Love Abstract (The Art of Falling Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

design at a luxury hotel off of Times Square. If they can secure it, it would be an incredible addition to his portfolio.
    I’m filing some paperwork in the back office when the smell of cheeseburgers pulls me out into the gallery. My mouth waters and my stomach growls.
    “Oh my god, I could kiss you right now!” I squeal when I spy Phoenix holding a greasy bag from Petey’s Burger in his hand.
    “Good. Get your ass over here and kiss me before we both starve.”
    I sprint toward Phoenix and jump into his arms, planting a passionate kiss on his lips. He tightly wraps his arms around me and deepens the kiss, his tongue skirting mine. I’m starving, but not so much for food right now. He laughs deeply when he pulls his lips away from mine. “I love that you’re not a salad girl.”
    “Life is too short to not eat cheeseburgers.” With my feet finally back on the floor, I pry the bag from his hands and pull out the cheeseburgers. We take a seat on the floor and lean our backs against one of the walls. I eagerly peel back the wrapper and take a huge bite, smiling as the beef practically melts on my tongue.
    “Petey’s is so damn good,” I moan.
    Phoenix laughs. “You better watch out or I’m gonna get jealous over here,” he says with a wink. “I want to be the only guy who makes you moan like that.”
    Oh … I want that too, Phoenix.
    We’re devouring our cheeseburgers, enjoying one another’s presence, when his phone plays the Imperial March from Star Wars . Phoenix blushes and sends the incoming call to voicemail, silencing his phone. “Who was that?”
    Phoenix breaks eye contact and looks apprehensively at the floor. “Hailey,” he deadpans.
    “Oh.”
    That was one name I certainly wasn’t expecting to hear. A fitting ringtone — the perfect mixture of death and evil. My stomach flops as I remember the horrible feeling that washed over me when I saw Phoenix with his arm around her at the welcome party at the Signature Room before Gen’s wedding. It’s just as nauseating now as it was then.
    “I didn’t realize that you guys still talked.” I hate that my voice sounds so feeble and pathetic.
    “We don’t, actually.” He stops eating and fidgets with his cheeseburger wrapper nervously. “But she won’t stop calling. This has to be the tenth time this week.”
    Tenth time?
    While I appreciate his honesty, part of me would rather not know she has been calling him, let alone calling him obsessively. I don’t like the thought of any girl calling him, period. I don’t want to be that girlfriend, but nothing good can come from this. However, I do know from personal experience that there are only two ways to get someone to stop calling you.
    One, you block the number.
    Or two, you deal with it head-on, answer the damn phone and find out what the hell it is they want.
    “Don’t you think you should at least answer? If she’s been trying to get a hold of you, it must be something important. What harm is there in asking what she wants?” I take another bite of my cheeseburger, but it no longer sits well in my stomach.
    “I wouldn’t say there isn’t any harm. Hailey has a history of starting unnecessary drama. Forcing her way into situations and stirring shit up. And I don’t want to invite that into our life.”
    The way he says our makes my insides melt, but I can’t shake the feeling that there’s more than what he’s telling me. I thought for sure we’d be leaving all of the past bullshit in Chicago where it belongs. But that’s the thing about bullshit. It will hunt you down and slowly erode your sense of security.
    “All right. Well, she is your friend.”
    “Was,” he clips sharply. “She’s certainly no friend of mine now.”
    “What the heck happened with you two?”
    Phoenix diverts his eyes toward the floor, grinds his jaw and simply shakes his head, either unable or unwilling to tell me about their history.
    “Whatever she is—or was —I know you’ll make the right