Page 57 of Fixed Up Ever After
“We need to talk, Lola. Now.”
CHAPTER35
Javi
Lola stumbled when Javi gently took her by the arm and led her away from prying eyes. More than once he had to catch her before she fell on her face, but instead of getting mad or embarrassed, Lola laughed. It was like trying to lead around a toddler who just had their fill of all the sugary snacks inside the house.
Javi had never seen Lola so…out of place. He knew it was from the alcohol making its way through her system, but he had not been prepared for tipsy Lola. And for what? To talk to him? God, he hoped not. He was kicking himself for not being able to see her pain and worry earlier. Maybe he could have helped prevent this.
Still, it wasn’t all his fault. Lola had been acting strange around him and hadn’t been subtle about it either. If something was bothering her, why didn’t she come to him? They could have talked it through like grown-ass adults in grown-ass situationships did.
Javi pulled them to a private nook between the elevators and the entrance to the courtyard. The main party was still in full swing and the only people over here were waiting for the next available elevator, paying them no mind. He pushed Lola up against the wall and not in the sexy way he had done the other night. No, this was to keep her upright so she didn’t fall on her ass.
“You got me alone. Has that been your secret plan all along?” Lola giggled, sloppily leaning forward to wrap her arms around his neck. In the span of the two minutes it took to steady her and lead her away from the dance floor, Lola’s drunkenness hit a whole new level. She didn’t appear to be aware of what she was saying anymore and that frightened Javi. He had wanted her attention, but not like this.
Fuck. She was making this more complicated than it needed to be.
“How much have you had to drink?” That was apparently the wrong fucking thing to say because Lola’s easygoing smile faded. She narrowed her eyes, lips turning into a deep frown.
“Are you shaming me for drinking, Javi?” Her voice had gone unusually low, sending his body into alert mode.
“No, I’m not, but—”
Just like that, the anger was erased as if it had never been there at all. “Good.” She giggled and leaned up to kiss him. He tasted the alcohol on her lips and groaned. His dumb brain wanted more. To press up against her until she was writhing with need for him. But she was fucking drunk and he would never take advantage of her in this state.
He came here to talk, not to fuck.
With great difficulty, Javi untangled himself from her. Lola whimpered, sticking out her bottom lip in a pout. “Do you not want to kiss me?”
“Not when you are too drunk to think rationally,” he said, unwavering. Javi sucked in a deep breath to calm down his racing heart before stepping back to put more distance between them.
He hated the pain flashing through her eyes and every part of his body screamed to take her back into his arms. There she would be safe. But that wasn’t true, was it? If he held her now, he’d be inclined to forget everything he wanted to say. Everything he needed to tell her.
“Lola, I can’t do this anymore. I can’t continue when I don't know where we stand.” The moment the words were out of his mouth, he knew he fucked up.
Lola balled her hands into fists at her side, her earlier swaying no longer seemed to hinder her balance anymore. “Oh, you can’t do this anymore? And what exactly is that, Javi? You can’tdome anymore?” The anger in Lola’s voice carried, and a few guests waiting for the elevator turned to look at them.
“Fuck, no, Lola, that’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying I don’t like this lie we’ve made up. I knew what I was getting myself into, but I didn’t expect to fall for you the way I did.”
“Fall for me?” She huffed, once again doing nothing to hide her voice. He thanked God they were out of most of the public’s eye, but he wished she would lower her voice to not warrant unwanted attention.
“Is that so hard to see, Lola? Is it so impossible that during our time together I have fallen in love with you?”
“Don’t say that!” she growled, tears springing to her eyes. She put her hands over her ears as if she could block out his words. “Don’t fucking say that if you don’t mean it!”
“Don’t say what? That I care for you? That I want to talk about what’s happening between us because I know you feel it too? Tell me, Lola, what is it you don’t want to talk about? Because everything I’m saying isreal.”
She was getting more agitated by the moment and he was pushing her to the brink of explosion, but he couldn't stop. Not now when he was finally getting through to her. He would have preferred it if she wasn’t drunk and near tears, but he didn’t know if he’d have the opportunity again.
“Lola, please. I want to know where we stand. That’s all I’m asking. Let’s go back to our room and we can—”
“We can, what?” The tears started to run freely this time and Javi desperately wanted to understand what she was feeling, but she wasn’t giving him anything other than drunk anger. He refused to believe these were her real thoughts, he knew his girl and she liked to talk things out. That was exactly what he was trying to do.
“So we can go back and we can fuck and pretend like this never happened?” she continued.
“No, that’s not what I’m saying.”
“Oh, so now you don’t want to fuck me? You didn’t have a problem with that the last time you had me in bed!”
