Even my own brother feels like a stranger.
I’m completely, utterly alone.
Chasing the idea of a perfect ten was ridiculous.
I see that now.
I thought I’d found her—three times, no less—but each one turned out crazier than the last.
There’s no such thing as a perfect ten. I was stupid to believe otherwise. And by clinging to this fantasy of the ideal woman, I pushed away someone who might have been perfect for me.
No, she’s not the polished, innocent-looking woman I pictured. She has tattoos, piercings, and brightly colored hair. She swears like a sailor and drinks like a man.
But dammit, she’smy perfect ten.
What the fuck was I thinking?
It’s only when you’ve lost what you had that you truly see it for what it was.
Alex was my friend, my best friend. I didn’t want to change that. But I fucked everything up by not realizing sooner that we were more, so much more. We had the potential to be something epic. One of those great loves. The ones that romance lovers dream about.
My heart beats rapidly in my chest as her voice echoes in my mind.“To let me be happy, you have to let me go.”
I clench my jaw tight and smack my head back against the door again,hard. I’ve fucked up. I know I have, and I want Alex to be happy, but I’m fucking miserable, and this realization is coming way too late. It’s been nearly three weeks since I’ve spoken to Alex.Way too fucking long!I need something, anything, to tide me over. I’m a sinking ship.
So I pull my cell out of my jeans pocket and dial Nate’s number.
“Hey, you know it’s like stupid o’clock, right?” Nate tells me, and I close my eyes, trying to hold it together.
“Sorry, I’m just ah… I, ah… I needed to talk to someone,” I murmur.
Nate’s quiet for a pause, and then I hear him shuffling, like maybe he’s sitting up in bed. “Matt, that sounded serious,and your voice is kind of strained, like you’re just holding it together.”
“I am onlyjustholding it together, man,” I blurt out, and he exhales.
“Babe, I’m just gonna go to the living room. Go back to sleep,” he murmurs, obviously to Ria. I hear her mumble something incoherently in the background, then there’s movement, like he’s shifting around their home. “Matt, tell me, what’s going on?”
I exhale. “I’ve fucked up.”
“Okay, are you in trouble?”
My bottom lip trembles, and I clench my eyes tight so they don’t water. “I think I’ve lost her, man.”
He exhales and murmurs under his breath. “Alex?”
My chest tightens, and it’s hard to breathe. “Yeah.”
Nate sighs. “So she told you then?”
My eyes flick open, and my body jolts at his words. “Told me? No. I haven’t spoken to her since the fight. Told me what?” I ask, and he groans, followed by a slapping sound as if he’s slapped his hand to his forehead. “Nate!”
He mumbles under his breath, then blurts it out, “She’s moving. Alex was packing the last of her stuff tonight. She leaves tomorrow morning.”
All the air leaves my body.
I feel like a lead weight.
My head spins while trying to take this in. “Wait, she’s leaving, but what about your gallery?”
