The Pickup (Imperfect Love 1)

“She hates me.”

Olivia giggles. “With good reason.”

“Hey, you’re the one who left me.”

“It was a one-night stand!”

“Says who? It was never specified. I woke up and you were gone. If you wouldn’t have hightailed out of your room the next morning, I would’ve asked for your number.”

“Oh God! You’re so full of it, Cole!”

“Okay, Liv.” I chuckle, and she snorts.

“Just watch the show.”

Thirteen

Olivia

The door slams closed and I jump slightly, my neck groaning in pain. My hand comes up to massage the kink as I attempt to sit up, only I can’t. My body is overheated and I’m being weighed down by… Nick? I glance around. Why the hell is Nick’s body wrapped around mine on the couch?

“Oh shit!” Giselle shrieks, and Nick rolls off the couch, landing on the wood floor with a loud thump.

“What the hell?” His voice is husky and has me tightening my thighs as I remember the last time I heard his voice like that—when he was pulling me on top of him at three in the morning, so I could ride his hard…Shit! I can’t think about that night. He’s freaking engaged!

“What’s going on here?”

I sit up and notice Giselle has her hands on her hips, and she’s still wearing her clothes from last night. Her makeup is also completely messed up like she’s been crying.

“What’s wrong?” I ask, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. “And what time is it?”

“It’s four in the morning. I spent the night at Christian’s hotel…” Her words drift off, and her eyes brim with tears.

“Giselle, what happened?” I’ve never seen her look this upset.

“Christian and his friends threw a party. Before the clock even struck midnight they were completely wasted and I had enough, so I went to bed alone. I woke up around two to go pee and he was still partying hard. He had left his phone on the counter and it went off several times. I couldn’t help being nosy, so I checked it. It was from another woman.”

“Oh no! He’s seeing someone else?” Giselle was just saying she felt like it was too good to be true. Dammit, Christian!

“Not someone…some-ones. Plural. I could tell that he’s changed, but I didn’t want to admit it to myself. He was drinking a lot, and I caught him with drugs. He kept making excuses, but I knew deep down that’s just what they were…excuses. I ran out of his room upset, but after thinking about it, like the idiot I am, I went back up to his room to talk to him. I guess I was hoping he would convince me it wasn’t what it looked like. I wasn’t even gone an hour and he had already replaced me with some groupie-whore. I’m so stupid. I walked in and caught him fucking her in his bed. I should’ve known. He’s a damn musician who travels around the country on tour. Of course he has a different woman waiting for him on speed-dial in every city.”

“Hey now, that’s not fair,” Nick cuts in. “Not every guy who travels, cheats. I’ve never cheated while on the road.”

Giselle glares down at Nick who is still on the floor. “That you’d admit to,” Giselle hisses. “But there’s more, and it’s not about me.” She frowns.

“Jesus, what else happened?” I ask.

“While I was waiting for my Uber to arrive, I was checking my social media and saw something…” She glances toward Nick, who has moved from the floor to the couch and is sitting next to me. “You know what. We can discuss what I saw later. What I’d like to know is what your baby daddy is doing here and not at home with his fiancée.”

“We must’ve fallen asleep while watching the countdown. Nothing happened.” I stand. “Now tell me what’s going on. You have me freaking out and assuming the worst.” Her eyes dart toward Nick. “Is it about Nick?”

“No.” She shakes her head.

“Then just tell me!”

“Fine. Victor the asshole posted on social media.”

“My ex?”

“Do we know any other asshole named Victor? Yes, that Victor. He announced his engagement to Heather.”

“Heather? Our friend from college?”

“Yes! And according to their post, they’ve been together for two years.”

“But that would mean…” I do the math in my head. “He cheated on me?”

“Apparently they were keeping it all under wraps the entire time. Nobody knew.”

“Wow, I guess that explains why he didn’t ask me to move with him to Switzerland.”

“He was a self-absorbed dickhead anyway,” Giselle points out. “Plus, he was shitty in bed. Remember you said you didn’t know how bad Victor was until…” Her eyes glance toward Nick, and I will her not to finish her sentence. The last thing I need is for Nick to know that the night I spent with him was without a doubt the best sex I’ve ever experienced. I had no idea how crappy my sex life with Victor was until Nick and I spent the night together.