I don’t even think she believed what she had just said. Cupping her face in my hands, I looked into her eyes. “He made a mistake, baby. You have to learn to forgive and forget. That boy loves you and I know you love him. You just have to learn that not everybody is like your mom.” I paused to let the words seep in. “I’m sure he had a reason for doing what he did.”
I watched her slump her head down. I knew she loved him and missed him. Even though they were still living together, they rarely saw each other. From what I heard, Ryder was working all the time and when he wasn’t, he was holed up in his room and going home on the weekends.
She sucked in a breath and whispered, “I just don’t know how to get back to where we were.”
“You’re probably going to hate me after I say this, but I think you jumped the gun on the fight. I think he had good intentions for doing what he did. I think you made a mistake and you messed up big time. I think you need to really think about what you want with Ryder. I just don’t want to see you give up on him, because I know he hasn’t given up on you, babe.”
Iz’s bottom lip was quivering and tears rolled down her face. Moving my thumbs to wipe away the tears, I said, “I love you, baby girl. I just want you to be happy too, and I know right now you’re not. I know that when you were with Ryder, you were.” I paused briefly. “Even though I wasn’t there, I’ve heard stories about the two of you from Ash and Jade and Sarah. I know you two were something very special.”
She nodded. “We were, Patrick. We were something beautiful—”
It felt like she wanted to say something else, so I prompted her. “And now?”
“And now we’re something ugly,” she said. She wrapped her arms around me and wailed into my chest.
It broke my heart to hear her cry over this, but I knew one day maybe her and Ryder could be something beautiful again.
I could only hope I found that beauty and burning passion with someone someday.
***
“Do I look hot as fuck in this outfit or what?” I asked Iz. She was currently sitting on my bed, waiting for me to figure out what I wanted to wear to the bar tonight. With this hot guy to meet, I couldn’t be more excited! Or nervous!
Glancing up at me from her book, her eyes looked like they were going to pop out of her head like a cartoon character. She dropped her book on the bed and jumped up. “Oh my god, you look hot, Pat!”
I hate being called Pat! It’s like a fat kid name. Big people need lovin’ too, but I ain’t fat. Clapping my hands together, I spun around and asked, “360 view good?”
Peeking over my shoulders, I saw Iz was actually checking me out. She must have spotted me staring at her because her eyes darted up to mine and her cheeks started to get red. Completely facing her, I laughed out, “OMG, you were so checking me out, baby girl!”
Shaking her head, Iz said in a small voice, “No, I wasn’t!”
Wrapping my arms around her waist, I jumped up and down with her in my arms, screaming, “Yes, you did!”
Pushing out of my death grip, Iz laughed. “Fine!” She shook her head and looked at me. “You have a nice ass, Patrick. When it’s there, I can’t help but look.”
Smiling at her, I kissed her on the cheek. Standing back, I placed all my weight on my right leg and bent my left. Pursing my lips to the side, I folded my arms and began to really check Iz out. Her nice firm ass. Her sexy curves. Her plump red lips which were slightly opened. Her toned arms. Her glossy hazelnut hair and her beautiful chocolate eyes.
Scaling my eyes from the tip of her head all the way down to her toes, I whistled at her. Hearing her giggle, I strutted over to her and in my best sexy voice, I said, “Damn, baby, what are you doing later?”
Giggling again, she shook her head to get into character. She placed her hand on my bicep. Slowly she lifted her eyes up to meet mine. Iz pulled her lower corner lip into her mouth and bit down. Releasing it from between her teeth, she lightly moaned. Standing on her tiptoes, she kissed the corner of my mouth, close enough to my lips, but far enough away that she didn’t quite touch them. Pulling away, Iz breathlessly said, “Maybe you.”
I immediately broke out into laughter. I couldn’t believe that the Iz I knew had turned into a sex goddess. “Iz?”
“What?” She looked confused.
Searching her eyes for a second, I pointed at her and screamed, “You’re reading way too many sex novels!” I shook my head. “I’m not anywhere near close to straight, but damn, baby, I actually think I got a little hard from that.”
“Oh my god, Patrick, that was just way TMI!”
I laughed for a few seconds, then got serious. “So I look okay?”
Placing her hands on my shoulders, Iz smiled up at me and said, “He’d be crazy not to want you, Patrick.”
Kissing her on the cheek, I whispered, “Thanks, babe. Come on, let’s go to the bar.”
***