Total pages in book: 73
Estimated words: 68688 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68688 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 275(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Fleur, come on.
Go fuck yourself.
Would you rather me show up to your apartment?
We can speak in court when I divorce your ass.
“Everything okay?”
I nearly jumped at the sound of his voice. He’d taken the seat across from me without my noticing. He was bare-chested and in just his sweatpants, a fucking man treat, but I couldn’t enjoy it in my annoyance. “Yeah, everything’s fine.” I swiped down and turned on the Do Not Disturb feature because I did not want Adrien to disrupt this morning any further.
Bastien continued to stare at me like he didn’t believe any of that, especially since he’d watched me silence my phone, something he’d never seen me do before. But he grabbed the pot and filled his mug with hot coffee.
I felt compelled to answer the question truthfully, and I wasn’t sure why. “Adrien wants to speak to me. About what, I don’t fucking know, nor do I care. I’m filing those divorce papers, and if he gets the judge to deny it, I swear to god—”
“He won’t deny it—not this time.” He drank from his mug, enjoying his coffee black while I flooded mine with cream, and then removed the silver dome over his breakfast, poached eggs with grilled mushrooms and spinach and bacon.
“Thanks.”
“He shouldn’t have blocked it in the first place. If a woman wants to leave, let her go.”
“So, if you were in this situation, you wouldn’t fight for her?”
He ate with his arms on the table, taking big bites with that big mouth. “If I fucked around on her, I wouldn’t deserve her anyway. The decent thing to do is let her go so she can find someone who can give her what I can’t. But this hypothetical question is stupid because I wouldn’t fuck around in the first place. Women are not as complicated as we make them out to be.”
“Have you been in a relationship before?” I really didn’t know much about him. The more time we spent together and the better I got to know him, the more I realized I didn’t know much at all.
“Not really.”
“Not really?”
“I’ve had a couple long-term flings, but that hardly qualifies as a relationship.”
“What constitutes long-term?”
“A week or so.” He continued to eat, scarfing down his food and dragging a piece of bread across his plate to get the last of the yolk that was left behind.
I’d been fucking him for a couple weeks. I wasn’t sure how much longer it would last, but I knew the fire would burn out at some point. He was a nice distraction—a really nice distraction. He made me feel good about myself, quieted the voice in my head, chased away the depression that made my bones brittle.
“What about you?”
I lifted the lid over my food and saw the treasure beneath, fluffy blueberry pancakes with bacon and poached eggs with a side of toast. When I cut my fork into the eggs, the yolk immediately began to run. “I was in my ho phase before I settled down with Adrien. Really enjoying my twenties…”
He smirked slightly as he ate, having no judgment at all. “I like that.”
“You like that I was a ho?”
“I like that you did what the fuck you wanted without giving a damn.”
I’d never heard a guy say that. Adrien was always uncomfortable with my body count.
“It’s why you fuck so good.”
“I fuck so good because you’re really hot.”
His smile widened, dimples forming in his cheeks, looking so handsome in the morning light. He relaxed in the chair and drank from his mug.
I drenched my pancakes in syrup and ate the fluffy goodness. In my apartment, I scavenged for whatever I could find in the cabinets and the fridge. I had no one there to whip me up a feast.
“I want to ask you something.” He turned serious, the smile from my compliment fading.
“Okay,” I said between bites.
“Am I revenge sex?”
“Revenge sex?” I asked.
“Are you fucking me to get back at Adrien?” he asked. “Your answer won’t bother me, I’m just curious.”
I hadn’t really thought of my actions too deeply. I was just moving through life, going from hit to hit, whatever kept out the sorrow. “No. When I saw you walk into the bar…” I didn’t even know how to describe it. “I thought you were the sexiest man I’d ever seen. Until that moment, I couldn’t even imagine being with anyone else, regardless of what Adrien did to me. But then I saw you…and I was lost.”
He had no reaction to that, just listening to me, his fingers around the handle of his mug as his arm rested on the table.
“But I won’t deny that I’m running from my misery, and fucking you is the best way to do that. You’re the best antidepressant I’ve ever taken.”
He watched me eat my food, crystal-blue eyes locked on my face as if transfixed. The stare lasted for seconds before he brought the mug to his lips and took a drink. Then a hint of a smile appeared there, subtle and handsome. “I’m glad to be of service, sweetheart.”