Barbie Bitch (Rejects Paradise 3)

I drop my gaze, too ashamed to meet her eyes. “I’m sorry. He told me last night because he was backed in a corner and couldn’t lie his way out. This is all my fault. I brought Nic into our lives and ...” A strangled cry cuts me off as the emotions come up with the force of a freight train, completely pulling me under until I'm drowning under its weight. “If I knew … if I’d have just …”

“No, no, no, honey,” Mom says, throwing her arms around me and crushing me into her chest. “How could you have known? You did nothing wrong. You discovered the truth and you came to me right away.”

She rocks me back and forth like she used to do when I was a kid and we sit there for nearly an hour, lost in our tortured thoughts.

Only when her tears have finally dried, does she ask about the finer details and I tell her everything I know, hating that I have to be the one to break this news to her. If the cops cared about people like us, they would have found this out months ago and this could have been a wound that was already beginning to heal, but it seems more like one that continues to get torn wide open time and time again.

After talking it through and Mom calling it quits for the day, she settles in the pool house with a bottle of Charles’ most expensive wine, suddenly not giving a shit about the man that she used to see as charming, especially after learning that I was bought and that’s the only reason why we ended up here.

As all the truths came spilling out of my mouth, the weight of their ugliness lifted off my shoulders until I finally felt like I could breathe.

I find myself in Colton’s shower, turning the heat right up and allowing the hot water to wash away the pain of the last few days. Colton’s words in the parking garage went a long way to helping heal what was broken inside of me, but they won’t do anything to take away the sting of Nic’s betrayal.

I wash my hair and scrub my body clean as though I’m somehow able to cleanse myself of all of the bullshit.

Nothing will take it away, nothing except time. The sooner I accept that the sooner I’ll be able to move on. I just have to figure out how I’m going to get by without having Nic in my life. It's one thing hating him for lying and knowing that deep down I’ll eventually forgive him, but this is the end of the chapter for the Nic and Ocean love affair. We’re officially done. I’m closing the book. There is not a damn thing that Nic could say or do that will make any of this okay.

The minutes tick by and I find myself staring at the expensive marble tiles of the shower wall before realizing that my whole body is beginning to prune. I step out of the shower and pull the white towel around my body, soaking in its warmth and admiring its soft brush as it drapes over my skin. I’ll never get used to how amazing these towels are. I would have loved to have this kind of luxury growing up, but on the other hand, if I had become accustomed to this as a child, I wouldn’t consider it so damn special now.

It’s the little things, I guess.

I fold the towel around my body and stand in front of the mirror brushing through my long hair. My eyes grow heavy and despite it being the middle of the day, the emotional roller coaster of the last twenty-four hours has me more than ready to call it a day. I could seriously get in bed right now and not wake until this time next week.

With my hair still damp from my shower, I twist it up into a bun before stepping out of the bathroom and into Colton’s bedroom. I find his eyes already on me, studying the natural curves of my body and I can't help but make my way over to him.

I missed him more than I could ever admit. I’ve never known pain like that before and it just proves how right this is. I was meant to be here with him and no matter what, I feel like all roads would have led right back to him.

Colton is my guy, my man, and my heart. I don’t know how it took me so damn long to realize it. I felt the connection right from the very start but I was confused about what it meant. Not anymore. I’ve never been so certain.

I stand before him, staring down at his hooded eyes as they rake over my body. His hand is propped behind his head, showing off the strong bicep, bulging from his arm. He’s so deliciously perfect.