Page 23 of Pulled Away

“Put your foot down. Make it clear it’s your house, not hers. Put some boundaries in place.”

I shrug helplessly. “How can I? I might live there, but it’s Ryan’s house, and if he’s fine with it, I don’t have the right.”

“That’s bullshit. It’s your house too.”

“Is it really?”

“Come on, Aspen. This isn’t you. You’re not a pushover.”

Rose’s harsh words have my spine stiffening. Normally, I would agree with her, but it’s not that straightforward.

“So what am I supposed to say? ‘Hey, sorry about your dad, but please fuck off?’ How would that make me look?”

“Like someone that’s not naïve. Like someone who’s not afraid to put her foot down when something isn’t right. I’ve known Hadley for as long as Ryan’s known her, and I can tell you she’s playing a game. And at the moment, you’re allowing her to win.”

Hadley’s in the kitchen wiping down the counter when I get home, and seeing her kill all the effort Rose and Maya put into cheering me up.

“Where’s Ryan?” I ask, folding my arms and taking her in. She’s still in her swimsuit, her boobs prominently displayed, but at least she’s wearing a cover-up around her bottom half. Small mercies, I suppose. Her hair is out of the bun she had it in earlier, each tousled strand framing her face perfectly. Right down to her flushed fucking cheekbones. Is it flushed from the hot tub, the wine, or something else?

“Shower,” she says, a soft, secretive smile on her face.

My blood boiling, I turn, needing to get away from her. I’m afraid I’ll do or say something I can’t take back if I don’t.

“That was so childish, you know, storming out like that. It’s just a dog,” she says, soft enough that her voice doesn’t carry.

Her words are so alien to me that I stop and stare at her in disbelief. “What did you say?”

And this time, I’m not holding back. I let all the dislike I feel for her show on my face.

“I said, it’s just a dog. Ryan told me what happened at work. It’s not the end of the world.”

She might be beautiful on the outside, but inside she’s rotten. To her core. How can Ryan be friends with such an ugly person?

“You know what? I have tried with you, but it’s become blindingly clear that I’m wasting my time.”

She smiles, and this time it’s not pretty or soft. “Took you long enough.”

I’m shaking in anger when I get to our room. Ryan’s in sweatpants, busy pulling a shirt over his head.

“How is it that you feel it’s okay to talk to her about my day, yet I’m not allowed to ask about hers?”

He rights his shirt, regarding me with an impassive face. “No, ‘Hello Ryan, I’m back. Sorry for what happened earlier.’ You just launch right into it, huh?”

I clench my teeth at his sarcasm. And that he’s expecting me to apologize. “Just answer my question.”

“I’ll answer yours if you answer mine. How is it okay for you to run away when we’re having an argument?”

“So, what? Discussing me with her is some form of payback?”

He sighs. “No, but what was I supposed to tell her when you left?”

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Our business has nothing to do with her.”

He chooses to ignore that, instead asking, “Where were you?”

“Does it matter? Looks like you had fun without me.”

“Of course it fucking matters,” he explodes. “This isn’t what we do! We have a problem, we talk it out. We don’t go running off to who knows where.”

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