Free Just Rules by Anna Casanovas, Carlie Johnson Page B

horribly boring. Despite the fact that she was young, ambitious, confident, and completely selfish, she had always made it very clear that she wanted to sleep with him. At the beginning of the evening, Mac had no intention of ending up with her at the end of the night. Despite the days that had passed, he still couldn’t get the image of Susana with her wet hair and that sad tear rolling down her face out of his mind.
    Why the hell couldn’t he stop thinking about that? Why couldn’t he remember the color of the dress that he took off of Kelly but could remember, like the back of his hand, what Susana looked like that morning in her apartment?
    Mac had perfected the art of forgetting Susana seconds after seeing her. Shit, there were even times when they happened to be at the same place and he was able to forget that his best friend’s fiance was even there.
    They weren’t getting married anymore.
    And now he couldn’t stop thinking about that tear. And because of that tear, Mac decided that the best thing to do was to sleep with Kelly.
    It was one of the worst ideas he had had in his life.
    He was able to maintain his dignity, as his teammates would say, but only because when Kelly turned the lights off in his bedroom her blonde hair turned brown, her white skin became tan, her blue eyes changed to brown, and Mac didn’t let her kiss him. He covered her mouth so that he couldn’t hear her breathe.
    To Kelly it seemed very erotic.
    To him it seemed sad and pathetic. And it was something that he was not proud of at all.
    Since when did he like Susana? Never.
    Always.
    During the fateful hours that Mac had spent with Kelly, his imagination preferred for him to kiss the girl with the sad eyes who had slammed the door in his face, instead of kissing the beautiful blonde that was in his arms. And since Susana wasn’t there, he didn’t kiss Kelly, and he left her fabulous apartment as soon as he could.
    Before, when Susana was his best friend’s fiance, Mac was able to contain those impulses, those butterflies in his stomach, the pressure weighing down on his chest. But since Tim called off the wedding and had gone to Paris to get Amanda back, Mac’s mind, and other parts of his body, refused to play along.
    He didn’t even believe his own excuses such as, what had happened with Susana was temporary or was just a strange moment.
    The phone kept ringing and Mac thought about not answering it, but then he saw that it was Tim so he picked up. Maybe by hearing Tim’s voice he would feel bad for thinking about Susan and he would stop doing it.
    “It’s about time!” he scolded his friend, and his hands started to sweat like they do when he feels guilty.
    “I know. I should have called before,” answered Tim in a tired voice.
    “How are things going? Have you seen Amanda?”
    “Yeah, I’ve seen her, he said strangely.”
    “And have you seen Jeremy?”
    “I’ve see him, too.”
    “And?”
    “Let’s just say that Amanda wasn’t all too excited to see me. And Jeremy…” He paused. “Jeremy doesn’t even know that I exist. Amanda put my name on the birth certificate, but he doesn’t even know that I’m his father.”
    “So who does he think you are?”
    “Some guy that his mother hates.”
    “Sorry, man.”
    “It’s not your fault. Anyway, I was calling to ask if you’ve seen Susan.”
    “Yes.” Shit. Simply answering that question made him think of her.
    “I called her, but she didn’t answer” Tim explained ,“I suppose that can be expected, but I worry about her and I wanted to make sure that she’s OK.”
    “She’s OK. She’s a strong woman,” answered Mac, surprising even himself.”
    “Not as strong as everyone thinks.”
    “If you love her as much as it seems —Mac said, without thinking too much about why he was suddenly so angry— why don’t you come back?”
    “I care about Susan very much, I really do,” he added, upon sensing his friend’s anger. “But we would have