Page 22 of Ghosted By Texas

“I sat there, with my fucking heart breaking, for fifteen minutes before I could get myself together well enough to drive home that night. Not once, in all that time, did you get up and escort her out, or even throw a fucking blanket at her. You also didn’t bother to call and warn me that she showed up, or what I might see when I got there. So, I did what I was supposed to do, and assumed I was meant to see her parading around naked in front of your living room windows while you sat back and eagerly watched.”

“There was no show. You weren’t meant to see anything because she should have never been there that night.”

“Oh, was she scheduled for the following night?”

“No, that’s not what I meant.”

“Sure, whatever.” I laughed at him. “It’s funny, because Jordan had no problem telling me all about how you spent Valentine’s night together, how you believed the bullshit lies she told you about me that night, and how you didn’t even miss me because she’d kept you too busy fucking her to even think of me.”

“What the fuck?” He roared into the cab of the truck. “When exactly did she tell you all that?”

“About two weeks after I stopped hearing from you. It was during that first warm day just before March.” I rolled my eyes to emphasize how fucking cliché it had all been before launching into the details.

“I was sitting on the lawn at school, soaking up the sun, hoping to feel warmth again. She plopped down and told me all about how the two had been together since that night. Your girlfriend also took great pride in explaining how you took her word about some off-the-fucking-wall revenge scheme that I supposedly perpetrated and that you never even cared to hear my side of things. I do believe she hit the nail on the head there.” I shook my head at him, disgusted all over again.

“Wasn’t that my one steadfast rule for agreeing to a second chance with you? You were supposed to ask me, and not just believe any bullshit she spouted to you, like she did to all your other relationship attempts? Well, there was that rule, plus the one where you weren’t supposed to be fucking your best friend behind my back. I watched you breaking one of those rules and she told me all about the other.

I flicked the lock button on my side because childproof locks only existed in the back seat and then I slid out of his truck and headed to my apartment. It was sad that I didn’t live in a place where I could leave my door unlocked while I was away. It was frustrating to try to unlock a door while my hands shook with anger, heartbreak, and whatever other emotions had been pushed to the forefront thanks to the night from hell. Never again. I would never again leave home on the dreaded V-Day. It was the absolute worst.

“Stop,” Austin ordered as he placed his hand over mine and took the keys from me. It didn’t take long for him to get the door unlocked. He ushered us inside and then leaned back against the door while he locked the thing, as if he was afraid that I would push him out. He was right to think that.

“We need to talk this out.”

“No. The time to talk this out was six years ago, when you were too busy being entertained by mostly naked Jordan. You took the time, that was meant for us to talk things out, to listen to your other girlfriend weave some story about me while she stood in front of you in her underwear. That was more important than checking to see if I even got home safely. You remember, right?” I asked. “The Valentine’s Day frat party, where everyone left me stranded to walk by myself across campus back to the apartment I shared with my best friend.”

His eyes closed and his head dropped. It must not have occurred to him before that they all basically abandoned me that night. My boyfriend and my best friend both.

“You said you were late because you were yelling at Clea,” he muttered and shook his head. “Dammit, Becs. I wasn’t thinking clearly that night. We didn’t meet you at the door because Dallas caused fucking chaos before the two of you showed up.”

“Well, bully for him. He caused chaos after we showed up, too. Unfortunately for me, I took the blame for the crap he caused.”

“I know, and for what it’s worth, I’m sorry. The first time I realized that Dallas was even involved with what happened to push your friend into someone else’s arms was when I heard you and Clea talking in her office.”

“Funny thing, if you’d ever bothered to come ask me what happened, I could have told you all that six damn years ago.”

“Would you have spoken to me after seeing Jordan at my place like that?”

“That’s the difference between you and me. I would have listened to you. That doesn’t mean you would have liked the outcome because even if you had come to me that night, or the next day, the same question would have plagued me. Why didn’t you kick her out immediately, especially when you thought I was on my way there?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. She kept talking and I listened while I waited. Part of me thought I didn’t have anything to hide, since I hadn’t arranged for her to be there, and that if you showed up, you would see it for the desperate act it was on her part.”

“The problem with that theory is that I would also see that you would allow her to get away with doing it.”

“I didn’t do anything with her.”

“So, it would have been okay for me to have some dude over at my house, a real version of Clarence for example, and have him stripped down to his boxer briefs where everything was on display including most of his package because the boxer briefs were lace and mostly opaque? You would have been okay showing up to my place and seeing him there like that, knowing I was apparently enjoying the view enough that I never once asked him to cover up, put clothes on, or gee, I don’t know, maybe get the fuck out of my house with that disrespectful shit?”

“You were late,”

“So that was an excuse to ogle your supposedly ex-fuck buddy?”

“No. Would you let me get this out?” The animalistic growl that came after his question did more to shut me up than his demand did. It was clear the man was frustrated. “You were late, didn’t call, and yeah, I was angry because shit didn’t go well for my brother. It felt like my fault that his night became a disaster.”

“No, that’s not right. You felt like it was my fault,” I interjected. “You blamed me long before you even left that party.”

“Partly, but it was mine for listening to your hairbrained scheme to hook my brother up with your best friend.” I nodded but didn’t say anything because I already figured that was the case long ago.

“Jordan must have been at the party. She claimed to have been there with my sister, Victoria. They supposedly heard you and your friend talking about how you were going to get back at me and show me what humiliation felt like.”

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