"We're going to that party tonight," I announce. "If he's screwing the psycho, I want to see it for myself."
"Babe, don't do this to yourself," Bash tells me.
"Do what?" I ask.
"Put yourself through this—unless," he pauses, narrowing his eyes.
"Unless…?"
"Unless you're still in love with him."
I lift a brow. "Um, no. I'm not in love with him. I just want to see if he's as horrible of a human being as I think he is."
Bash sighs. "This is the guy who bullied you in high school—to the point you avoided him and were afraid whenever you saw him. This is the guy who bullied you and said fucked up things to you about losing your friends when you got here. This is the guy who all of a sudden decided he wanted a real girlfriend—and because you're you, so sweet and caring, that girl was you—the same girl he treated like shit all of her life. This is the guy who treated youokaybefore football season, but not great. Frat parties aren't the best dates—and he only took you out onone."
I open my mouth and Bash shuts me down with a look.
"This is theguywho made you believe he loved you and then disappeared from your life—not gradually, butbam!Gone. This is the guy who madeyoufeel guilty for wanting more than a text. This is the guy who didn't defend you to Alison when she started her shit. This is the guy who didn't show up when you were in the hospital. This is the guy who, when he did show up, made it about him."
I sink back into the sofa cushions and listen to Bash tell me the cold, hard truth of it all.
"This is the guy who called you and texted you instead of coming to see you after you were attacked and then decided to show upthree daysafter you were allowed to go home, after being beaten so badly you could have died. This is the guy whoyelledat you, knowing what you'd been through, when he finally showed up—not taking into account the trauma you'd been through, the PTSD you'd be having after that attack, or the injuries. Nope. This is the guy who only thought of himself the entire time he's known you." He pauses, resting his hands on his hips, his head hanging down.
When he looks up, his gaze locks on mine. "So why, Livvy, would you even give him the benefit of the doubt? He has never treated you the way you deserved to be treated. I watched it and I tolerated it because it's what you wanted. But, babe, I'd like to think we're starting something together now and I can't sit back and let him treat you that way anymore. I won't. I am in love with you, Livvy, and I will do whatever it takes to protect you—even be an asshole and remind you of all the ways Stone has treated you like shit."
"Bash," I whisper. "I'm not giving him the benefit of anything. I remember who he is and what he's done. I thought, for a short time, he'd changed, but I was corrected when he stopped being the nice guy and reverted back to the dick he'd always been. Sorry, Lex," I say, glancing at her and wincing a bit.
She waves a hand in the air from the chair she's now sitting in. "Have at it. You aren't saying anything I'm not thinking. I'm embarrassed that he's my brother. I'm mortified he treated you the way he has, and I'm purely disgusted for his actions right now.Alison. I just… I can't."
I nod. "Tonight let's go see it for ourselves, just for confirmation. I don’t plan on hanging around and watching it and I don't know why I need to see it, but I just do."
I walk over to Bash and he wraps me up in his arms.
"Then we'll go," he agrees, pressing a kiss to my temple.
"Thank you," I whisper.
"Anything for you. You know that."
"I'm in love with you, too, you know," I tell him and he smirks.
"Yeah, I know, and I'll never take you for granted."
We just sort of gravitate to one another, our lips meeting for a chaste kiss. Screw that. I pull his head back down and slip my tongue inside his mouth. He has no issue with it—I can tell because he's right there tasting me while I taste him.
Lex clears her throat.
Bash and I pull back slowly, our gazes locked, smiles on our faces.
"Wow," I whisper.
Bash just swallows hard and nods.
Alexa groans. "Gawd. If I didn't love you both so much, I'd be sick at how adorable you two are together.Thisis what a relationship is supposed to be like. This istruelove—the stuff that happily ever afters are made of," she says, wagging a finger between Bash and me.
"Wait till I get her naked," Bash teases and Lex groans.
"C'mere, Sugar," Bash coaxes. She walks over and we wrap her into our embrace.
