Valerie was about to respond when she spotted Nadine with a few of her equally skanky friends, grinning wickedly their way. If Valerie couldn't stand her before, she hated her even more now. There'd been rumors of Alex having slept with the whore, and Nadine sure as hell did nothing to negate said rumors. Like tonight, she'd likely approached Alex the moment she'd seen him. The fact that Alex didn't just tell her to go to hell, allowing her to latch on to him as she had tonight, was infuriating. The question begged to be asked, but Valerie didn't dare do it. Had he really slept with Nadine? The thought alone made Valerie's skin crawl.
It wasn't unheard of for Valerie to have an unladylike reaction in a situation like this. The obnoxious behavior of these girls around Alex right in front of Valerie was infuriating. It didn't matter that they weren't an official couple; they'd been seen together enough times. As far as she was concerned, it was disrespectful. Alex sure as hell demanded that respect from other guys around him when it came to Valerie. But Valerie was doing her damnedest to be mature about this. So she didn't give Nadine the pleasure of even glancing her way as they got closer to the front door of the frat party where Nadine and her friends stood.
"Call me when you're free later, Alex," Nadine purred as they walked past her and her friends. "You know I'll always wait up for you."
Her stupid friends laughed, sparking something in Valerie's head. So she reacted the way any normal hot-blooded girl would when a slutty bitch like Nadine was blatantly inviting her man over to her place right in front of her face.
"He won't be free later, you filthy cunt!"
None of them saw it coming, least of all Nadine, but the resounding slap across Nadine's shocked face gave Valerie the most satisfying feeling ever. Valerie only wished she could've done it again, and she would've if Alex hadn't wrapped his arms around her from behind and lifted her away as she kicked and struggled to come loose.
Romero and a few other "good Samaritan" guys did their best to calm Nadine and her belligerent bunch of ready-to-fight drunken friends.
As good as it felt that her palm still stung from how hard she'd hit the bitch, she was livid now. "Let go of me!" she screamed, feeling on the verge of losing it.
Valerie didn't even care that she was making a huge scene. There was always at least one of these sorts of scenes at drunken frat parties. So after two years in college and all the damn girls continually throwing themselves at Alex, she'd finally gotten the satisfaction of doing what she'd wanted to do for so long. So what if she'd made a scene.
Fuck Nadine!
Alex hurried past all the gawking and laughing people in the front, refusing to put her down until they reached his truck up the street.
The moment he let her go she pushed him away. "She always waits up for you?" Valerie asked, glaring at him while she desperately tried to calm her breathing. "What?" She pushed his chest again with both hands though he didn't even budge. "When you're done with me you go fuck her too? Is that it, Alex?"
"Never," he said so infuriatingly calmly and convincingly it only made her madder.
"Then why did she say that? Why—"
"Because she's a bitch," he said, taking a few steps closer to her and giving Valerie no choice but to take a few steps back because she absolutely refused to let him touch her. "She was trying to push your buttons. Piss you off." He shrugged. "And it worked."
"Yeah, well, she got what she deserved."
Alex moved in even closer until Valerie was backed up against his truck. She lifted her hand against his chest. "Don't touch me."
"I won't. Just calm down," he said in that tone that drove her crazy. He was way too calm again, almost as if he'd enjoyed seeing her slap Nadine.
He purposely leaned in, knowing how weak she was for him. She hated it, but just having her palm flat against his hard chest was already doing things to her. Being this close to him and feeling the warmth of his body against hers calmed the fiery jealousy that had consumed her just thinking about Alex meeting up with Nadine later.
"Bad girl," he whispered as he leaned in even closer against the side of her head but remained mindful not to touch her. "Why'd you do that?"
Gulping back what she was feeling because she didn't want him to see how easily he managed to calm her anger yet awaken her hunger for him without so much as touching her, she turned to him with a purpose, their mouths close enough to touch now. "Same reason you were getting ready to do the same to Ivan."
He pulled away from her, his expression instantly hard. "Ivan?" he asked, and if disgust were a tone of voice, he nailed it with just the one word. "I would've done a lot more than hit him once."
Valerie lifted a stubborn chin. "If you hadn't carried me away, I would've done more to that bitch."
Alex shrugged. "She asked for it. I'll give you that. But I wasn't gonna let you get arrested for her stupid ass."
Calmed considerably, Valerie's chest still heaved. The question burned at the tip of her tongue. Had he actually slept with Nadine? She gulped hard, staring into those eyes she'd loved staring into for years. Those beautifully intense eyes had melted her from day one.
A part of her was so tempted to just ask him—get the truth—but she was still pumped. Even as her heart continued to pound in her chest, she already knew one thing. Just like all the other scenes and confrontations their tumultuous relationship had endured over the years, tonight's incident was already another one for the books. Alex was gazing into her eyes in that way that always made her feel so weak—weak because she knew what it meant. He could hardly wait to be alone with her. And this was the reason she was afraid to ask. It was the same reason she'd always refrained from asking direct questions about all the rumors she'd ever heard. She knew what would happen if the answer was yes, he had slept with Nadine. Maybe even recently. This night—maybe more—would be ruined because she'd lose it.
"Let's go back to my place," he whispered in her ear. "I have something I wanna show you."
Valerie shoved him playfully unable to refrain from smirking. "You always do."
Alex laughed that sexy laugh that never failed to make her melt. "No, not that. Sofie came by today and dropped something off. I think you'll get a kick out of it. It's why I came down to get you."
That piqued her interest and Valerie tilted her head, peering at him curiously. His sister had brought something to him he thought Valerie would get such a kick out of he came looking for her at a party? Not that this was the first time he'd showed up unexpectedly at one of these parties to whisk her off, but, still, this was different.
"What did she drop off?"
With a click, Alex opened the door to his truck behind her. "Get in. I'll show you when we get there."
For a moment, Valerie pretended to consider it. That prompted Alex's usual pleading eyes, and she was done. She smiled, nodding, and he leaned in and kissed her softly, sweetly, like the Alex Moreno she'd fallen for so many years ago.
Who was she kidding? He'd had her at "Let's go."
As usual she'd had to play a part, the part she'd been playing for years with him: That she was okay with this arrangement. That like Alex, she too, could go out and have a great time with someone else and not be thinking about him the whole time. That she too was a bit on the commitment-phobic side and that's why this arrangement was perfect as is. No promises. No exclusivity. Just uncomplicated fun times. Yet many who knew them would argue that their relationship was anything but uncomplicated.
After tonight, after seeing him with someone else, not just hearing about it, Valerie had confirmed the one thing she'd feared from the beginning. Even though she'd yet to admit it even after all this time because she was sure it'd have him running for the hills, she was in love with him. And if she ever got the proof she refused to seek out—that he was in fact seeing other women when he wasn't with her—it would break her as none of the unconfirmed rumors had ever done before.
All this time her heart had held on to the gut feeling that he did care about her as much as she did him. Just as she couldn't bring herself to so much as kiss another guy, she hoped he felt the same way about her. The gut feeling was still there, but now she knew one thing for a fact. If she ever got proof that all those rumors were actually true, whatever this was she had with Alex for years now would be over. As much as she'd tried to convince herself that she'd be able to handle it, she now knew she was dead wrong. She'd never be able to handle seeing him with someone else.
Ever.
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