Distractions (The Rebound Series) (16 page)

Not looking up at Christie, she quietly said, “I need to leave.”

Her throat was tightening.
 
It was only a matter of time before the floodgates opened.

Christie noticed her tone and, always the good friend, stopped a passing waiter and said, “I’m sorry, but something came up and we have to go.
 
You can give someone else our table.”

They hadn’t ordered anything yet, so they were free to go.
 
Olivia rushed out of the restaurant quickly, even though Christie hadn’t even tugged her coat on yet.
 
And by the time Christie found her outside, Olivia already had tears in her eyes, her breaths coming out in harsh pants.

“Oh, sweetie,” Christie murmured, leading her to her car parked a few steps away from the restaurant.
 
But Olivia didn’t make it that far.
 
Hot tears rolled down her face, but Christie caught her in an embrace before she could turn away and hide.

In her friend’s arms, Olivia couldn’t hold back her pain any longer.
 
She let out a rough sob against Christie’s shoulder and murmured, “He didn’t come, he didn’t come,” over and over again.

Everything from the past week caught up with her.
 
The fight, the creepy text message, the creepy subsequent text messages that followed, and now this.

She cried hard, soaking Christie’s coat.
 
She cried harder than she had in a really long time.
 
Even harder than when Miles told her he’d been cheating on her.

She was already halfway in love with Alex.
 
She’d laid out her heart in front of him, offering it to him…and he didn’t want it.

She never wanted to cry because of Alex Matlock again.
 
He made her feel too much, made her too vulnerable.

But here she was, sobbing uncontrollably on her best friend in the middle of the sidewalk on a cold, Autumn night.

And right then, she vowed that Alex Matlock would never make her hurt this much ever again.

End of Book Two

The final installment of The Rebound Series will be released in February 2014…

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About the Author

Emilia Winters has been reading and writing stories since childhood.
 
She discovered her passion for writing romance early on and never looked back.
 
After graduating from the University of California, Irvine with a B.A. in English, she happily pursued her dream of becoming a self-published author.
 
When she’s not dreaming up sizzling moments between her characters, she’s either watching old reruns of
The Golden Girls
or drinking tea. She currently lives in California, secretly hoping for rain as she soaks up the sun.
 
Visit her at
www.emiliawinters.com
.