Free Beautifully Unbroken by D.M. Brittle Page B

asked curiously.
    “Maybe because I didn’t drink two magnums of champagne,” I laughed.
    “Urgh,” Casey heaved. “Don’t say that word.” She threw her head back on the sofa and sat there groaning.
    “You really were drunk,” I laughed. “I left before the food even came out.”
    Casey shot up in her seat. “Oh yeah, you went to the bathroom for, like, ages.” She waved her hand in the air. “And so did Blake.” She smirked.
    “You can wipe that smirk off your face; nothing happened between Blake and me and today is the first day in my ‘forget all about Blake and move on’ plan, and as much as so far today, I can’t stop wondering what he’s doing, who he is with, or how he is feeling about me. I just need to try, try to forget him. So let’s change the subject. Please.” I turned my attention back to the TV.
    “Something happened in the bathroom.” She practically sang the sentence. “Tell me tell me now!” she demanded.
    “Let it go, Casey; I don’t want to think about him, remember? That means you can’t talk about him.”
    “Something happened in that bathroom, and I want to know what!” she demanded with a smile.
    “I’m going to make a cup of tea.” I stood and headed to the kitchen, intent on avoiding the looming interrogation.
    I heard Casey scramble off the sofa and follow me close behind. “You are having a strong black coffee,” I said without turning around.
    “Please tell me what happened,” she pleaded as she sat at a breakfast stool, studying me closely from behind her dark shades. “Tell me everything.”
    I sighed and proceeded to place the tea bag into one cup and coffee in another, ignoring the fact that Casey was pressing for detail.
    “Blake will tell Alex, you know. Then I’ll know. So you may as well just tell me.”
    I let out a low growl as I placed her coffee in front of her and took a sip from my tea.
    “We kind of kissed a little. Nothing major, that was all.” I shrugged.
    “So why did you leave? He gave you what you wanted.”
    “What I wanted was to come back from London and have him be waiting for me – no other woman, no Sara,” I said quietly.
    “So after you kissed, you just left him?”
    I nodded.
    “So that would explain why he came back to the table just after you, grabbed his coat, and stormed out,” she recalled.
    “He left?”
    She smiled. “Yep.”
    “And Sara?”
    “Oh, she followed, but he had told her not to. He seemed angry with her. Did you tell him what she did at the party?”
    “Of course I did,” I said simply. “Has Alex heard from him since then?”
    “No.” Casey shook her head sympathetically.
    “Well, they probably rowed about me and then fucked.” I winced at my own words.
    “Josephine Summers! What has gotten into you!” Casey yelled in amusement.
    I sank onto a stool next to Casey and placed my cup on the breakfast bar. I pouted. “Blake has, that’s what. I want to hate him; he has done the one thing that I despise in a man.” I took a deep breath. “But the more I want to hate him, the further in love with him I fall. He seems to have me under some sort of spell that I can’t escape from. I feel like I need him, only him. It’s as if I can’t function without him; is that weird?”
    Casey placed her arm around me, and I dropped my head onto her shoulders.
    “No, it’s not weird. You have fallen for him big time, but he never meant to hurt you, you know. He thought you had slept with Cooper; I think he wanted to hurt you like how he was hurting.”
    “I know. But I can’t let that go.”
    We sat in silence for a moment. Casey comforted me, and I just sat thinking.
    “I know what you need.”
    “Blake is what I need,” I replied.
    “Vegas is what you need,” she stated, nodding excitedly.
    “Vegas?” I asked confusedly, lifting my head from her shoulder.
    “Vegas. Alex and I are flying out this Friday for a couple of days. There’s a club there that he’s interested in, right on the