Six weeks later…
“Natalie. When are you going to stop moping over him?” Reagan’s voice was firm as she stared at her from across the tiny round table they were sitting at in the crowded bar. “It’s been six weeks and he hasn’t contacted you once. Noah Wilde is an asshole. Fuck him.”
“Yeah, fuck him,” Andrea chimed in, holding up her margarita glass before she sucked half of it down.
Natalie glared at her friends. Her blissed out, totally happy and sexually satisfied friends. They had a lot of room to talk. After being down in the dumps for weeks, Declan finally showed up while she was at work and told Reagan he wanted her in his life. Andrea and Luke Nelson were so sickeningly in love—yes, in freaking love—it was disgusting.
In other words, Natalie was jealous as hell and could hardly contain it.
“I wish I could fuck him,” she retorted, earning shocked looks from both of her friends. She shrugged and took a sip of her margarita. “It’s true. I miss him.”
“We know,” Andrea said, leaning across the table so she could be heard. The bar they all met at to have drinks and chips and salsa was extra packed tonight. “And you need to get over him. There are plenty of cute guys here tonight. You should go talk to one.”
“Oh yeah, it’s that easy,” Natalie said sarcastically, grabbing a chip and dunking it in salsa before she shoved it in her mouth. She hadn’t been eating much since they came back from Vegas. Work kept her busy. Worry and sadness kept her nauseous. It was so stupid for her to feel like this, but she couldn’t help it. Those last hours with Noah, despite the fight and her almost leaving, had been the best. The absolute best.
And then he just…disappeared. He’d asked for her phone number and did nothing with it. No calls, no texts, nothing. The photo that appeared on the gossip sites? Her face hadn’t been shown, just the back of her as Noah kissed her in the street right before they grabbed a cab and went back to the hotel. She still looked at that photo on occasion, her heart aching at the way he touched her face, so tenderly, like he cared.
Clearly, by his actions, he didn’t care at all.
“I know it hurts. I’ve been there.” Reagan reached for Natalie’s hand and covered it with her own, giving it a squeeze. “Maybe you should try and reach out to him?”
“No way.” Natalie shook her head, withdrawing her hand from Reagan’s. “I couldn’t do that. I don’t have his number. He didn’t give it to me.”
Reagan sent her a look. “I could get it. So could Andrea. Declan and Luke know him. They’re all friends. I could text Declan right now and ask him for it…”
“No,” Natalie practically yelled, startling herself. She cleared her throat, ignoring the wide-eyed stares her friends were giving her. “I don’t want his number. I refuse to contact him. If he’s interested, he’d call. I’m guessing that’s not the case.”
“Natalie,” Andrea started, but Nat cut her off with a glare.
“Seriously. Let’s drop the subject.” She glanced at Reagan, who was furiously texting someone. “And you better not be asking your man for Noah’s number or I’ll cut you.”
“Please.” Reagan rolled her eyes and set her phone down. “Like you’d do that.”
“Don’t tempt me.” She’d never been one to enjoy v
iolence, but she’d really like to kick Noah’s ass just about now. It made her sad, how quick he dumped her. Sad and angry. Yeah, it had only been one weekend, but damn it, she knew she wasn’t the only one who’d felt something special spark between them, right?
Right?
She knew she was being irrational. A no-strings affair had been what she wanted, but the more time she’d spent with Noah, the more she liked him. And now that he wasn’t around? She missed him.
Terribly.
Reagan’s phone vibrated, sending it skittering along the table, and she snatched it up, her eyes going wide when she read the text. “Oh my God.”
“What?” Andrea asked. “What’s going on?”
Natalie ignored them both. It was probably a dick pic from Declan and Reagan was just rubbing it in. God, she couldn’t believe she was thinking like this, acting like this. It went against her nature completely. Her parents would be shocked. She was behaving like a bitter old woman and she was tired of it. Tired of feeling sad.
“You won’t believe this.” Reagan was looking directly at her when she said it. “I just got a text from James.”
“James?” Natalie frowned. They’d all stayed in contact with James since they came home from Vegas. Andrea had even gone out to lunch with him once and had a great time. Natalie couldn’t bring herself to make firm plans with James because seeing him would only make her think of Noah and that would make her miserable.
Reagan nodded eagerly, her gaze dropping to her phone screen. “He said, ‘Have you heard the new song by Wilde & Wicked? It just came out today.’”
“What?” Noah had confessed to her that relations between the band members had been strained. Had they worked it out?
“I didn’t know they had a new song out,” Andrea said, glancing between Reagan and Natalie.