Riley Carter's always been a studious person, studying at one of the best universities in the area with great friends to match. She's popular and gets some of the highest grades in her exams, but when her bad-boy boyfriend cheats on her, she finds h...
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@James_V: Date night with my sweetheart❤ Or first date for our exes?🤷🏽♂️ Whatever happens tonight, I love you bubs😘 @Riley..Carter💫
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"Are you sure I look okay?" Riley asks, leaving the en-suite bathroom and stepping into the bedroom to look at me. She was wearing the same top I'd taken a picture of her in five minutes ago but now wore a matching asymmetrical mini skirt with it instead of the trousers.
I smirk at her a little from where I was flopped across the bed and watch as she bites her lip. Flopping the magazine I was holding in my hands aside, I get up off the bed and walk up closer to her before eventually reaching her and placing my hands on either side of her waist, rubbing her sides softly which causes her to slowly let go of her lower lip. "You look beautiful," I whisper to her before pressing a gentle kiss to her lips. Pulling back, I smile at her and stroke my thumb over her cheek. "You always do."
She blushes and then leans in to kiss me once more before pulling away for good. However, just as I expect her to walk away from me to grab her purse, lip-stick and phone, she shakes her head and then grabs a hold of my hand before I can turn around. "James?" she asks and I look down at her, nodding my head to let her know I was listening. "If Aiden doesn't like Madelyn," she begins to say, instantly worrying me. "What are we going to do? I told him that if, for whatever reason, he didn't like Madelyn then I'd be his again . . ."
"Riley," I sigh, moving my hands back to her waist and holding her close to me. "If that happens, we just have to play smarter than him. Take the situation to court, report him to the police or something," I tell her but she bites her lip once again whilst shaking her head.
"I- I can't do that," she mumbles, making me look at her confusedly. She sighs and then moves my hands off of her waist before walking back over to the bed and taking a seat down. That's when she begins to fidget with her fingers as she looks down at her lap so I follow suit and sit myself down beside her before placing my hand on her thigh and giving it a subtle squeeze. I was about to ask her to talk to me but she begins to do so without needing me to tell her to.
"My mom," she whispers to herself, placing her hand on top of mine. "My mom always told me that no matter what happens, no matter what someone does to me, even if it's the cruelest act in the universe, she used to tell me that I should always love the people I hate. She said that they've made me stronger, shaped me into who I am. The first time she told me that was when I was getting bullied when I was seven. I had pigtails like a right little nugget," she chuckles, making me laugh lightly as I listened to her. "These three girls had pushed me over on the school playground and I came home with a graze. Mom sat me down on her lap as she replaced my plaster and I told her that I hated those three girls. She told me that I shouldn't hate them. That I should love them."
Looking up at me, she takes a deep breath before shaking her head and closing her eyes for a moment then reopening them. "I need to take my mother's advice, James. As much as I hate Aiden, I can't get revenge. If he gets a restraining order or goes to prison or jail or gets any kind of criminal record, it won't do anything for me. What's the point in making someone's life a living hell if it's not going to give me any satisfaction or sensation whatsoever?" she says and I sigh. I place my other hand on top of hers so that her palm was wedged between my two and then I shuffle up closer to her.
"I don't want you getting hurt, Ri," I whisper to her. "You can't go back to him. And Madelyn doesn't deserve a wastebag like him either."
She looks up at me, still biting her lip before she repeats my actions and places her free hand above mine. "If he has it in him to fall in love with Madelyn, I'll leave it alone. I'll leave his life in his hands so long as he doesn't hurt her," she tells me before pausing. "But if not, then I'll report him. I'll take it a step further, okay?" she says and I smile down at her whilst nodding.
"Okay," I whisper, making her smile in return. "Now hug? Please?" I say, making her playfully roll her eyes before she cuddles into my side and wraps her arms around me whilst I do the same to her. "I'll be right beside you the entire night, Riles," I tell her. "He won't hurt you."
"We'll have to hope so, won't we," she chuckles but when she pulls back and looks at me, it doesn't take long for me to see how worried she really was deep inside. She just has to trust me in this. She has to trust me like I trust her, then everything will be great.
"Come on, we should really get going, Jay," she tells me, standing up and grabbing her purse, leather jacket and phone. She checks her phone for a second before clicking onto a few things her thumb tapping against the screen. Her eyes glide across the device as she was clearly reading something and then she looks up at me and smiles, rolling her eyes. "You're such a cutie sometimes, you know," she laughs. "I love you, bubs? That's a new one."
"You love it," I say teasingly, making her laugh as I approach her and kiss her cheek before wrapping my arm around her shoulders as we leave the hotel room to make our way towards the restaurant below where our exes were already waiting for us. . .
