Page 12 of Cruel Alpha Bully

“Good, thanks. And you?” I keep my tone light and noncommittal. I don’t really want to get drawn into a long conversation with her.

“Oh, good,” she replies, running a hand through her long, thick blond hair. Back in high school, she was a bit of a geek, kind of like I was. It’s why we were best friends. She’s transformed into a tall, slender beauty with perfect makeup and killer style.

I don’t need this. Especially today.

“That’s good,” I answer, not elaborating. Jill keeps smiling as if everything is okay and there isn’t this horrible rift between us.

A rift that you caused, I say to her in my head. You scarred me for life!

“So, how is Bae?” she asks. Her smile stays warm and friendly, and she looks casual and relaxed, but there’s a hard glint in her eye I don’t like.

“He’s fine,” I say, letting a hard tone creep into my voice. I know I’ve got to get out of here, or I might start crying. I can’t stop thinking about how much she hurt me. It was so obviously deliberate, even cruel. We were best friends!

“Well, I just thought I’d check in, you know. He was pretty upset at the reception.”

I narrow my eyes at her, my lips wrapped around the straw of the milkshake. I don’t want to respond to that.

What is she implying?

There is a moment of awkward silence, and Jill’s smile falters a little. I see that mean look in her eyes again.

“So, what did you get up to when you left town? You went to Denver, didn’t you?”

Now I can feel myself getting annoyed as well as upset. I’m not sure if she’s deliberately trying to trigger me, but I’m not sticking around to find out. I finish my chocolate shake with a loud gurgle as the straw spins around the bottom of the cup.

“I have to go, Jill. I’ve got somewhere to be.”

“Oh, of course. Don’t let me keep you!” She says it with that same false enthusiasm, and I turn my back on her and stride away before she can say anything else. I hurl my trash into a nearby bin with much more force than necessary and head for the next street, which has a long line of shops.

My mood has darkened now, and there’s no help for it. Even though a few of the shops have positions available, no one wants to interview me. While waiting for a cab, I check my email and find most of the shops I went into this morning have rejected my offer after reading my resume.

I’m dangerously fragile on my way home, and I don’t know if I want to scream or cry. I’m looking forward to some time by myself to process, maybe take a hot bath and try to relax. When I see Bae’s car in the driveway, my guts twist as anxiety hits me.

Just what I need.

I pay the driver and head inside, taking a deep breath before I open the door.

“Where the hell have you been?” Bae demands, striding towards me. “Do you have any idea how worried I was when I got back here, and I couldn’t find you?”

“Calm down, Bailey,” I snap at him. “I just went out job hunting.”

He stops and stares at me while I take off my jacket and scarf as if he can’t believe what I just said.

“No,” he says softly but firmly. “Just no.”

“Excuse me?” I can feel my voice getting high, but I don’t care. I turn towards him, putting my hands on my hips. “Are you telling me I can’t look for a job?”

“That’s exactly what I’m telling you,” he growls quietly. He takes a step closer to me and folds his arms across his chest. I stand up as tall as I can, looking up into his pale brown eyes.

“No,” I answer.

“What?” he mutters.

“You don’t get to tell me no!” I cry. “I’m fully entitled to work if I want to. I can’t believe we are even having this conversation!”

“It’s my job to provide for you!” Bae exclaims, throwing his hands up in the air. “What the hell are you even thinking?”

Without realizing it, we’ve gotten closer and closer to each other to the point our noses are almost touching. I’m furious that he could even think about telling me what to do, but when I notice how close we are, the fire in me turns into something else.

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