patio door slid open moments later. Nick cleared his throat, gawking at me while I held Mel in a tight embrace.
“That’smywife,” he said. The stern tone ruined by a cheeky smile. “Get your own.”
Amelia moved away, drinking the last of her wine. “Yeah, just so he can divorce her the moment she makes one mistake? Oh, wait, no court would grant a divorce based onshe made a mistake.”
“Subtle,” I said.