Page 117 of Puppy Love

“W—” Cody stops, no doubt from the lack of a valid response. I can see the ideas flipping through his tiny little brain, trying to settle on the best one. “I had a lot of pent up energy,” he divulges. “You wouldn’t want to deal with that on your medication, would you?”

Another laugh slips through my lips, this one more of a laugh scoff, shocked at the audacity this man has.

“Go to hell.”*

Then, I toss the rest of my drink to the back of my throat, stand up, and escape to the bathroom.

I weave through the thick crowds. I don’t know why so many people have come to Monsey’s the night before Christmas Eve. I guess I can’t say much, though, because clearly, I’m one of them.

It’s almost funny. The last time I was here, I was escaping out of the bathroom. Now, I’m retreating into it, the only place Cody won’t follow me.

I push the heavy door open, the light inside brighter than the lowlights of the bar. It beams onto me, almost like a movie, and while my eyes adjust to the scene inside, my stomach drops.

There, on the floor, Violet is sitting face-to-face with a red-haired woman. The woman’s pale hand cups her face, almost like the way Violet used to cup mine. But if that was the only thing causing my brain to swirl and my knees to go limp, I’d simply leave.

Blood drains from my face as recognition washes over me. And then, I watch as it washes over her. Over them both.

“Shit. Cam—” Violet shoots up, the whites of her eyes growing as she rushes to me. “This isn’t what it looks like. I mean, not that it matters, but this—”

Everything Violet says next just flows in one ear and out the other. I can’t focus on her words right now. All I can focus on is the woman on the floor. It’s unmistakable, the red hair, the pointed chin. The glossy coat layered on her lips. That’s her. That’s the woman Cody cheated on me with.

“Is this…her?” the woman asks. Her voice is tight and sharp, one of her perfectly sculpted thin brows pointed up. My brows furrow, but I can’t stop staring at her.

I don’t know why I hate her. For all I know, she could have been completely innocent. I doubt Cody would have been honest about the fact that he was dating me. But still, something deep in my chest is burning. Maybe it’s because she should have seen the pictures on the wall. Or maybe, it’s something else entirely.

“Fuck,” Violet mutters, but I still can’t look at her. “Mallory, just don’t. Okay?”

Mallory. Like, Mallory, Mallory?

“What do you mean, her?” I ask, staring her down. I don’t know why I feel threatened right now. There’s nothing more this woman can take from me.

Mallory glances up at Violet, then back to me.

“The girl that Violet was talking about. The one she’s seeing.” My brain tries to process the words flowing from her mouth, but it’s struggling to keep up as she continues. “But also, you’re Cody’s—”

The door swings open again, and I don’t have to turn around to know who it is that’s stepped inside. The scent of allspice washes over me, my stomach twisting into an even tighter mass. I should have known he wasn’t above barging into the women’s bathroom. I flip around, Cody standing firmly with his arms crossed over his broad chest.

“Come on, Cam. You can’t hide in here forever; let’s talk this out. I mean, you can come with me to LA.”

I step aside, revealing Mallory on the floor behind me. I watch his face drop again, maybe even more dramatically than it had back at the bar. Violet showed me heaven at Al’s, but this right here, is my personal hell.

Finally, my gaze flicks over to Violet. Every bit of color has drained from her face. I can’t imagine what she must be thinking, how this must look. I scramble to explain, before she can think anything of Cody barging in here like this, saying those things. I don’t know why I care what she thinks about the situation. But I do anyway.

“Violet, he’s not—” But I stop, my heart slipping into the depths of the floor below as my eyes latch onto a pink, glossy smear on her thick lower lip. My breath hitches, and my heart pounds, everything I’ve ever known disappearing to the back of my mind.

It doesn’t matter. I made it clear to Violet what the rules were, and how she broke them. I was straightforward, back at the salon, that nothing I felt for her was beyond comfortability and safety. But for some reason, everything inside of me crumbles.

“You kissed her?”

Violet’s brows drop for a second, almost like she’s confused, but then they shoot up, her sleeve dragging over her lips to wipe away the evidence. I step back, my spine hitting the thick door behind me. Cody and Mallory both look up from whatever conversation they were having, their eyes falling onto me. Violet’s head shakes quickly.

“No, Cam, it wasn’t like that. It—”

I grab the door handle, the brass cold against my palm.

“If this wasn’t over before,” I say sharply, tears pooling in my eyes. “It sure as hell is now.”

thirty-seven

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