Last night was a bad idea. I’ve woken up today feeling as rough as a badger’s arse. I’m not going to say I’m never drinking again because I vaguely remember saying that the night I met Max, and look where that got me. Nothing good comes from drinking like a crazy fish, but I’ll never learn. It’s good at the time.
I look over to my friend sleeping beside me. At least we both made it home and into the bed this time. Mhairi did what any best friend would do. She let me drown my sorrows and came along for the ride. No questions asked. No judgement. I would do the same for her, but I would ask questions. I’m a nosy cow.
I reach over to my bedside table and grab my phone. I’m terrified to see who I text or called last night. I keep having flashbacks of telling Max a few home truths, and I hope it’s my brain playing tricks on me… but nope. Last in my call log was Max’s number. Nine minutes long. What the fuck did we say to each other that was nine minutes long? I can see the twelve unanswered texts from Max, but it’s the last one that I read.
Max: Please tell me that you got home okay, Lex.
“What do you even care, ya big dunder heed?”
“First sign of madness is when you talk to yourself,” Mhairi groans and turns around to face me. She looks just as bad as I feel.
“It’s only madness if I answer myself.”
I turn on my side to face Mhairi. We’ve had many girly nights like this before and put the world to rights.
“And do I need to guess who you’re slagging off? Of course I don’t. What has he done now?”
“Text to see if I got home safe,” I scoff.
“That right there is not a man that has been cheating, Lexi. What else did he say?”
I shrug. “I haven’t read the texts.”
Mhairi sits up and leans her head on her hand. “Why not? If you don’t read them then I will.”
I snatch my phone up and grip it to my chest. My heart is broken enough without reading more excuses and lies. I can’t take much more.
“You’ve fallen in love with him, haven’t you?”
My eyes meet Mhairi’s and the floodgates open. I can’t hold back the huge sobs that leave my mouth. It’s a tear fest of snot and drool, but Mhairi just holds me and lets me get it out of my system.
A banging on my door breaks us apart and Mhairi stumbles out of bed, falls over something on the floor, and catches herself on the door. “This better be fucking good,” she snaps. “It’s not even nine a.m. on a Sunday morning.”
I don’t get out of bed. Mhairi can tear whoever is at my door a new arsehole. She won’t miss them. Just as that thought leaves my head, my bedroom door bangs off the wall, and a huffing and puffing, rather dishevelled Max appears. Fuck him for still looking so handsome.
“Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been?” he barks out, leans over and placing his hands on his knees to catch his breath.
“What the fuck are you doing here? How did you know where I live?”
“I’ve got friends in high places. Never mind what the fuck am I doing here? I thought you’d fallen down a ditch somewhere or been murdered.”
“Sorry. He wouldn’t take no for an answer.” Mhairi peeks her head around the door. “I’ll put the coffee machine on.”
I toss a pillow at my friend’s head and shout, “Traitor.”
“About last night.”
“Don’t. I just want to forget that it ever happened.”
“I’m guessing by the icy reception you’ve not read your texts.” I shake my head. “Victoria isn’t my fiancée. She was… a long time ago. Five years to be exact. She cheated on me. I called it off when I found her in a compromising position with the gardener. One thing I can’t stand is a cheater. Two things, really. A cheater and a liar. I never lied to you, Lex. I swear to you that everything I’ve said to you has been the truth.”
Tears fall down my cheeks again and I grip the quilt to my chest. I want to believe Max. I do believe him, but none of this changes our fuck fest because that’s all it really was. He’s never going to want me. A plain Jane who owns a cleaning company over his multiple hotels.
“It was good while it lasted, Max.”
“What? No. You can’t walk away from us, Lex. I’ve still got spice up my sleeve.”
I laugh at that comment, but I wipe my nose with the back of my hand.Very sexy, Lexi.“It’s better that we end this now. No good will come from us fucking like rabbits around the hotel. I am not a fuck bunny. I can not just have sex and not let emotions get in the way. I’m a mess, Max. I thought I could do this, but I can’t. I believe that you didn’t cheat on me, on Victoria, but I can’t continue the way we have been.”
