Fake Love - Jaxson Kidman Page 0,57

what he wanted from me. I wanted to give it to him too. But I wanted to be together when it happened. Like a couple. Then I convinced myself that if I did it with him, he would stop fucking other girls. Can you imagine?”

“Fuck.”

“Yeah. When it happened though, it was just… it was my decision. That’s who I wanted, no matter what. It was a random night. A random thing. And then I didn’t talk to him for like six months.”

“Six months?” I asked.

“Yeah. Then we started fooling around. It was kind of fun. It was a friends with benefits thing but I always thought it would grow into more…”

“So he used you.”

“I guess.”

“No. Gia. He fucking used you. You can admit it. You’re not stupid for it. You’re stupid if you can’t admit it.”

Gia nodded. “Yeah. Okay. He… used me.”

Her lips quivered.

I felt for her.

To be that emotionally invested in someone and that someone used that emotion to get what he wanted physically. That was complete and total bullshit.

“It’s not over yet,” Gia whispered.

“What? The story? Or you and him?”

“Fletcher moved away six months ago,” Gia said. “Before he left…”

She shrugged her shoulders.

I nodded. “Okay. So what? You fucked him one last time. Nothing wrong with that either.”

“We kind of made a promise we’d find each other again,” Gia said. “I’ve held onto that. I really thought it would happen. I was going to get all these awards for running. I was going to transfer out of BFH and go closer to him. I even figured if my mother got pissed and decided not to pay for anything, I would have enough in scholarships. Other places have begged me to transfer. I’m really that good at running.”

“I believe it,” I said. “I almost died trying to catch up to you.”

Gia pushed at my shoulder. “Don’t say that, Winter. I could never live with myself if that actually happened to you.” Gia took a breath and looked toward the ocean. “I was upset today because I found out Fletcher has moved on. Like for real.”

“How do you know it’s for real?”

“He’s engaged.”

“Damn,” I said.

“Yeah. And now I know he was never mine. I know things were never going to be serious. Or get serious. Or stay serious. Nothing was ever going to work. But it hurts.”

Gia looked at me, tears in her eyes.

I grabbed her arms and pulled her toward me for a hug.

She started to actually cry as I held her.

I shut my eyes and could feel her pain. She loved Fletcher and it was never meant to be. That was a shitty feeling.

I felt so close to Gia. She was a good friend.

But me… I wasn’t…

Fuck, I felt tears coming to my eyes.

She was being so vulnerable to me and I was sitting there as a stone-cold liar.

I told myself to tell her. I could trust Gia. She could probably help. Or at the very least she would understand.

I opened my mouth and opened my eyes.

But I didn’t speak.

I saw Talon standing right behind Gia, a grin on his face.

“What’s happening here?” Talon asked.

Gia jumped away from me and turned her head. “Oh… wow…”

“Are you crying, darling?” Talon asked her.

“It’s personal, Talon,” I said. “What are you doing here?”

“Tick-tock,” he said with an even bigger smile. “The night is going to be explosive, Winter. Just like you wanted, right?”

Gia slowly looked at me, her eyes a mile wide.

“Gia, don’t…”

She mouthed ohmygod to me and bit her bottom lip.

“I’ll let you two be,” she said.

I grabbed her hand. “Gia, you don’t have to go.”

“Oh, I think I do,” she said with a laugh. “I’m really high and this is just…”

“Nobody saved anything for me?” Talon asked.

I curled my lip.

He was such a Troc. Except he was good looking. But he had no problem just jumping into a conversation he didn’t belong in. Trocs knew they were way lower than Bumps but they didn’t care. They took pride in bothering Bumps, as though they had some disease they could spread and wanted to.

Gia started to stand and Talon offered his hand.

She took it and he helped her up.

“Hey, darling, don’t cry,” he said to her. “If I woke up and looked in the mirror and realized I was a Bump I might cry too. For a minute. But you’re too pretty to cry.”

Gia let out a ha sound and nothing more.

She looked back at me again so I scrambled to get to my feet.

I felt woozy for a second.

We