Free CHERISHED (By the Alpha Billionaire #3) by Rossi St. James Page A

Sara.”
    “Wait,” I said with an incredulous glare. “How long had you been talking to Sara behind my back before you fucked her?”
    He shrugged. “Look, Mais, I’m not here to go over every excruciating detail of what I did. I just wanted to say I’m sorry.”
    “I want to know.” I crossed my arms and glared at him. He took a seat on the sofa, the very one we used to spoon on as we binge watched Walking Dead and Breaking Bad every weekend.
    “Maybe a few months, I don’t know.” He held his head in his hands as he sighed.
    I wanted to know how it started. Who initiated it. The whens and wheres and all the whys. But then I realized it didn’t matter a damn bit. What had been done had been done, and there was no changing any of it now. We couldn’t go back, and I didn’t want to.
    My heart warmed over as I thought of Sawyer. His five days of passion and intimacy and kindness showed me that I deserved more than to spend the rest of my life in a relationship with someone like Luke.
    I wanted to love again. I wanted fireworks and excitement. I wanted butterflies.
    “You should go,” I said, heading to the door and turning the handle.
    He stood up with reluctance, our eyes meeting for what I hoped was the last time ever. “I just want you to know that I’m sorry I hurt you. I really did love you, Maisie. But I guess it wasn’t enough.”
    Looking into Luke’s eyes was like looking at a stranger. His sheer presence annoyed the ever loving hell out of me. The man I’d have spent my life with had done me a favor by cheating on me, because I never belonged with him in the first place.
    “Thank you, Luke,” I said with a sincere smile. “Thank you for not loving me the way I deserved to be loved.”
    His brows furrowed, as if he were confused.
    “You showed me that I can do better,” I said. “I hope you and Sara are very happy together. Please send her my regards at Christmas. I won’t be attending this year.”
    As far as I was concerned, Sara was just as much to blame as Luke was. We had a bond. A sisterhood. We’d grown up together, and I loved her. Aside from constantly being compared to her, I actually liked having her as a sister.
    Not anymore.
    I ushered Luke out the door and locked it behind him, closing the door on us once and for all. It felt freeing, as if new life had been suddenly breathed into me. Those days spent with Sawyer in Manhattan were life altering.
    Suddenly my apartment felt too small, my quaint, small town life felt suffocating, and my safe little routine felt impossibly boring. Just like that I’d outgrown my life. My mind raced a million miles a minute. It was as if I was changing from the inside out, and every cell in my body was morphing into someone I barely knew but was beginning to love.
    I slipped off my pajamas, threw my hair in a top knot, and got dressed. I needed a stiff drink to calm my nerves, and I needed a friendly ear to talk me off the ledge. If I woke up tomorrow feeling the same way, I knew what would happen.
    I’d march myself into the principal’s office first thing before class and declare that I was finishing out my contract through May. After that, I’d move. Manhattan sounded nice. Sure it was expensive, but I had a cousin there. I could crash on her couch while I looked for a job. There were schools on every corner of that city.
    I needed to do whatever I could to get myself out of my hometown and into a life that better suited the woman I was becoming.
    ***
    “So, Lydia,” I said to my best friend as we perched upon bar stools. I’d called her on the way to the Moonlight Lounge and dragged her out with me. I’d filled her in on my trip to New York the night I came back. “Do you think I’m crazy? Do you think I’m behaving irrationally?”
    Lydia pursed her lips and shrugged. “I mean, quitting your job and moving across the country on a whim is a little bit crazy, but I never really though this small town life suited you. I always