Secrets of Us A Forbidden Love Romance (Alina)

Chapter 174

I Need Them

I need to get out of the house.

The walls of my room have been starting to suffocate me and my head hurts from all the crying. Everything is closing in and I know I'm letting my thoughts go just a little too

crazy.

I can't sort through them.

I make up my mind to go bother Nikki. She'll listen without judging me and I think I need her overpowering personality right about now.

I text her before I even put my shoes on.

A: Coming over. Need some Nikki therapy.

Her response is immediate.

N: Door's open. I'll be waiting. <3

By the time I get to her house, she's already in the kitchen, digging through the cabinets. She barely glances at me as she pulls out an old bottle of vodka, shaking it for emphasis.

"Something tells me we're going to need this. Wait, you're not pregnant, right? You've been ignoring my messages."

I roll my eyes. "You mean the ones were you just send me the pregnant emoji with a question mark?"

She shrugs. "I didn't think I needed to spell it out for you."

I drop onto a stool at the kitchen island, exhaling sharply. “I'm not pregnant.”

Nikki freezes, then slowly turns to face me. Her lips part like she wants to say something, but then she just sighs, a deep sigh of relief: "Holy shit."

I let out a breath of my own as she twists the cap off the bottle and pours two shots. She slides one toward me before raising hers.

"To not being pregnant."

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I Need Them

pregnant," I echo,

burns its way down, but I barely feel it. My mind

before Nikki is studying

that's not all

shot glass, running my finger around

shoot up. "Of course

like a freight train. How I don't know what to do with it, how it's all messed up because of everything he's done right and everything he's done wrong. The

time I finish,

she breathes,

press my lips

"I'm so sorry."

let out a steady stream of air and

long gulp

her head. "You love

from the burn down my throat. I fucking hate vodka.

fills the room, and she plays with the glass in

at me. "Do you love

aching in my chest at the

lips. "I think that

I love Zaid, but Jake and Aiden

losing them would

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I Need Them

my thoughts, taking a sip

be like losing my

it the alcohol making

lot, girl. How do you think they would

shrug. "Do I have

"Don't you want

love them all. Ziad is just different. He sees me when I feel like no one else does. And it infuriates me that he finds it so easy to just brush me off sometimes. Is it possible for someone to love you and then treat you like they don't

the same time?"

grimaces. "I

groan, dropping my head onto the

three guys. You need to talk