Read Online Wish I May by Lexi Ryan - Free Book Online Page A

a relationship that’s broken.”
    “ We’re. Not. Broken .”
    Sam shoves his hands in his pockets. “Are you sure she’s still coming?”
    “Of course she’s still coming. She hasn’t said otherwise.”
    The guys both nod and exchange those damn knowing looks again.
    “She’s not cheating on me,” I mutter. They haven’t said it, but that’s what they’re thinking. They’re thinking I’ll be better off without her. But they don’t know Cally like I do. They don’t understand how she gets me like nobody else, how she fills the aching hollow places that I’ve had since Mom and Dad died. “She wouldn’t cheat on me.”
    “Okay, man,” Max says.
    “Of course not.” Sam slaps my back. “Is there anything we can do?”
    Their kindness pisses me off. They wouldn’t drop the subject so easily if they believed she was being faithful. “Just…leave me alone for a while.”
    After they’re gone, I grab my phone from the floor. The glass is shattered, making a starburst on the screen that reminds me of the girl I’m too afraid to admit I’ve lost.

    Present Day
     
    Another blast of thunder rattles the glass in the gallery windows, and I’m fucking glad. Rain pelts the back deck and hits the river with a vengeance. The day is gray and the weather violent. It matches my mood.
    Soon, Cally will take the girls to her dad’s and then she’ll leave town. Maybe forever this time. Or maybe she’ll be back often, since her sisters are here now. The hope is almost worse than the despair.
    I slam my palm so hard against the glass, it stings. “Fuck.”
    “Well, hello, sunshine.”
    I don’t bother to turn toward the sound of Maggie’s voice. I’m glad she’s working today. She can cover the gallery so I can get the fuck out of dodge and blow off some of this steam. A run in the rain might help. Or a bottle of whiskey.
    “I’ll make coffee,” she calls, and then I hear the click of her heels on the stairs as she climbs up to the kitchenette in the loft.
    I drop my head and lean against the cool glass. I want to go back to Cally’s hotel and beg her not to leave. I want to taste her again, just to make sure I won’t forget the flavor of her lips, to touch her one more time so I remember the sound she makes when she comes. I want to drown in the feel of her hair and the softness of her skin until the bad shit washes away.
    And at the same fucking time, I want to fight with her. I want to call her out on what she did to me seven years ago. I want to make her understand how much she screwed me up.
    Maggie’s footsteps sound above and before I know it, she’s back down and shoving a hot mug of coffee into my hands. “Drink before I have to put you down,” she scolds. “I left a very sexy, very willing man in bed to talk fall exhibition with you. If you’re going to be a grumpy ass, I’ll go right back out that door and spend my morning screwing his brains out.”
    “I’m so glad we’ve reached a point in our relationship where you can be so open,” I mutter, though truthfully, I am.
    She returns my scowl with a smile. “I know. Isn’t it special?”
    I watch her sip from her coffee, her red hair flying in loose and wild curls around her face. In the last two months since she worked out everything with Asher, she’s been happier than I’ve ever seen her. I wouldn’t have thought it was possible, but she’s even more beautiful when she’s happy.
    I’m so fucking glad we’re past those awkward early days after she chose Asher over me. We got there faster than I expected. Not so long ago, I wanted Maggie more than I wanted anything else. Or I thought I did. It’s so obvious we shouldn’t be together. I didn’t want a life with her. I wanted to save her from my screwed up past and save myself from my guilt. There’s a big fucking difference. We would never have worked. I think Maggie understood that, but me? I hold out for the dream. Maybe Cally taught me that.
    “Who’s the girl?”