Unlovely Things (Love By Design 2)

I watched Evan’s expression turn thoughtful. He leaned in and kissed my shoulder affectionately. We shared more than most friends, so this wasn’t unexpected, considering he was big on public displays of affection.

“Of course, I take my best guy friend duties very seriously.” Evan tweaked my nose and grabbed his pants off the floor, putting them on one hot leg at a time. It seemed like once you couldn’t have something, your body wanted it even more, especially when you knew it was over.

I grumbled into a smile, “Stop being perfect, you’re not mine anymore.” I don’t think Evan had really ever been mine, and at least now we were being fair and honest with each other.

Evan just shook his head, snickering. I was glad we weren’t fighting, and at least for us, everything would be okay. “Now, do you need me to pick up your usual from the drugstore before I head into work?” he asked, slipping his wallet into his back pocket. Ever the perfect guy. I grimaced. Later I would hit the store when I stopped feeling homicidal with my hormones.

“I got it,” I said and he let it go. I felt a last wave of need rush through me, knowing I wouldn’t have this with him again. The comfort and the closeness ebbed away. This chapter in our story ended.

“Sure?” He opened his arms and I gave him a hug that lingered too long for both of us before he gently pushed me back. I bit my lip to keep myself from crying and begging him to not go. I needed to be stronger than that.

“You better leave before I hit the red rage of horniness and keep you here captive for the next five days.” Threating Evan didn’t work; he laughed it off, kissing my forehead affectionately and leaving me with more to think about.

“See ya later, black widow,” he teased as he shut the front door softly, clicking it closed.

“Spider bite ya later, Peter Parker,” I muttered as I busied myself stripping my bed and gathering up laundry from the floor like the current mess of my life.

10

Kristen

“Jesus, Kristen, could you be any more of a bitch today?”

I was on day two of my period—the worst day of them all because there doesn’t feel like there’s an end in sight that doesn’t include death or dismemberment. So much for my enlightening conversation with Evan the day before, because I was currently on DEFCON level 5.

I glared at him. “Hey, you knocked on my door without coffee to pay to the toll or sweets from the bakery. Your life is in your own hands, buddy.” My arms crossed over my chest protectively. If I had been sitting I would have shoved my hands under my legs to keep from grabbing an object to throw at him. Feeling so insecure and unsettled made me crazy. I wished there was a magic pill to fix my mood, but even my skin crawled just being in my own body and Damien had the shit luck to show up today of all days.

“Is this you on the rag? Do I need to run out and buy you some chocolate, tampons, and shit to ease up here?” Demon paced back and forth in my living room, wearing a hole in my nice block-print Ikea carpet. I focused my imagination on him drowning in the blue square and begging for a life preserver at my mercy.

“Why are you even here? Ugh, why did I open the door?” Bemoaning his existence, I couldn’t believe he crossed the line and mentioned my period like that. I may have been a raging hormonal mess, but that was over the top… even if I was on my period. Besides, only Evan, who came as close to being a superhero in my demented head… No, I wouldn’t think about how I’d let a perfect guy go the day before and let this hot mess in. Bad choices were one thing I was good at, no matter where in my life I was going.

“I was wanted to talk to you about a job, but I can see now isn’t a good time.”

“Well it’s a hell of a greeting card coming in here like that.”

“You threatened to cut my balls off with a pair of BBQ tongs.”

I did threaten that, but I found it irrelevant at the moment.

“Please tell me it’s not a tax question?” I’d told Hunter and Demon to use the tax center in town because the last thing I wanted was to see Demon every day if I did their books for the construction company. Hunter offered me a job when he first started and I’d turned him down then, preferring to remove myself from temptation and murder charges, given the way Demon and I went back and forth with each other.

“Nope, unless taxes get you horny.” He smirked and I looked for a blunt object to hit him with, but none were within reach—not even my BBQ tongs.

“You know, Demon, my morning started with me waking up in a pool of my own blood, so just let me know if you’d like to end yours the same way.” Using all of my strength, I pushed him out of my way to make coffee in the kitchen—and maybe check the freezer for ice cream. There wasn’t much that embarrassed me, but Demon definitely had a way ticking me off royally. I was going to go to work later that day, sinc

e my hours were flexible, but the cramps made me miserable and no amount of birth control or pain relievers had fixed that since becoming a woman.

“Maybe I could work that crankiness out of you?” His eyebrows seemed to grow hair and wiggle like overgrown caterpillars I wanted to wax them off in his sleep.

Men were colossal pigs for the next three days, in my demented mind. “You disgust me, Demon.”

“Build a bridge and get over it, honey.” I hated his smirk and everything about him down to his chiseled jaw, broad shoulders, and lean hips from working out. Yeah, he definitely disgusted me and I would keep telling myself that until I believed it. It was definitely my week to hate men, since Evan had weaned me off our regular schedule of sex and friendship. I was pretty sure he would take every overtime shift he could to avoid coming back to my bed until I worked this all out.

“I’d rather drown.” My comeback was lame, but right then, with my insides ready to fall out between my legs, the neurons in my brain seemed to be short-circuited and the witty comeback was all I had.

“Maybe, but I could make you feel so good you won’t need the pharmacy in your bathroom cabinet.”

“Ugh. I don’t trust you not to desecrate the temple.” I pointed to my belly and clutched the wall on a cramp, whimpering. This was worse than the previous month. I had an appointment with my doctor the following month to check the plumbing, but right then I didn’t want to deal with it.