Free Compulsion: Magnetic Desires by Misti Murphy Page B

was a good question. Was I going to end it with Bella because Clo needed me? "Something’s come up."
    She sounded disappointed.
    Shoving my hand through my hair, I swallowed. Bella loved me and it should have been enough, but it wasn’t. Which was why I wasn’t done hurting her. "Honestly? I don’t think this thing between us is going to work out."
    Bella sobbed on the other end of the line.
    You’re a fucking class one asshole, Orion. "I’m sorry. I am, but it’s for the best." At least that was the truth. I couldn’t be the guy she deserved, no matter how much I wanted to be. "You’ll find someone great, Bella, but I’m not that guy."
    Ending the call, I shoved my phone in my pocket. I may have ended the closest thing I’d had to a real relationship, but the truth was, no one would fill Clo’s spot in my heart, and Bella, although she was hurting, would be better off without me.
    Clo followed me in her car, and we made our way to the nearest liquor store where I bought tequila and a six-pack of beer. By the end of the night, she would forget the pain of his betrayal, at least for a while. I took the brown-bagged bottle and the six-pack to the car, and drove across town to her house. It would be hard for her to go into her own home and see the remnants of Zack’s indiscretion, the crumpled sheets that she had slept on the night before. His clothes would be a reminder that he had shed them to have sex with someone who wasn’t her.
    Man, if I could get my hands on him... Fists clenched around the steering wheel, I considered hunting him down and making him hurt. But he wasn’t my problem. Clo was.
    I pulled into her driveway and called Birdie while I parked the truck. "Zack cheated on Clo."
    "Where are you?"
    "I’m with Clo. She needs me."
    "What about Bella?" Birdie had jumped up and down squealing when I told her that I was going to ask Bella to move it with me. She’d moved out because of it.
    "I broke up with her."
    I cringed, expecting a loud barrage of cuss words from my sister, but all she did was let out a frustrated sigh. "Orion, why can’t you stop doing this to yourself?"
    "She needs me, Birdie. I need to be here for her."
    "Fine," she snarled and hung up on me. I couldn’t blame her for being angry about Clo. Too many years now she’d watched me fall into line at the crook of Clo’s little finger. But the truth was, it was where I was meant to be.
    I jumped out of the truck and met Clo at her front door. Key in her hand, she hesitated, unable to force herself to unlock the door. "I’m not ready for this."
    "It’s okay. I don’t think you’re meant to be." I took the key from her. "Let’s have a drink and go from there."
    As I pushed open the door, she reached for my hand.
    Stepping inside, I let out a low whistle. The place was immaculate. There was no sign of the destruction wreaked across her life in any of the rooms we passed. In the kitchen, I found glasses and poured generous shots. She sunk on to a stool at the counter and watched me. I had expected something, anything that spoke of the anger she’d shown when she came to see me. Instead, it was as if Zack could walk in any minute, hug his wife, and life would continue as normal. Even one of those damn giant cupcakes sat on a white platter in the middle of the counter.
    I passed her the glass, and she drained it before I could pick mine up. That was to be expected; we weren’t celebrating. This was hard drinking, feeling and mind numbing drinking. I poured another and opened a beer for her with the bottle opener on my key ring.
    "This is so... shit." She tossed the next shot down. "It wasn’t a one time thing either."
    "What do you mean?" I asked, checking her freezer for ice cream. Why hadn’t I had the foresight to buy some?
    "Her name is Lilly. I heard him... while they were"— she covered her face— "I’d seen her name on his caller ID before. It wasn’t just once. How fucking stupid am I?"
    I poured her another shot. It