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Chapter one

Samantha

"Are you going to come to my bachelorette party?" my friend Janae whines through the phone.

"Is Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named going to be there?" I mumble, but I already know the answer. Where else would he be? Considering my ex is the groom’s best friend and probably even the best man, it's a ridiculous question to ask. O f course he's going to be there.

"You know he is," Janae whispers softly, confirming my thoughts.

"I know. I'm don't know why I asked. Maybe I should skip this one," I say, somewhat jokingly. Somewhat because if Janae would give me an out, I would definitely take it. Unfortunately for me though, Janae thinks nothing I just said is funny.

"Samantha Rose Robinson!” Janae shouts. “You will not miss my bachelorette party. I need my best friend there!" Hearing her yell my full name makes me wince. She's right.

"Sorry. Sorry. I'll be there," I say in surrender; besides I could never miss it. I would regret it, and the one thing I don't do in life is regrets. Well, I can think of one thing, but whatever, I don't want to go there right now.

"Are you going to be okay? I know that I just said I want you to be there, but if it's too much, I can figure something else out. We don't have to have a joint party." I can hear the hint of concern in her voice.

"I'll be fine," I tell her. There is no way I'm going to let her change any of her plans or let her know exactly how much being around him hurts, especially after how she reacted earlier. She thinks that it was just a booty call and my pride is hurting. Not the extent of how much I cared for him.

If she did, she would let me off the hook or take it upon herself to try to get Shane to uninvite Kade.

All that would do is have her feel guilty and there is nothing for her to feel guilty about.

I'm just going to have to pull my big girl panties up.

I wave her off trying to sound aloof. "I'm just going to pretend like he's not there. "

"That sounds like a plan. Besides I'll help you find a man," she says in a conspiratory tone.

"I don't need you to find me a man. I'm taking a break from them," I reply matter-of-factly.

"What, why?"

"Because men are just drama," I tell her.

"Sam, you haven't really been out since you and Kade broke up and that was a year ago. Don't you think that's long enough?" she huffs out.

"We didn't break up,” I remind her. “You can't break something up that was never there. We were just fuck buddies."

"You can deny it all you want, but I know that you liked him more than that," she softly says.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore," I demand. Because she's right.

Kade Humphrey was the handsome football player that seemed so out of my league.

He started off as someone to have fun with, nothing serious, just passing the time.

But as things progressed, I started to have feelings for him.

And though we’d never labeled it that way, I thought we were exclusive, or at least that's what I’d assumed.

But you know the saying, "When you assume, you make an ass out of you and me. "

He had come into the casino I worked at with a group of people on a night he didn't think I would be there. We’d shared our schedules with each other, but that night, I had picked up a shift last minute.

Since I was putting myself through college, I would take any opportunity to make a little more money.

I spent that night trying to ignore him and the group he was with.

Unfortunately for me, it all came to an end when one of the waitresses had asked me to grab the drink orders from the table sitting next to Kade's while she used the restroom.

It was as if I had a premonition, a shiver running down my spine, while taking their order.

A sign that something bad was about to happen.

And it did. Turning away from the table, my stomach dropped when Kade came into view.

He was sitting in a booth with a random woman straddling him, his hands cupping her ass while her lips were on his, her hands roaming all over his body.

My stomach had lurched at the sight as disgust filled me. Not being able to handle the view any longer, I ran straight to the bathroom as quickly as I could without causing too much of a scene. The moment the toilet had come into view, I’d begun to heave into it, tears streaking down my cheeks.

"How could I be so stupid," I’d muttered under my breath.

I allowed myself only a few minutes of pity.

Once that was done, I stood up, walked over to the sink, and cleaned myself up.

Once I had myself together, I’d rubbed my hands down the front of my dress, hoping it didn’t look as crumpled as I felt, and left the bathroom determined to forget everything about Kade Humphrey.

I was here for a job, and I was going to finish it.

After that shift, I had stopped calling him or responding to his texts.

There was no way I was going to continue anything with him, nor did I want to see him.

I’d been humiliated enough. For the most part, I've been able to.

..except when it comes to our friends getting married.

The only good thing that came out of the stupid interaction between Kade and I—which I refuse to call a relationship—is that our friends found true love through us.

"You know you never told me what happened," Janae says quietly.

She’s right, I just told her that I had gotten bored. She saw right through it, but thankfully didn't push me. There is no way I want anyone to know how stupid I was, or that I had picked the wrong man again .

"There's nothing to tell. It just fizzled out.

We had our fun and that was it." I reply, repeating the same thing I had told her when it happened, trying to keep my voice as calm as possible.

Even though Janae was my ride or die, my best friend, I couldn't tell her how much he’d hurt me.

She would get so mad and might confront him.

It would make it awkward for her and her fiancé, Shane. I didn't want that.

There is some commotion from her end of the line. "I have to go. A few customers have come into the florist shop. I'll pick you up at five, then we'll head to the hotel room."

Relief washes over me when she says she has to go, because I didn't want to talk about Kade anymore. I only want to focus on finishing school and work. I've sworn off men.

"Sounds good. I'll be ready."

"Love you, Sam."

"Love you, Jay," I say as I hit end on my phone.

Taking a deep breath, I lay my head down on the open books in front of me.

I don't want to face him, but tonight I need to gather all my strength and secure the walls around my heart.

Janae is my best friend, and I would do anything for her, even if that means facing my worst nightmare—the man who broke my heart.

I have two more hours left before Janae is on her way to pick me up for the joint bachelorette party. Picking my head up, I look down at the text for my biology class—it’s the last class I have before graduation. I finish reading the chapter I was on.