Page 13 of Ghosted By Texas

It hurt that my boyfriend didn’t even bother with a goodbye to me, let alone a kiss or anything, as he left me there alone at a frat party to follow his brother. Some Valentine’s Day! Our first one together was a disaster and I had less than an hour to find and check on Clea before getting my ass to Austin’s apartment to try to salvage what was left of the night. I knew he’d be mad that things turned out the way they did, but he would have to understand it was beyond my control.

I was a little miffed that Austin let me leave the party alone. That was safety rule 101 for college. Never leave a lone woman unattended to walk across campus to her apartment alone, right? I was just as angry with Clea though. She left me alone at a party, too. At least, where she was concerned, she thought she left me there with the man I’d been dating for months. She, however, broke safety rule 102. Don’t leave a frat party alone with a strange dude while your best friend is left behind to worry about you.

She wasn’t outside in the front yard. I grabbed my phone and dialed her number. No answer. I sent a text, instead.

Becs: Are you okay? I can’t find you anywhere.

No answer.

Dammit. I walked back to our shared apartment where I finally found Clea standing out front with the asshole, Jeff. Their lips were locked in a kiss that proved Clea was having a far better Valentine’s Day than I was. I loved my best friend, but that shit made me angry.

“CLEA!” I yelled, which worked to startle them apart. I think Clea might have bitten him, or he bit her, because she swiped at her lips and frowned as her hand came away tinged with pink.

Then her startled eyes came up to meet mine and I saw the remorse there. “Oh, God! Becs! I’m so sorry.”

“I should hope so. Do you know how worried I was when I couldn’t find you and you didn’t answer your phone?”

“I didn’t even think, since you said Mr. Texas was there,” she started to excuse her actions.

“We never leave parties alone! We never leave the other one. We almost finished out four years with a perfect safety record and you left with some asshole frat-douche you don’t even know. Worse, you left me there to walk home alone.”

“Where was Mr. Texas?”

“You didn’t know where he was before you left either,” I yelled at her. “Maybe he wasn’t there at all.”

“Becs!” My name was a whimpered plea. Part of me felt badly for coming down on her, but truthfully, she put us both in a potentially bad spot by running off with the asshole who gave me creeper vibes.

“I assure you that your friend was fine with me,” the asshole stated.

“I don’t know you from Jack. Plus, who was there to assure me that I’d be safe? If you were any kind of gentleman, you would have made sure her best friend had an escort home, too. At the very least, you should have made sure I knew you were leaving to begin with.”

He chuckled, as if I were an amusement and nothing more. “If we waited around to find you, that blind date of hers might have materialized and ruined things.” Clea blushed when he admitted that. “No offense, Bell, but I play to win and Clea is a prize.”

“Becs,” I corrected. “And this isn’t a goddamn game.”

“They don’t call it the game of love for nothin’.” He countered quickly. I swear to all that is holy, I watched Clea swoon over his answer. There was something truly wrong with my bestie’s dickwad sensors if she was falling for his shit, but I had other things to worry about, like my relationship and the fact that my boyfriend ditched me because Clea left his brother feeling like a rejected asshat.

“It’s not her fault,” I muttered to myself.

“What was that?” Jeff the ass asked.

“Clea, are you good?”

“Yeah, I am. Becs, I’m really sorry about tonight.”

“At least one of us got to enjoy Valentine’s Day, right?”

She cringed, but I couldn’t pull the sarcasm back. My night had been well and truly ruined. There didn’t seem to be a way to salvage any of the night either because I was angry with Austin for being so callous and uncaring where I was concerned. Anything could have happened to me when he left me to go deal with his brother’s hurt feelings. I felt bad for Houston, but dammit, he was a big guy. The chances of him being attacked on his way home were significantly less than mine.

“I have to go,” I told Clea. “I’d appreciate it if you don’t let a total fucking stranger into our apartment while I’m gone.”

Clea’s eyes widened, shocked by my attitude with her, no doubt. “I won’t,” she promised.

“You can come back to my place,” Jeff suggested while leering at her breasts.

Clea missed the leering. “No, I think maybe we should just exchange numbers and go from there. Becs is right, we don’t know each other, but I’d like to change that.”

I didn’t catch his response because I hopped in my car and took off for Austin’s house. It had been nearly an hour, what with the walk home and arguing with dipshit. I was certain my anger with my roommate took up a few good minutes as well.

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