Page 57 of Bitter Rival

“Is that why you’re crying? Because I did something nice for you?”

Daisy shrugs one shoulder and averts her head, gnawing on her bottom lip. That poor fucking lip. “I guess I’m just not used to it.”

“Because it’s me? Because I’m normally such an asshole?”

She smiles. “Yeah. Exactly.”

But I don’t think that’s the entire truth.

Daisy has been on her own for a long time and I get the feeling that no one has ever looked out for her.

She turns left and heads down the hallway, waving over her shoulder, and I turn right and head in the opposite direction.

I purposefully chose two bedrooms that were as far apart as possible. As if the extra space between us would make the slightest bit of difference.

When I get into bed, sleep won’t come.

I keep replaying her words. Picturing the tears in her eyes. The way she kept insisting she didn’t need anyone to rescue her.

Beneath her tough exterior and endless quips, Daisy has a vulnerable side.

I want to know why she would ever believe she’s not worth fighting for.

I want to know who hurt her.

But am I really any better?

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Daisy

I’ve just fallen asleep when my ringing phone wakes me.

I fumble for it on the bedside table and hold it in front of my face, squinting at the name flashing across the screen. Finn.

It’s three thirty in the morning in New York, and the fear that it might be an emergency has me swiping my thumb over the screen and answering the call.

“Hey. Are you okay?” I sit up and lean against the bed frame.

“Yeah. Just wanted to hear your voice.”

I’m trying to detect what’s wrong from his tone, but with Finn, it’s never easy to tell. “You called to hear my voice?”

“Mmhmm.” He’s quiet for a moment and I hear him take a drag of whatever he’s smoking. A cigarette, a blunt, or crack for all I know.

I can hear the honking of a taxi horn and a siren in the background, a New York City lullaby. And it dawns on me that I haven’t missed New York at all since I’ve been here.

“I was hanging out with this girl tonight and she was cool, but I just kept thinking that she isn’t you. None of them are.”

One of the pitfalls of still being friends with your ex is that you get to hear about other girls. But I hate when he goes down this road. We’ve been here before and no good has ever come of it.

“Don’t do this to me. You can’t keep doing this to me.”

“I’ve changed, Dais. I’m not that same guy,” he insists. “Things would be different this time.”

How many times have I heard this? And how many times have I fallen for it? Too many.

I laugh in disbelief. “Are you serious? Only a month ago, I had to call an ambulance to take you to the ER.”

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