Walk Of Shame(143)

She laughs and wraps her arm tighter around me. “Of course I remember. I lived for those nights, Cale. Do you realize how many times I wanted to crawl into your arms just like I am now?”

Smiling like a fool, I grip her tighter and run a hand through her hair. “I wish you would have, Rile. I definitely wouldn’t have pushed you away.”

“Good to know,” she says with a laugh.

We go back to laying in silence, just staring at the night sky. It’s so damn peaceful that I never want to move from this spot.

“Cale . . .”

I press my lips to her forehead. “What’s up?”

She hesitates, clearly afraid of my reaction. I can tell by the way she’s breathing so heavily.

“Say it, Rile,” I say gently. “I never want you to hold back from me.”

She sits up and searches for her dress, quickly pulling it back on, making sure that she’s covered up. “I promised Tyler that I would let him take me out on a date.” She lets out a small breath and repositions herself to get comfortable. “I had to after him coming so far. It just didn’t seem right to deny him that small request.” She looks up at me, focusing on my lips for a brief moment, before meeting my eyes. “Are you mad?”

Inside I feel like I’m fucking dying. The last thing I want to think about is another man taking her out on a date when I haven’t even had the chance. I fucking hate it, but I’m trying my best to not be selfish when it comes to Riley. If she needs to do this, then I need to let her.

“No,” I admit. “I’m not mad. I’m jealous as shit and not wanting to share you with another man.” I pull her back to me and gently kiss her. “One date. I don’t think I can handle more than that without wanting to kill him.”

“I think I should go home for the night, Cale.” She runs her fingers into the back of my hair. “I’m going out with Tyler tomorrow. It won’t be right if I stay here.”

I swallow back my anger as my chest tightens in pain. As much as I don’t want this, I know that nothing with us will be able to move forward until he’s out of the picture. Then, I’m going to make her all fucking mine and hold onto her until I take my last breath. That’s a promise.

“I’ll drop you off.” I hop out of the truck and grab Riley’s hand, helping her out and on her feet. “Let’s go.”

This hurts like a bitch, but there’s no way I’m giving up on her. Fuck that . . .





GETTING DRESSED AND READY TO go out to dinner with Tyler is stirring a ton of emotions inside of me. Just a couple of weeks ago it was me and Tyler, and now it’s me and Cale, with Tyler fighting his way back into my life. It makes everything a lot more complicated than I hoped it would be. I always thought if Cale and I were to end up together that it would be easy and nothing else in the world would matter, but right now . . . it feels far from easy.

“Riley,” my mom screams from downstairs. “Tyler’s here. Are you ready?”

Sighing, I grab my purse and slip the strap over my shoulder, before making my way to the stairs. I look down at my mom and shrug my shoulders. “Yeah, I suppose so. I just want to get this dinner over with.”

My mom watches me with concern as I slowly make my way down the stairs, passing her without another word. I just have so much on my mind right now that it’s making it hard to think straight.

Here I am going out with Tyler while Cale is at Walk Of Shame, taking his clothes off for a bunch of horny women. He could have any one of them. Why would he want to wait around for me . . . again?

“Are you okay,” my dad asks, snapping me out of my thoughts.

I look up at him and smile. “I’m good. I’m fine. Just tired.” Not really, but . . .”I’ll be home later. I don’t plan on staying out too late.”

“Alright, honey,” Mom says to my back as I’m walking to the door. “I’ll wait up for you. I have a feeling we’re going to have a lot to talk about when you get home.”

I look over my shoulder at her. “I guess we’ll see.”

When I open the screen door I look up to see Tyler leaning against his rental car. He’s too busy messing around on his phone to notice me approaching. It’s probably a good thing, because right now it seems extremely hard to hide the disappointment of what I have to do tonight. One look at my face and it’s a given.

I take a second to compose myself before stopping in front of him and clearing my throat.

Tyler looks up from his phone and quickly shoves it in his pocket to show me his full attention. Smiling, he says, “You look really nice.” He reaches for the end of my favorite shirt and fingers it. “I’ve missed seeing this old thing.”