Beautifully Broken (The Infinite Love Series, Book Three) -Published; Sample Only.

(6) Progress Report

Lee

            I’m kind of an asshole. I know it. I just hadn’t been expecting her to be so open and honest with me. And her disorder? I knew little to nothing about it, so after a night or two of mulling it over, I decided to curb my curiosity by researching it.

            Bi-polar disorder: A condition in which a person has periods of depression and periods of being extremely happy or being cross and irritable.

            I sat back—taking it in. It was a bit overwhelming for me. I avoided getting online for days as I let reality sink in. I am so not one for drama…and I love having a good time and being happy. If I had to worry constantly if my partner was okay or happy and not depressed and irritable, that just seemed like an unnecessary stress I didn’t need.

            Why can’t I just find someone normal?

            Not wanting to deal with it as usual, I did what I was best at—avoidance and self-destruction.

            Before I even knew what was happening—I was at my favorite dive bar, The Bar to Nowhere, downing my second Fireball shot.

            My favorite distraction had always been alcohol and slutty girls…until Maddy. But it seemed like I was having no trouble falling right back into my old patterns when I texted one of my usual hook-ups, Cami to meet me.

            She looked sluttier than usual, if that was even possible. Her skirt barely covered her tight ass and her boobs had come out to play.

            Normally I would feel the blood rushing to Willie almost instantly when I caught sight of Cami’s strawberry blond hair cascading over her double d’s. Her green eyes always held a hint of playfulness. And when she would bite her lip—it would make me all sorts of crazy.

            As sexy as Cami had been to me, I also found myself turned off by her. The fact that she tried so hard was unattractive. I was one for the chase—and Cami gave up before the race even began—it was almost too desperate.

            She was so high maintenance and I had a feeling she would turn into Medusa and crush my dreams if I ever gave her my heart—I had just seen how much of a malicious person she was and I wanted no part of it…but the sex—the sex was amazing.

            “Hey you,” she purred as she rubbed the back of my hair with her long fake nails.

            Normally she knew that would drive me mad. But something was off tonight. I wasn’t horny in the slightest. Just get laid and forget about today. The devil on my left was telling me. The angel on my right was saying, what the hell are you doing here? This isn’t what you really want.

            “You want a drink?” I found myself asking instead.

            “A vodka cran.” She never took her eyes off of me.

            I signaled the bartender and watched as he hurried over. “Vodka cran for the lady and another Fireball for me.”

            “You got it,” Todd nodded back at me. I came to this bar enough to know the entire staff and even some of the usual patrons.

            If it wasn’t already obvious enough—Cami applied the perfume she knew makes me do things without thinking—she was playing the game perfectly tonight.