I pressed my hand to my chest, trying to rub the pain away. Of course he went for girls who looked like Mia. He was in love with her. I’d suspected it for years, but I hadn’t wanted to believe it.
Now, I had no choice but to.
“Stupid, stupid girl,” I whispered to myself, angrily scrubbing the single teardrop away. “You had no business falling for him to begin with.”
I drew in a slow, steadying breath and stood. Locking my knees to keep them from trembling, I walked to my full-length mirror and glared at the girl staring back at me. “You will not love him anymore. Jordan Moreitti is nothing more than your friend. You don’t need him. You won’t cry over him. You won’t even think about him.”
Walking back to my bed, I picked up the unwrapped gift and then placed it at the back of my closet, locking it away along with the key to my heart.
Seven Months Later
Jordan
Lana Stevenson’s soft sobs were so heartbreaking that no one was left unaffected. She clung to her husband, burying her face in his chest as the minister said the last prayer. The beautiful woman was surrounded by her children, sisters, and other family members, but she was so distraught she couldn’t see anything but the casket that held her father.
It was closed, with white roses on top along with a picture of Cole surrounded by his daughter and all five of his grandchildren. The smile on the old rocker’s face was possibly the most genuine the man had ever had. His happiness seemed to shine out of his eyes and glow around the seven people in the picture as the afternoon sun gleamed down on the silver frame.
But neither Lana’s heart-wrenching sobs nor the picture could hold my attention. Not when she was only a few yards away.
I stared across the open grave at the girl who had been tormenting me night and day from the time she was barely sixteen fucking years old. At times, I was disgusted with myself and how easily Arella Stevenson could twist my thoughts of her into something dirty and sexual.
The age gap between us might have been considered minuscule compared to the one between her parents, but since she’d been so young when I’d first started having those filthy fantasies about her, it made me feel like a lecherous old man.
But that hadn’t stopped me from seeking out her attention. From obsessing about her every move. Or from aching for just a smile from the beauty who haunted me even when I was halfway around the world and deep between someone else’s thighs.
It hadn’t worked, though. I couldn’t fuck her out of my system with other women, and eventually, I just gave up trying to make the ache go away with random hookups. Because no matter how many other girls I’d fucked, none of them could make me feel the peace that Arella could with just the brush of her fingertips down my jaw.
And now she stood in tears as the world said its final goodbye to her grandfather.
Cole Steel had passed in his sleep days before. The paps had gone crazy with the story, spouting bullshit like they found him facedown in some pornstars’s pussy, coked out of his head. They claimed he’d overdosed and that was why his heart had stopped.
The truth wasn’t nearly as dramatic, from what Mia had shared when she’d called to tell me about Cole’s passing.
Cole had had a heart attack, but he was too stubborn to seek medical attention. Instead, he’d thought he could just ignore the pain the pain and passed in his sleep. His daughter had found him the next morning when she and Drake showed up, determined to make him go to the doctor.
I’d been in Milan when my best friend called to tell me about his death, and the first thing I could think about was how distraught Arella must be. She was close to the old rocker, whom she so affectionately called “Pop-Pop,” so I knew she had to be hurting. As soon as I hung up with Mia, I’d tried to call her, but her phone was off.
I’d attempted again and again on the trip home, but her phone remained off the entire time. I hadn’t gotten back until late the night before, and even though I’d wanted to drive straight to her parents’ house to check on her, I knew I would see her today and I forced myself