Page 16 of Ghosted By Texas

“It’s good to know we’re in the clear with your rabies test, but um, maybe your friend should go have it done too?” He pointed his thumb in my general direction. As if.

“What?” I growled while standing up because staying seated while angry was impossible. Then I said the first thing that came to mind. The one thing that I’d wanted to say to the man since I rolled up to his house and watched him entertain his mostly naked fuck buddy. “Fuck you, Austin!” Movement out of the corner of my eye drew my attention back to my best friend, whose office we were all standing in and embarrassment swamped me. Shit. The asshole was here on business, and I might have just screwed that up for her.

“I’m sorry, Clea. I didn’t…” My face burned with a mixture of fury and mortification.

“Becs, can you leave us so that we can get down to business and we’ll talk later?”

“Sure. Yeah.” I backed away from them, afraid to turn around and let him out of my sight for some reason. It was official. I was crazy. “Sorry,” I mouthed to Clea before finally turning tail and running away, like I should have done before I ever opened my stupid, traitorous mouth. Hopefully, he wouldn’t hold my shit against Clea, and she wouldn’t lose out on much-needed business because of me.

Despite making an ass out of myself, I couldn’t make myself leave Clea’s building. It was like my brain stopped firing on all its cylinders or something. Why in the hell couldn’t I get my damn legs to work? I made it as far as the bathroom in the hallway and then stayed there until I heard Clea’s secretary call out her goodbyes to the man who I’d been hiding from.

I needed to know what he was there for and how much interaction my best friend might have with my asshole ex. Truthfully, I wanted to tell her that she couldn’t take his business. That would be wildly inappropriate of me though. Instead, I made my way back to Clea’s office so I could at least get a few answers.

“What did that asshole want?”

“He wanted me to supply a party full of models and locals for an image rebuild at the bar he and his brothers purchased.”

The Mercer brothers went into the bar business? I wondered how long it would take for Clea to finish her part of the job and move on from dealing with them – with him in specific.

“What happened with him anyway? You never did say.”

“I didn’t want you to think it was your fault,” I waved my hand at her as if to sweep it all under the proverbial rug where she wouldn’t ask any questions.

“Um, no, we’re not doing that.” Clea stared at me and when I didn’t speak, she tacked on, “You really need to tell me now.”

“Your blind date was supposed to be his brother.”

“The party where I met the asshole? The whole reason I hate Cupid!”

I laughed at her apt description. “You loved Cupid for years for that accidental fixup,” I reminded her.

“Well, I was stupid.” I laughed again, because I’d told her exactly that numerous times until she drew a line in the sand of our friendship and told me I had to stop accusing Jeff of things I couldn’t prove.

“So, that guy who just walked out of my office was your boyfriend-”

I cut her off. “Friends with benefits is more like it.” My eyes itched with the need to cry. I thought we had been more than that. If you were truly dating someone, with all the boyfriend/girlfriend labels, you were supposed to at least respect them enough to tell them when you’re over, not just move on in front of a window where you know they’ll see to spite them. All this time, I’d referred to Jordan as his fuck buddy, but that should have been my title all along. She had more of his heart than I ever had.

“Okay, well I remember you wanting to be more than just that with him. He dumped you because I never met up with his brother at that party?” Clea asked.

“Saying that he dumped me would be putting it mildly.” Clea stared, sort of horror-stricken at me. I wondered if she could see the heartbreak. It felt like the whole world should be able to see the devastation that still seeped out of my pores. “He completely ghosted me,” I admitted, feeling utterly defeated all over again.

“I haven’t talked to him since that night. When he saw you with someone else, he was angry, said that I’d promised not to screw his brother over if I set shit up because he wasn’t in a healthy enough place to take it well.” I shrugged my shoulders as I thought back to that time.

“As if his brother’s mental health was my responsibility or that I could control you, that dumbass diaper-wearing Cupid, or anything else that happened that night.” I certainly had zero control over Jordan or the fact that she was at his place, strutting around in her underwear that night.

“Becs, I’m so sorry. You were so excited about your Texas guy.”

“Nope!” I halted Clea’s progress with her apology. “You’re not putting his bullshit on your shoulders. He thought I was responsible and ghosted me for it. That’s on him and no one else. As far as I see it, he did me a favor, since his response was to bail and ghost me for things I couldn’t control. Imagine if he’d gotten me pregnant and did that? Good riddance,” I added at the end as I swiped my hands back and forth together, as if ridding them of unwanted dust. If only it had been that easy to rid myself of him and all my memories of our time together.

“Sorry,” I heard that all-too-familiar voice mumble from near the door. “I think my phone slipped out of my pocket.”

I stood, glanced down and found the phone that had been stuffed into the crack of the chair, next to where my thigh had been when I was seated. I wanted to pick the damn thing up and throw it at the man, accuse him of not knowing how to use the damn thing anyway, but I didn’t. Instead, I moved to stand by the wall of windows that lined one side of Clea’s office. It was the best I could do to keep myself in check.

I knew it was rude, that I hadn’t just handed the man his phone, considering I’d been sitting on the damn thing. My emotions were too heightened to face him, or my best friend for that matter. The itching in my eyes from earlier turned into burning dampness as tears threatened to spill free.

“Thanks,” I barely registered his one-word response. I didn’t know if it was because he found the phone, something Clea said, or the fact that I moved so far away that he was thankful for.

I took in a deep breath and willed the tears to wait until I got back to the privacy of my own home. “You okay?” Clea whispered in my ear before wrapping my body in her arms.

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