Page 71 of The Heart Breaker

Wanna fuck off?

Cole:

Don’t act like you weren’t gagging on my cock two nights ago, Prescott.

Heat curls in my stomach at the reminder.

Sneaking around with him has been such a pain in the ass. I couldn’t even escape the lying when I went home for Thanksgiving last week, because I had to keep up the whole act about being at Northwood instead of Colton.

I’m constantly lying to everyone around me and it’s exhausting. A few nights ago, Isabella caught me heading out and asked where I was going. I lied and told her I was going to see a movie.

Her eyes lit up and she told me she’d been dying to see the new chick flick that was just released. She texted Maisie to join us and I waited until they both got ready.

Which is how I ended up wedged between my two best friends, watching the most boring movie while I counted down the minutes until I could get out of there and go get railed by the guy I used to fantasize about shoving down a flight of stairs.

Embarrassing doesn’t even begin to cover it.

The second we got home and I heard Isabella’s bedroom door click shut, I grabbed my keys, slipped back out, and went to his place. His front door had barely closed before he hauled me up, my legs locking around his thighs while his hands gripped my ass and carried me straight to the bed. My clothes hit the floor in seconds, and then he was between my legs.

I don’t know what we’re doing.

I don’t know what to call it.

And I definitely wouldn’t know how to explain it to anyone else.

Maybe that’s part of why I haven’t told anyone. As long as it stays in my head, I can pretend it’s not real.

“Aurora?”

I glance up from my phone and freeze.

Because standing right in front of me, is Chase.

My stomach drops the moment my eyes meet his, but I don’t slow down. I hitch my bag higher on my shoulder and turn away from him.

“Babe, come on,” he calls after me.

I have no choice but to stop when he jogs around me and blocks my path.

“Alright, I get it. I fucked up.” He lets out a breath, dragging a hand through his hair. “I just want to talk, Aurora.”

“By all means,” I mutter, stepping around him, “go talk to someone who gives a shit.”

My feet skid when his hand closes around my arm and yanks me back toward him. I whip around and wrench myself free, glaring at him. “Get off me.”

His expression hardens. “Just…” He groans and drags a hand down his face. “Just listen to me, goddamn it. It was a mistake, alright?”

I let out a short, disbelieving laugh. “Which time? Because I know for a fact that wasn’t the first. So how many, Chase? How many times did you cheat on me?”

His gaze slips away, landing anywhere but my face. He drags a hand over his jaw, lets out a breath, then finally looks back at me. “Three,” he says. “It only happened three times. I swear.”

I scoff. That’s such bullshit. There’s no way in hell it was only three times in the two years we’ve been apart. Still, some small part of me wonders if he’s actually telling the truth. He has nothing left to lose with me, so lying now would be pointless.

But it doesn’t matter.

One time would’ve been enough.

And I’m not that girl. I’m not the girl who forgives, forgets, and talks herself into believing he’ll be different next time.