My Best Friend's Boyfriend

And then it did.

I closed my eyes and listened to her voice. her prerecorded, spunky little voice. I missed that voice. I hadn’t heard that tone in her voice since things had fallen apart at the club. Now I knew why they had fallen apart. She had encountered Camilla, most likely in the restroom. Every single part of me was dying to know what had been said, but I couldn’t lead with something like that. I needed to lead with my apology and hope it was enough for her to agree to have lunch with me tomorrow.

So, when her voice mailbox beeped, I started in on my diatribe.

“Hey, Ava. It’s me, Logan. Listen, I know you’re getting tired of my calls and texts, but I really do feel like I owe you an apology for everything. All this stuff that happened between you and Camilla, it’s my responsibility. We had an agreement, and I should have been man enough to stick to that agreement. I wasn’t, which created the rift between you and your best friend. I’d really like the opportunity to apologize to you, face to face if you’ll let me. Please, Ava, let me at least do that much for you. Call me back and let me know. I’m free for lunch tomorrow.”

After ending the call, I tossed my cell phone back onto the coffee table.

My apartment felt empty. Cleansed, but it was still missing something. I closed my eyes and conjured up Ava’s laughter, and a smile crossed my cheeks. If I focused, I could still smell her, still feel the passion that filled the corners of my condo. I could still see her eyes light up when she came around the corner and saw breakfast. I could still hear her heels clicking against my mahogany floors. She had strode in on the coattails of her friend and flipped my world right-side up after it had been completely decimated by a woman who hadn’t a care about the pain and destruction she had left in her wake.

Ava had healed me, and now that she was gone, I felt empty again.

I opened my eyes and basked in my condo. Two bedrooms. Two bathrooms. Beautiful hardwood floors. Stainless steel appliances. A gorgeous, floor-length view of Manhattan, even from my bedroom. A small extra room for my books. Flooded with the natural light. Updated insulation. Seventeen hundred square feet of beautifully appointed space.

And every single bit of it had been touched by Ava.

Groaning, I raked my hands down my face. I couldn’t just sit here and wait for her to call back. For all I knew, she never would. For all I knew, she had moved on as quickly as she had walked away from me after that damn meeting today. I forced myself off the couch and shuffled into my room, setting my sights on a shower. Peeling the clothes off my back, I tossed them into the hamper, then started into my bathroom. It was the one place Ava hadn’t touched with her beautiful existence.

But the only thing I could think about during my entire fucking shower was how much I wished she was in there with me.

I had it bad. I knew it. And now that Camilla had been completely shoved out of my world, I knew for certain that Ava wasn’t a rebound. For a moment, I had allowed Hunter to convince me that maybe he was right and I did need to be single for a little bit. Maybe Ava was nothing but a rebound and I needed to end things with her before we both got hurt. But the way I dreamed about her and longed for her, the way I pined for her company, the way she bombarded every facet of my free mind told me Hunter was wrong.

I needed Ava in my world, in my condo, in my bed. I needed her in my arms and in my life. I needed her in my ear and on my mind. I wanted to share things with her, take her on vacations, lock her up in my place for days on end and do nothing but lose myself in her. I wanted to cook for her, pick her up and take her on dates. I wanted to spoil her in all the ways I knew would make her smile before rocking my naked body against hers in all the ways she had yet to experience.

I wanted Ava. I needed Ava.

As I stepped out of the shower and reached for my towel, I could only hope that Ava would call me back. I could only hope that she’d take up my offer for lunch.

Ava

I kept replaying Logan’s voice message in my head. An apology. He felt as if he owed me an apology? He didn’t owe me anything. This was a mess I’d created on my own. Had I not let Camilla get to me about my virginity and allow myself to feel so insecure about it, none of this would have ever happened. I’d still be a virgin. I wouldn’t have had sex with Logan. None of this would have gotten started and Camilla wouldn’t have found me in his condo with his shirt on.