Ex Games

“Bullshit. He makes you happy until he hurts you worse than you’ve ever hurt in your life.”

“Again, you’re one to talk.”

Aaron snarled in frustration. “I’m only warning you because I still love you, Taylor.” Off my bitter laugh, he insisted, “I do. It’s easy for a man to disappear overnight – it’s not as easy for three years of love to. You know that. So please listen to me when I say that you cannot trust Mason. He has lied to you already and he will continue to till the day he gets sick of you, which will happen the second you put out. Once he’s had his taste, he’ll be gone.”

“And what makes you think we haven’t already been intimate?”

Aaron laughed forcefully. “Because I know you, Taylor. I was with you for three years. I met you when you were twenty-two and had slept with only one other guy in your life. And considering you took more than a month to even sleep with me, I have a hard time believing you already spread your legs for the likes of my brother. You’re not brave enough and he’s got too many options. If you fucked already, he’d be bringing someone else to the wedding.”

“Fuck you,” I hissed.

“You’re upset because I’m right,” Aaron said harshly. “And because deep down, you know you’re making a mistake. Once upon a time, you hated Mason because he lied and womanized and treated women like toys – just like he’s doing to you right now. I swear he is, baby. Mark my words.”

My lip curled. “I’m not your baby.”

“True,” Aaron snorted. “You’re not anyone’s baby anymore.”

Livid, I hung right up. I would’ve thrown my phone against the wall if I knew Aaron could feel it. Fucking hell. Frozen in the midst of the teeming holiday crowd, I stood there, silently enraged. My hands shaking, I waited for the change of heart to set in – for me to decide that I couldn’t do this after all. I couldn’t go to Aaron’s wedding. I barely wanted my closure anymore because I honestly didn’t want to hear his pathetic, entitled reason for leaving me.

But to my surprise, I realized I still wanted to see him. Rather, I wanted him to see me with Mason. I couldn’t wait for him to. I couldn’t wait for him to see how I wanted to dress up for Mason, how I wanted to touch him in public – how I now had heat and the passion in my eyes that Aaron had never elicited from me before. I was dying to show him how different I was now that I felt like I was enjoying my life instead of just trying to prove to myself that I was. As furious and emotional as I was, I was also charged and so damned ready for tomorrow I could feel the anticipation rattling my bones. I’d already prepared to enjoy St. Lucia with Mason.

But now I was ready to have fun with our act in a way I hadn’t before.

Chapter Sixteen

God, I could get used to this. I let Mason pour me a second glass of Moët as I gazed out the window at the sheet of feathery clouds below us. The interior of the jet was sleeker than my own apartment with gleaming, wooden surfaces and champagne-colored everything.

“Are you guys already doing refills?” Sofia called from down the cabin, sitting next to Noah, her “plus one for shits and giggles.” With a row of leather recliners between our couch and hers, I couldn’t quite see them but I could definitely hear them.

“Yo, can we get some too?” Noah asked.

“You can if you get up and bring your butts over here,” I called back.

I could hear their bags of chips rustling as they both thought about it. “No, it’s too far,” Noah finally decided. I snorted at their remarkable laziness, but I was happy to maintain my alone time with Mason. Wrapped in the same blanket, we were snuggled up together on the couch in a way that made me feel undeniably like a real couple. Of course, I still refused to let myself strike up that classic “what are we doing” conversation because I didn’t want to ruin the moment. I’d never felt this good in my life and if the feeling was going to end right after we returned from St. Lucia, I didn’t want to know, especially since we hadn’t even gotten there yet.

“Birthday toast?” Mason suggested as we touched glasses.

I made a face of surprise. “Oh. Sure.”

He laughed in a way that made his blue eyes crinkle. “How do you forget your own birthday?”

“Well, it’s been a bit of a roller coaster lately,” I excused myself, though I knew the real reason. My birthday was the twenty-eighth. That was well after the wedding and thanks to the uncertainty in my unique circumstances with Mason, I had no interest in thinking about what life would be like after the wedding. Once upon a time, I lived to think about the future but with him, I wanted nothing but to live in the now. I wasn’t sure what that said about us as a couple or fake couple, but I didn’t care to find out.

“Well.” Reaching into his jacket, Mason pulled out a little box with a white bow on it. Nestled under his arm, I looked curiously up at him.

“What is that?”

“A birthday gift.”

“Why?”

“Because what kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn’t buy you a birthday gift?” Mason smirked, handing it to me. “But before you open it, I want to hear what you want for your birthday. Just to see if I came anywhere close with what I bought you.”

Running my finger over the satin ribbon, I smiled. “I’m positive you didn’t get me what I wanted.”

Mason laughed. “Little fucking harsh, but what makes you say that?”

“Because I didn’t want anything. I genuinely hadn’t thought about it. But if I did, I’d want something that wouldn’t fit in this box,” I said.