Torn Between The Carter Brothers

2: Single And Clubbing

Addison

That night, after Marco and Aisha introduced all their friends together— seventeen in total, someone suggested

that we all hit the club to have sfun. They all sat in twos since everyone cwith a date, except me.

“Sounds like a good idea, however, Addi might not wanna come, that’s not her scene. Addi is undoubtedly the

most boring person out of everyone gathered here, and despite trying hard to help improve her social life in the

past, it hasn't improved much.” Marco spoke up from his spot in the middle of the room and I blushed furiously

as everyone turned to stare at me.

“That's in the past, Marco. Clubs are my scene now, and my social life is fine, thank you very much.” | forced

myself to respond and | was glad that my voice was stable this time.

Damn Marco and his dumb jokes!

“Are you sure?” He asked before everyone again and | nodded firmly, refusing to drop my gaze despite feeling

flustered underneath his gaze.

“Club it is then! Everyone, go get ready!” He called out with an enthusiastic clap while everyone went off to get

ready.

| was dressed in a short jumpsuit. It was loose around the hips and comfortable, and | paired it with a

comfortable pair of converse. | realized my mistake when | cout and realized every other girl was dressed in

daring dresses and tall heels.

The only heels | packed was for the wedding ceremony itself!

| didn’t go back to change because | didn’t have anything more flattering to wear to a club. When Marco passed

me, he called my outfit ‘cute’, and I instantly felt mortified.

| want him to seeas attractive, hot or sexy... and not cute.

But | actually wasn’t supposed to want him to seeas anything— since | was supposed to be working on

getting over him.

Ugh.

| rode to the club with one of the couples— Nathan and his cherry girlfriend named Lisa, and they were

surprisingly a very great company... till they brought up my dating history with Marco.

And | spent the rest of the ride feeling annoyed till we arrived at the club.

In the club, I wanted to leave shortly after we got there.

Everywhere was too loud and too tight, and | felt incredibly alone and left out, because everyone had a partner

except me.

The drink that got handed toby one of Marco's friends smells horrible but | knocked it back anyway. As

everyone danced around me, | awkwardly stood around before slipping through the crowd till | was at the back.

Despite being at the back, | watched everyone happily dance with their partners, looking so in love or lust drunk.

Marco and Aisha were rocking each other seductively, their eyes closed and they looked so perfect together as

they swayed. As | watched Marco's hands dragged over Aisha’s waist and stomach to lightly graze over her

boobs, then wrap around her throat, | forced myself to glance away before the lurch of jealousy withinended

up tearing out of my chest.

“Damn, you gonna squeeze the poor red cup to death?” A voice drawled besideand | whirled around, gaping

at the grinning stranger who wagged his brows atas he leaned down to speak against my ear cause it was

loud around us.

“That’s your man? Someone you're pining for? Or someone you once had but lost?” The man drawled and |

stiffened as it felt like | got doused with cold water.

Was that how | looked like to him?

Fuck.

That was a big problem, because to everyone who sees me, I'm supposed to look like I've gotten over him or

never had a thing with him to begin with, and not like | desire him.

| raked my hand through my hair, feeling embarrassed at being so obvious, while | focused on the stranger

again.

“None of that, just here to have fun.” | responded as | made a show of sipping on the horrible alcohol.

The stranger leaned close again, his hand settling over my hip.

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“So... what if we have fun together then?”

I wrinkled my nose as | stared up at him. He didn’t have beautiful, wavy brown hair. He didn’t have eyes that

looked like chocolate chips. He didn't—

My thoughts cto a crash withinon realizing that again, | was comparing this man to Marco.

My throat suddenly felt tight and I felt so dumb and pitiful, especially on glancing over at the dance floor and

catching sight of Marco and Aisha practically making out on the dance floor.

When | glanced over at the stranger, | cleared my throat as | stepped back.

“I'm not interested, sorry.”

Before the stranger could respond, | turned away fast and moved through the crowd, heading for the restroom,

when what | actually wanted to do was to leave completely.

In the restroom, | closely regarded my reflection there, feeling low and unimpressed as usual. | had large eyes, a

small nose and full lips. My hair was black in color, and my skin was very pale. My facial features weren't bad

and | wasn’t ugly, but I guess | still wasn’t good enough for Marco, especially compared to Aisha who looked like

a perfect blonde doll.

Exactly two years ago today, Marco textedapologizing for the past and asking if we could becfriends

again. | didn’t forgive him at first cause he hurtso much by his actions in the past. Surprisingly, he pressed

on and begged so much for weeks till | finally forgave him. Then slowly after that, we becfriends again. |

had stupidly hoped that he wanted to dateagain and wanted to use the ‘friendship’ as a stepping stone. But

that hadn't been the case at all because he was apparently still with Aisha then.

And so far, seeing Marco and his fiancee together wasn’t really helping my feelings much like | had hoped.

Because | had convinced myself that attending this wedding would finally helpmove on from this one side

love I still harbor for him.

Unfortunately, so far, none of this was helping. Instead, | was still very much in love with him.

A dejected sigh left my throat.

| really shouldn’t have cto this wedding.

| was leaving the bathroom when my breath hitched at the sight of Marco waiting right outside.

“Addi?”

My heartbeat accelerated and my brain began to make up different scenarios of him pinningagainst the wall

right now in order to kisspassionately...

The train of thought instantly ended as soon as | noticed the man standing beside him and that was when |

realized he had an arm slung over the dude’s shoulder.

“What do you think of him?” He asked as he grinned down at me, eyes twinkling and | frowned in confusion.

“Huh?”

“For you to mingle with, duh. That's better than you being the only one without a date in our group.”

I sighed as | pushed my hair out of my face, feeling embarrassed to the core.

“Marco, thank you very much, but | have a boyfriend and don’t want to mingle with a stranger.” | mumbled and

the stranger rolled his eyes at me.

“You're not even my type.” He rudely announced before leaving and | bristled with anger as | asked him to go

fuck himself.

“Were you being serious? You really have a boyfriend?” Marco asked, pulling my attention back to himself and

when | nodded, he frowned as he stepped closer, making my heart stutter a little.

“Who is he?”

| folded my arms, wishing we could end this conversation already.

“You don’t know him.” | responded flatly.

“I don’t know why, but | find it hard to believe that you have a boyfriend.” He pointed out slowly and | flushed,

feeling thoroughly insulted and mortified.

“Why? Because you still believe that I'm yet to get over you?” | snapped in irritation and he sighed.

“You know what | mean, Addi. You might still have a little feelings for me, and there’s no shthere.”

A scowl settled on my face. “But | don’t have any feelings whatsoever for you. That's all in the past, why do you

keep bringing that up?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know... You toldyou now love to club, yet tonight you were awkward as hell back in on

the dance floor, and you barely drank. Which means you lied, and what's the odds that you're not lying about

having a boyfriend and completely getting over me?”

My cheeks burned furiously at being called out and | folded my arms and held my head up. “I guess I'm just not

in the mood to party tonight, and I'm here because | want to support your wedding. If | was still in love with you,

| definitely wouldn’t be here right now. Stop being a dummy, Marco.”

| rolled my eyes exaggeratedly as | spoke while waving him off.

He silently regardedfor a moment then his eyes wandered around before focusing on a man at the far end of

the hallway we're currently speaking in.

“I dare you to go kiss that guy.” He dared, eyes gleaming and | frowned at him.

“What? Why would | do that? | have a boyfriend and that’s technically cheating,”

He rolled his eyes. “But it won't hurt your make believe boyfriend. It's just a kiss.”

Having had enough, | grabbed his hand and dragged him outside the club where I glared at him.

“What is your problem?” | demanded and he shrugged as he pocketed his arms.

“I'm just trying to help you move on from me. How is that a bad thing?” He asked and this time, | was too angry

to blush or feel hot all over.

“You're so ridiculous and delusional, Marco. We're now friends. Why the fuck would I still be into you?” |

demanded frustratedly, glaring up at him.

| didn’t notice Aisha coming out till she stepped between us and roughly shoved at my chest till | stumbled.

“Ssocial distance, please.” She snapped as she pressed up against her fiance while glaring at me.

“Please don’t dare entertain any funny thoughts.” She said in a sharp voice and | stiffened, feeling confused and

irritated all over again at the clear implication in her voice.

“What? | was only here warning your boyfriend to stop trying to hookup.” | flatly informed her but she clearly

didn’t believe me, because she didn’t bother to respond and just wordlessly dragged her fiance back into the

club.

As | remained in the sposition, | felt hollow all over. This wasn’t how | imagined this wedding vacation going

at all.

And why was Marco still insisting that | still loved him?

Logically, it made no sense to me, because | try very hard to not appear lovesick around him. Instead of blocking

him when he reached out toyears ago, | responded and agreed to forgive him, because | was still head over

heels for him.

And now, | was starting to regret doing that, and also regretting coming here. | should have listened to everyone

who advisedagainst coming to this wretched wedding.

| turned to head back into the club, because I didn’t even know the way back to the private island even if | had a

car present.

And so | went back into the club, and sat by the bar this time.

As the music blasted around me, | was content to just watch other people dancing while I slowly lost myself to

my thoughts till whenever the couple | rode with decided that they were ready to stop being shameless on the

dance floor and finally leave for the island.

“What's a gorgeous little thing doing all by yourself here? And are you always this gloomy in a club?” A deep

voice drawled from behindand | stiffened in shock before turning around, ready to tell the person off

because | had no zeal for that at the moment

However, my breath caught in my throat as | blinked in surprise, my mouth falling open at the sight of the man

standing right beforeright now.

It was Zane, my fake boyfriend!

| instantly recognized that smirk in all his pictures. Although he looked hot in those, in real life, he looked like a

literal Greek god. His jaw was so sharp and outlined, his nose was perfect, his eyes were a gorgeous blue and his

long hair was black and in a man-bun, which finished up the sinful look.

A glare ended up settling on my face as | looked him up and down one last time.

“You're late.” | stated in an unimpressed tone.

My eyes were drawn to his face again as he began to speak.

Indeed those pictures were not good enough because they didn’t do his face any justice at all.

Who knew he was this... HOT?!

No wonder Gregg, my best friend, called him Mr. Hot pants.

“I had a few things to take care of, and I'm sorry for the delay. But now I'm here, and we can finally get this party

started.” He drawled, deep voice washing overas he spoke. | shivered and swallowed emptily when his eyes

briefly raked over me, then I cleared my throat.

| was about to say something when his hand suddenly clamped on my wrist, makingalmost jump out of my

skin as | glared up at him.

“What the—" | began but he cutoff.

“Is that anyway to welcyour boyfriend?” He crooned in a loud, teasing voice and my mouth fell open as |

blinked at him in confusion.

“Your ex is approaching.” He announced quietly and | instantly stiffened, eyes widening from panic.

“We should act like a couple, quick.” He breathed out fast, lips barely moving and I blinked at him in confusion,

my brain short circuiting.

“Huh?”

What he meant clicked right after and my heartbeat accelerated fast as | rose my feet, blinking up at him as |

awkwardly stepped forward to shorten the distance between us.

From the side of my eyes, | realized that he was right. Marco was indeed coming over, weaving through the

crowd.

This is the part where | was supposed to make it believable that | have a relationship with this man.

As | exhaled slowly, | awkwardly attempted to shake his hand first, before realizing that a handshake would make

our lie very obvious, which promptedto go in for a light hug.

However, large hands settled over my waist, and | was firmly being pulled right into his wide chest, knocking a

startled squeal from my throat, which was mostly drowned out by the music around us.

Before | could recover from the sudden close proximity or get a word out, Zane was leaning down and capturing

my mouth with his.

My eyes widened and my brain short circuited. | couldn't breathe and my knees wobbled, just as Marco’ voice

echoed from my side.

“W- hat the...? The fuck? what's happening?!” He sounded not only bewildered, but shocked and very confused.

This handsdevil still didn’t break the kiss, nor did his hold on my waist loosened. | was forced to let my eyes

fall close from feeling too flustered, then a small tremor glided down my spine as his lips briefly moved over

mine.

When the kiss finally broke, | was gasping for air and staring up at Zane with my cheeks flaming and my heart

racing fast.

Marco's voice pulledto the present and | turned around when he sharply called my name.

Marco had a stoney expression on, as he looked betweenand my fake boyfriend.

“Addison, w- why are you kissing my... brother?” He demanded, sounding lost, confused, and furious, his eyes

filled with shock as he kept looking between us.

My eyes turned into saucers as an immense amount of shock engulfedat once.

“W- what?!”

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