Seductive Chaos (Bad Rep #3)(56)
Author: A. Meredith Walters

“None of your damn business!” I bit out.

I started to back up and knocked into Theo who turned around to give me a kind smile. His expression turned curious when he saw a very angry Cole breathing fire in his direction.

“Who the f**k are you?” Cole asked him. Theo looked over his shoulder, as though Cole were talking to someone else.

“Excuse me?” Theo asked, glancing at me.

“Why are you with my girl?” Cole demanded and my eyes widened.

His girl? Was he serious?

“I think you are mistaken. I’m on a date with this woman,” Theo argued reasonably.

“You’re what?” Cole roared, garnering the attention of everyone around us.

“Cole, enough! You’re drunk and you’re acting like an idiot,” I hissed, pushing him squarely in the chest. He stumbled back a step but then steadied himself as much as he was able to, even if he was still swaying on his feet.

“You’re on a date with this douchebag, Viv? Are you kidding me?” Cole started laughing maniacally, clutching his gut as he bent over in hysterics. My rage started to mount.

“Vivian, do you know this guy?” Theo asked, watching Cole with growing concern.

Cole righted himself and took a menacing step toward Theo. “Oh she knows me, man. She knows me intimately. She knows how it feels to have this dick inside her pu**y.” He grabbed himself crudely before taking another step forward.

“She knows how it feels when I f**k her over a table and how it feels to have my tongue between her legs. So yes, she knows me. She’s known me in every position, all night long.”

Cole leaned down and ran his tongue along my cheek. “Mmm. I love me a mouthful of Vivian.”

That was it. I had had enough. I clocked Cole in the jaw, knocking him on his self-important ass. My hand throbbed and I hoped I hadn’t broken something.

“Don’t you ever talk about me like that ever again!” I screamed, standing over him, cradling my hand against my chest and glaring down at him. Cole rubbed his jaw and grinned up at me.

“You’ve got one hell of a right hook, baby. Now come here and let me kiss it and make it better,” he leered. I kicked him in the leg. Hard. With the spike end of my shoe.

“Ouch! Why’d you do that, Viv?” Cole yelled, trying to get to his feet. But he was so drunk he could only stumble to his knees before collapsing on the floor again.

I reared back to kick him again but Theo put a hand on my arm.

“What are you doing, Vivian?” he asked, looking appalled. I looked around and realized we had a circle of people surrounding us, watching with avid interest. Once again, Cole and I had become a sideshow.

I lowered my foot to the floor. “I’m sorry, Theo,” I said regretfully, hating how he had seen this very ugly side of my personality.

Theo looked absolutely repulsed by the entire situation. “Is this the guy you were talking about at dinner?” Theo deduced. Cole was still trying to get to his feet. Finally some biker dude took pity and helped him up. He swayed a bit but otherwise stayed upright.

I didn’t bother to answer Theo. I figured it was obvious by this point.

“I’m sorry, Vivian. I’m so, so sorry,” Cole appealed, scrubbing his hands down his face.

My anger dissipated marginally. I had never heard Cole apologize for anything. That alone was enough to make me wonder if we had entered the Twilight Zone.

When Cole pulled his hands away from his face, his eyes were wet and red. He looked as lost as I had ever seen him.

“Don’t hate me. Please,” he begged, reaching for my hand. I let him take it and he curled his fingers through mine, pressing our joined hands over his heart.

“I couldn’t stand it if you hated me the way the rest of them do. Not you. Never you,” he whispered and I had to lean in close to hear him.

His fingers squeezed mine and I could feel the erratic beat of his heart beneath my skin.

“I don’t hate you, Cole,” I told him honestly and the naked relief on his face left me speechless.

We stood like that for a while, with Cole’s hand clutching mine, pressed to his chest, while I looked up at this sad and broken man who had always seemed so untouchable. I had never thought I’d see the day where anything wrecked him.

But that day had come.

“Vivian. We need to go,” Theo said, snapping me out of my Cole induced stupor. I pulled my hand from Cole’s and backed away, all too aware of how this must look to Theo, who looked anything but happy. He was staring at Cole, who had dropped his head, his chin colliding with his chest.

I didn’t want to leave Cole like this. Despite everything, I just couldn’t.

“This is why you didn’t want to go on a date with me. You’re still hung up on this guy,” Theo said, as though he couldn’t understand what I was thinking.

“No. That had nothing to do with it,” I lied.

“Look, I’d rather know this now then get into something with you and have my heart broken. If you’re still in love with this guy, then just say so.”

Whoa! Who had said anything about love?

Oh that’s right. I had at dinner. Way to go, Vivian!

“It has nothing to do with me not being over him. I just can’t leave him when he’s like this,” I countered.

Theo shook his head and reached out to take ahold of Cole’s arm. Cole tried to pull back and almost lost his footing again.

“Let go of me, jackass!” Cole seethed.

“We’re going to get you home. Chill out,” Theo said with annoyance.

I blinked in surprise. Theo looked back at me nonplussed. “You coming?” he asked.

I nodded and followed Theo as he pulled a barely walking Cole out to his car.

The ride to Cole’s apartment was tense, even after Cole had passed out and started to snore.

A few minutes later, we were parked and I was struggling with something to say.

If there was anything I could take away from this date gone wrong, is that Theo deserved more than a woman who would never be able to give him her heart. Not when it foolishly belonged to someone else. Someone who most likely would never give his in return.

“It’s okay, Vivian,” Theo murmured, picking up on my internal tirade.

“I don’t know why I can’t get over him. I mean, look at him!” I despaired, indicating Cole in the backseat, sprawled out and drooling all over the upholstery.

Theo gave me a wry smile. “We can’t help who want,” he responded sagely.