Crush(131)

And don’t miss Toxic, where, as a reader you’ll first meet Logan. It is an unforgettable stand-alone romance! Available now. Continue reading for a preview.





TOXIC


Familiar Faces



My mother taught me many things . . .

To stand up straight.

To be thankful for what I had.

To never talk to strangers.

And to always answer when spoken to.

I didn’t always listen.

“I miss you.” The text had arrived early this morning and I hadn’t been able to reply. I didn’t know what to say but I knew why Dawson had sent it.

It was October fifteenth.

Our wedding day.

Or it was supposed to have been anyway.

The rain was steadily falling as Lily and I left the movie theater and quickly made our way to the waiting car.

As soon as I got in, I collapsed in the smooth leather seat and looked next to me. “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For always being there for me.”

“That’s what best friends are for,” she smiled.

And that’s what she was. Lily Monroe had been my best friend for as long as I could remember. And like me, she was in a strange place.

“Has he called yet?” I asked, uncertain if I should bring it up.

Lily shook her head.

“You should just call him.”

She shot me an if looks could kill glare. “No, I will not. And we’re not talking about him. As far as I’m concerned, Preston Tyler is dead.”

Okay then.

I knew when to shut up.

Lily and Preston were always breaking up and getting back together but this was the longest they had been apart in the three years they had been a couple. The breakup was going on nearly four weeks.

Lily opened her purse. “Here,” she said as she unscrewed a small bottle of wine. It was the kind you get when you’re flying. A glass for one.

I took it and gave her a smile and when she pulled out a second, I had to laugh. “Always prepared.”

“You know it,” she said raising her hand. “To rainy days.”

“And rainy nights.” I clinked her bottle.

“To new beginnings.”

“And old endings,” I said, and then I drank the wine.

All of it.

I needed it.

After a final gulp, I let my forehead fall to the window. The sound of faint raindrops that drizzled down it as I stared out into the night triggered something inside me—that lonely ache that I couldn’t seem to ever shake. And for the first time since I had woken up that morning, I allowed a melancholy wave of sorrow to wash over me.

I’d second-guessed my decision to end things with Dawson every day. So when I woke up this morning, I thought I’d be sadder than I had been.

But I wasn’t sad at all.

I was relieved.

I was ready for the shadow that had been looming over me since I broke off the engagement to be gone. Even after the wedding was canceled, the countdown to the big day was still there. Just because two people ceased to exist as a unit, it didn’t mean you no longer felt the other person’s presence in your life.

And Dawson Vanderbilt, even with his gallant stand-up and let’s be friends attitude, had felt like a constant mark of failure in my life.

The seemingly perfect man, a wedding planned with all the trimmings, and I still couldn’t go through with it. I knew the chemistry wasn’t there to sustain a life of happiness together.

I loved him, yet the spark I wanted to feel each time I saw him and the leg I wanted to kick back with a pointed toe when he kissed me—neither ever came.

My phone rang and glancing at the screen, I rolled my eyes.

“Your mother again?” Lily asked.

I nodded. “She’s called me every hour since I left her at lunch. She says she’s checking on me but I can’t help but feel like it’s more. Like she’s punishing me for not going through with the wedding by reminding me of all the things we would have been doing today.”

“She means well, you know she does.”

“I suppose,” I said as I glanced again at the ringing phone.

“Give it to me.”

I looked at Lily questioningly.

“Give me your phone.”

She powered it off. “Everyone you need to talk to will be right inside there.” She pointed to the large brick building we were coming up on in the Meatpacking District.

I gave her a weak smile and slipped my phone in my purse.

When the car slowed, Lily put her hand on my leg. “You sure you’re up to this? We could just go back to my place and watch another movie.”

I flashed her a huge grin, letting my pearly whites show as the black Escalade pulled up to the curb. “Are you kidding?” I chuckled. “And miss the funeral tonight?”

She giggled. “Speaking of, did you see Danny’s tweet?”

I shook my head.

She pulled out her phone, tapped a few buttons, and showed me. “May our ideals RIP. #Bestf*ckingfriends #Somethingsshouldneverdie.”

“I really have missed him,” I sighed.

“Me too but at least his social media obsession keeps us up to date with his daily life,” Lily replied with a wink.