Read Online One Night with Sole Regret 06 Tell Me by Olivia Cunning - Free Book Online Page A

shirts. Talking to her was distracting—you just had to gawk at her boobs. It couldn’t be helped. Man, woman, child, or monk, you had to stare at them, wondering if they were real and if your hand was big enough to hold one properly. Jacob was no exception. It didn’t matter that he was happily involved with Amanda or that Sally was happily married to one of their road crew—Kris, a giant, weathered biker with a huge heart—it was impossible not to stare at Sally’s endowments. Gabe had fallen into the same trap many times himself. So when Nikki saw Jacob paying undo attention to another woman’s chest and bristled, Gabe didn’t see any reason to correct her false assumption that Shade was not interested in her tonight because he was already hooking up with Sally. Nikki would probably understand that arrangement. It might even cause her to keep her distance.
    Or it might make her stor m across the room, shove Sally in the shoulder, and jerk on Jacob’s arm. Seriously?
    Fuck.
    “Control your friend, Mel,” Gabe said exasperatedly.
    Melanie rubbed the center of her forehead with two fingers. “I think we’re going to have to go to the hotel after all,” she said. “This isn’t a good environment for Nikki in her present state of mind.”
    Nikki had varying states of mind? Since when?
    Gabe watched Melanie cross the room to interfere with the three-person shoving match going on in the corner. He wondered why watching her walk away had his heart panging unpleasantly in his chest. It was obvious who was more important to Melanie. He knew that she had known Nikki for a lot longer than she’d known him, but that didn’t make the realization that Nikki was her top priority any easier to take.
    R ealizing he wanted to be Melanie’s top priority wasn’t easy to take either. He wanted to be the only thing on her mind tonight. The entire weekend. As long as she’d have him. Seriously?
    “Fuck,” he said.

Chapter Eight
    Melanie was done. Done running interference. Done preventing catastrophe. Done picking up the pieces. Done.
    She grabbed Nikki by the arm and without a word dragged her toward the exit. They were out of the dressing room and halfway down the hall before she stopped and turned to confront her friend. Friend? More like soul-sucking leech.
    “ You are going to the hotel right now,” Melanie said, providing no opportunity for argument. “ I am going to the concert by myself and I am going to Gabe’s house in Austin tonight without you. Do you understand? You are not going to weasel your way into accompanying us.”
    Nikki opened her mouth to protest , and Melanie lifted a finger of warning at her.
    “I’m sorry it has to be this way,” she said, “but sometimes I have to think about myself. There is no reason for you to be here. You saw Shade. He doesn’t want to see you. You knew he wouldn’t, but you came anyway. And right now, I don’t want to see you either.”
    Nikki released a pained gasp and Melanie had to force herself not to look away. She didn’t like to hurt people and she’d just shredded Nikki’s heart. Melanie could see the devastation in every tense line of Nikki’s face.
    “ If you’d rather go straight home, you do that. Figure out how to solve this problem you created, Nikki. I’m not giving up my shot at happiness because you need someone to take care of you. You need to take care of you. Got it?”
    Nikki’s eyes pooled with tears and Melanie softened her tone—partly because she couldn’t stand the look of anguish on Nikki’s face and partially because her throat had tightened with emotion to the point of strangulation.
    “I can be your friend,” Melanie said. “I want to be your friend. But I can’t be your knight in shining armor. I have my own ass to rescue.”
    Tears began to flow freely down Nikki’s cheeks and yeah, Melanie’s vision blurred as her own tears threatened to overflow. She wasn’t good at doling out tough love. It wasn’t her thing.