I’m angry with myself.
Love doesn’t exist. And, when it does, it’s selfish love that only lasts until that person falls in love again—with someone else.
So, as much as I want to yell at Sloane, ask her why, try to understand her, try to forgive her…
I can’t do any of those things.
All I can do is turn around and walk back out the door, pretending like life didn’t just fuck me over again. Like the only woman I’ve ever loved didn’t just steal my heart and then destroy it.
I hold out my shot glass. “Another.”
Paige smiles sweetly. “I’ll just leave the bottle here for you guys. Don’t tell anyone.”
Luca takes the bottle and pours me another one. “I hate to say this, but I told you so.”
I glare at Luca as I lift the glass of tequila to my lips and pour the shot down my throat. I’ve lost track of how many shots I’ve done. I don’t care anymore. I need something to numb the pain. And tequila is that something.
“Say it all you want. I need to hear it. I should have listened to you.”
Luca laughs. “You shouldn’t ever listen to me. You know that.”
Luca looks down at the prenup contract. “You also shouldn’t sign anything without talking to a lawyer first. You do understand that you are an idiot for signing this.”
“I don’t care.”
“You are going to care when she takes everything you own. Your house, your money, your trucks—everything is now hers.”
I shrug. “Let her have it. I don’t want it.”
Luca shakes his head. “You aren’t sleeping on my couch when you have nowhere else to go.”
“I’ll make more money. I only get one heart, and it’s gone now.”
He shakes his head at me. “I don’t know what you have turned into, but you are one giant mess, man. She’s really fucked you up. You know that, right?”
I dump more of the tequila into the shot glass and take a drink. I don’t care anymore. I have lost everything I cared about. All I want now is to spend the rest of my life here, at this bar, drinking. I no longer have a home. That’s now hers. I no longer have either trucks. They are now hers. I can’t go back to the beach, to the ocean. Everything I ever owned or loved is now hers.
* * *
“You need to leave this bar, man. It’s been two weeks since the divorce was finalized. You weren’t even married for real. You thought you were in love, but you can’t fall in love with a chick that fast. You have to get over her. There are plenty of other fish in the sea, and if you got out of here and started training, you could actually earn some money and buy yourself another shack on the beach instead of sleeping outside a bar every night,” Luca says.
I lay my head down on my folded arms on the table as I stare at the empty shot glass. After I puked about a week ago, Paige implemented a new rule where I can only have one shot every half hour. It doesn’t matter though anyway. The pain is always here now. The alcohol is no longer strong enough to take the pain away.
Luca sighs. “Well, cheer up. I have great news for you.”
My eyes dart up to him and then back to the glass in front of me. There is no way he has great news.
“I’m going to introduce you to my girlfriend. You can play your silly games on her. You can try to steal her and fuck her and do whatever you do to cheer yourself up.”
“Get rid of your girlfriend yourself, Luca. I’m not going to do it for you.”
Luca sighs again. “You really have to get over this girl. This isn’t healthy. Have you even talked to her since she cheated on you?”
I shake my head.
“You need closure. Go talk to her. Yell at her. Whatever you need to do. Then, move on.” Luca grabs my arm and lifts me out of my chair. “You are going to go talk to her. Now.”
He walks me out of the building. “How much have you had to drink?” he asks.