Fighting for My Best Friend (Fated #4) by Hazel Kelly Read Free Book Online Page B

that for me?”
    She nodded.
    “I need you to not show up at my place or at family parties. I
need you to acknowledge that our relationship is over.”
    She looked down at her lap.
    “So I can heal.”
    “Okay, Aiden.”
    “Thanks, babe. I really appreciate it.”
    “I can’t tell you what it means to hear you say that.” She
pushed some hair out of her face. “After you threw me out the way you did, I
thought I didn’t mean anything to you at all.”
    “Don’t be ridiculous,” I said, expecting my Oscar to arrive any
minute. “I’m just hurting really bad right now and seeing you, well, it’s too
difficult.”
    She pursed her lips.
    “I’m finally beginning to accept the fact that I don’t have what
it takes to be your dream guy, but you need to show me some compassion and leave
me be.”
    “Does that mean we can’t be friends?”
    “I don’t think so,” I said. “It’s too painful.” And annoying and
draining and what are you still doing here?!
    “I guess I’m just scared because no one ever cared about me like
you did.”
    “Yet,” I said. “Other people will, but only if you let what we
had go and put yourself out there.”
    “Do you mind if I do a line?”
    “What?”
    “You can have one if you want,” she said, lifting her purse off
the floor and taking out a small baggie.
    I leaned back and ran my hands through my hair. “Shit, Chelsea.”
    “Sorry.” She scooped a little clump of coke on the underside of
her nail and snorted it up her nose with a wince.
    “I fucking knew you were high.”
    “I was sort of nervous about coming here. I thought it would
help calm me down.”
    “Will you put that away?” I said.
    “You sure you don’t wan-”
    “Put it away.” I wanted to tell her she needed help- offer to
help her even- but I knew better. I’d already done that till I was blue in the
face, and I didn’t want to leave the door open for her to ambush me again. This
had to be the last time.
    She sealed the bag and slipped it in her purse.
    “And don’t offer it to anyone else, okay? This is not that kind
of party.”
    She took a deep breath. “I guess I should go then.”
    “That’s probably for the best.”
    “Will you tell Claire I said congratulations?”
    “Why don’t you tell her yourself?”
    “I don’t know. I feel kind of awkward now that I know I’m not
wanted here.”
    “Don’t be silly,” I said. “I’ll go in with you. You can say you
just stopped by to wish her well, and I’ll walk you out. No one will think
anything of it.”
    “You sure?”
    “Yeah. It’s only weird you stopped by if you don’t say hi to
Claire.”
    “Okay.” She stood up and smoothed her dress down over her hip
bones.
    I cocked my arm out to the side so she would take it.
    “Thanks, Aiden.”
    “Thank you for agreeing to let me move on with my life, no
matter how hard it is.”
    The ego stroking seemed to be working, and I walked down the
hall with Chelsea on my arm for the last time. It was weird because it didn’t
feel any emptier than it ever did. Even in the beginning when we were fucking
like rabbits and I thought she was the hottest girl I’d ever seen, she never
felt that substantial on my arm.
    Maybe it was just the fact that she was clinically underweight
or maybe it was because I never felt accompanied by much more than her physical
presence. Regardless, I could tell something was missing and that simply having
a hot girl on my arm wasn’t enough for me anymore.
    “Claire,” I said, approaching her table. “You remember Chelsea?”
    “Of course,” Claire said, standing. “How are you?”
    “Great,” Chelsea said.
    “I know Chelsea and I aren’t together anymore,” I said too
loudly, “but she was always fond of you, and when she said she was going to be in
the neighborhood, I insisted she stop by to offer her congratulations to you
and Dave.”
    “That’s very kind of you,” Claire said, picking up on my
intonation in a way Chelsea never