Read Online Finding Forever by Christina C Jones - Free Book Online

smile as she pushed past me.
    “What did I do now ?”
    “I just left Tori’s office.”
    Shit .
    There it was again, that tight feeling that erupted in my chest whenever I thought about her . “And?” I asked, feigning nonchalance.
    She rounded on me, placing a hand on her hip. “What do you mean, ‘and’? You hurt her feelings, Avery.”
    “And I apologized. What more should I do?”
    “Go to counseling? Get help?” she suggested as she dropped onto the sofa.
    I chuckled as I took a seat beside her on the couch. “Yeah right, sis. Let me guess, she thinks I need anger management or something?”
    “ She thinks you need to go jump off a cliff. The counseling is my own suggestion… it’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while.”
    “Is that right?”
    Des nodded. “It is. You’ve been like a completely different person ever since whatever happened between you and Natalie.”
    Was it that obvious? I had purposely changed my stance on relationships, and how I interacted with women, but I hadn’t intended for that to rub off onto my sister’s perception of me.
    “What are you talking about, Des?”
    “Well, you weren’t always this guy. After dad died, you went off to college, then came back and took over the garage, and all of a sudden you were like… the neighborhood casanova or something. And I still haven’t forgotten how you did my friend. She and I have never been the same since then!” I bit my tongue to keep from telling her that girl was never her friend, she was using her to get to me. Not to mention, that shit happened more than ten years ago! “But then, you settled down. You met Natalie, and went back to being the sweetest guy I knew. You were fun. You weren’t a pushover or anything, you were genuinely nice, laid back, and you stuck to one sweet girl, then… the breakup happened, and you changed again. Now you’re always moody, and you never hang out with me anymore. You just work and pick up women, and when you’re not doing that, it seems like I never see you. I want the old Avery back.”
    I shrugged. “People change, and their priorities change.”
    “So are you saying I’m not a priority anymore?”
    Shit.
    I pulled my sister into a hug. “Of course you’re a priority, Des. I didn’t mean it like that , I’m saying my business takes up a lot of my time. Ignition isn’t a local thing anymore, it’s growing, and that takes a lot of attention and focus. You didn’t come all the way to Dallas to lecture me, did you?”
    “No,” she said, grinning as she rolled her eyes. “I came to see Tori, and make sure she was okay.”
    My mouth went dry. I didn’t want to think about Tori being hurt this long over what I said. “Is she?”
    “She will be. I think the divorce is taking more of a toll on her than she wants to admit, and she was spouting off some nonsense about being through with love. And she’s still upset about your little stunt. You were mean to her, Avery, after she confided in you.”
    “I told you I apologized, Des. I sent her flowers, and a note.”
    Desiree shook her head. “I thought you knew women better than that. You should have apologized in person, fool. Especially since she now knows you live right here in Dallas. Sending flowers was lazy, and after the way you spoke to her — with no reason, might I add— I would think you be willing to do a little extra.”
    “I just didn’t think about it.”
    That was a lie. I’d actually agonized about it, then decided it was best not to see her. How would she have reacted? Would she have given me another black eye, cried? Worse, would she have been completely indifferent, or pretended to be, to not give me the satisfaction of seeing she cared? If she cared.
    Why the hell does it matter if she cared?
    “Oh, I know. I bet if you had slept with her you would have thought about it, but it’s good you haven’t. I can’t imagine how hurt my feelings would be if someone I had been intimate with did