Juicy Rebound (IceCats 1)

“By accident! What the hell, Chandler?”

“They didn’t understand why you didn’t want your family knowing about me, and it slipped out. They won’t tell a soul.”

“You weren’t supposed to tell anyone! No one. About Drew or about us!”

He comes toward me, but I jump off the bed and step out of his reach. The way his face twists, you would think I’d hit him. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have told them about Drew, and I am very sorry for that. But like I said, when things got serious between us, I knew I had to tell Ryan.”

“For what? Why?” I yell, striking my hips with my hands. “What in the hell would telling him do?”

“He’s my best friend.”

“And? This is our thing, and you went and told the one person I wanted to tell myself. One, so he wouldn’t kill you, and…and two, so no one would judge us.”

Now he throws his hands up. “Who the fuck cares if they did?”

“I do. We’re two divorcees, and this is going way too fucking fast, and I don’t want anyone thinking we’re rushing into this.”

“They already do!” he yells, his eyes burning into mine. “And you know what? I don’t care. I only care about you. About us. About this. I don’t know why you’re so concerned with what everyone thinks, but cut it the fuck out.”

“No! I was in a shit marriage where everyone doubted me—”

“For good reason.”

I glare, my face burning, and he glares right back. “That’s a low blow. Especially coming from someone who married a psycho.”

“Hey, I know what I did, and I let it go. Have you let yours go?”

“I’m with you, aren’t I?”

“Seems to me you’re more concerned with what people think than what I feel.”

“That’s not true at all,” I insist. “This isn’t about anything but you betraying me.”

He glares. “I didn’t betray you, Amelia. I told my parents something I shouldn’t have. I apologize. With Ryan, I had to respect my best friend.”

“And not respect me?”

“We weren’t serious when you said that to me! Since the day I fell in love with you, it’s been serious. He needed to know this was happening and I wasn’t letting go.”

I let out a heavy sigh. “Just go. I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”

He scoffs. “Fuck that, I’m not going anywhere.”

“I don’t want to talk to you!”

“I don’t care!” he yells back, just as loud. “I can get loud too, Amelia. And no matter what you say, I’m not leaving this room until we solve this.”

I shoot daggers at him with my eyes. “What if this can’t be solved?”

“It can if you’d stop throwing a damn tantrum.”

I glare. “I am not.”

“You are,” he says simply, crossing his arms over his chest. “And you know what? It’s adorable.”

“You are insufferable.”

“Love you too, honey,” he says, and then he leans back against the door, all sexy and carefree-like.

I growl as I kick off my shoes. “I can’t believe you told Ryan. What if he’d kicked your ass?”

“Then I would have taken it like a man for disrespecting his wishes about not dating you. But I wouldn’t regret it, and I’d do it all over again. I’d tell him again, even though you’re so upset.”

“Chandler! You shouldn’t—”

“Want to know the reason I told Ryan?” he asks, pushing off the door and coming toward me. “I told him so that when I come to him with a ring in my pocket, he won’t be sidetracked by the fact that I not only love you but that I want to marry you too. I wanted to make sure he knew I was serious. Plus, I honestly didn’t think you were going to tell him anytime soon. I did it for us. So I can ask you to be my forever, and he’d support us.”

I can only blink. My stomach is doing flips. My heart is pounding, and I can’t see straight. My eyes are so wide they hurt. “Are you insane? We have only been together for a little over four months, and you’re already talking about marriage?”

He nods unabashedly. Confidently. “I’d knock Ryan and Sofia off that altar so quick if you wanted to marry me too.”

My eyes feel like they’re about to bulge out of my head. “You’re insane!”

“I love you.”

“Chandler, stop! You’re not going to distract me from the part where you broke my trust.”

His face twists. “I mean, that’s a fucking stretch. Yes, maybe with telling my parents about Drew, but they are my parents. I’m very close with them, and they wouldn’t tell a soul. Also, you wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t told you.”

“Oh, well hell, let me not be mad anymore,” I snap, and he rolls his eyes. “I can’t believe you.”

“Amelia—”

I shake my head, and I have to move on from what he said before I have a panic attack.