Page 95 of Sizzle
“Goddamn it, Alex, you couldn’t wait ten more minutes? I love you, you son of a bitch! I don’t care what she says, you can’t go back to her. You can’t.”
Alex’s eyes are wide enough to fall out of his head as I climb the porch steps. The silence is deafening now, and I think maybe I didn’t have to shout quite so loud. I also maybe shouldn’t have started off by calling him names, but seriously.
“What are you doing here?” I ask Diana.
She arches a brow at me.
“I could ask you the same question.”
“I live here now. You don’t. Beat it.”
“You can’t just kick me out!”
“Want to bet?”
“Elliot,” says Alex. I swear to God, if he laughs, I’m going to hit his pretty face so hard he’ll feel it for weeks.
“You can’t take her back,” I tell him, turning my back on Diana completely. “You can’t. Not after the way she treated you.”
“That’s actually why I’m—” Diana says over my shoulder.
“I’m not talking to you.”
“Elliot, you’re being rude,” says Alex. He’s obviously fighting a smile and I’m going to have to hit him for real, I think, except all I want to do is kiss him. But I have to make him understand first.
“You can’t go back to her. Joelle needs you. I need you. You can’t just leave us now.”
This wipes the smile off his face.
“You’re the one who left.”
“I know,” I say, reaching for his hand. “And I’m sorry. I didn’t mean I can’t be with you without her. I should have stayed, talked to you so you understood.”
Diana clears her throat. I glance over my shoulder.
“I suppose this means I should offer my congratulations?” she says in a quiet voice.
“That’s what I was about to tell you,” Alex says to her, matching her tone.
All of us turn to stare at the beat-up sedan pulling into the driveway, rods knocking hard enough to make me wince. I don’t know whose car that is, but it needs a priest.
Then Joelle steps out, and the world comes into sharper focus.
“Got your text,” she says to me, taking in the lot of us freezing on the porch. “This must be the famous Diana.”
“And you’re Joelle,” says Diana, nodding. “I’ve heard good things.”
“I should hope so, considering you’re standing between me and the men I love,” says Joelle evenly. “Literally.”
Diana clears her throat. “I guess this means I’m not coming in,” she says to Alex.
“Hell no.” I take the last two steps toward Alex and lay one on him. His lips part on a gasp and I pour every last exasperated second of the past few weeks into that kiss. I’ve shocked him enough it takes a few extra seconds before he’s kissing me back, and then his arm is banded tight around my waist, his other hand sliding through my hair and I’m hard as a rock despite our audience.
A drawn-out whistle has me pulling back before I can get to Alex’s zipper to show him how sorry I am. I turn my head to see Joelle grinning at us like it’s Christmas morning.
“That will never, ever get old,” she says, gesturing between Alex and me.
“Tell me about it,” says Alex, stepping toward her. He doesn’t reach for her, though it’s clear he wants to. “Are you all right?”