Page 23 of Ghosted By Texas

“I already know this,” I explained because I didn’t feel like rehashing the lies that Jordan had told him. The fact remained that he sucked them up like Gospel and believed the shit she dished out to him without ever speaking to me.

“Yeah, well, the believable part was when you never showed up to my place, called, or even texted me. That was something she claimed to overhear that night. You planned to ghost me.”

“So, you decided to listen to her and ghost me instead?”

“You never showed up!” He yelled!

“I told you that I did! Why in the hell would I go into that house after seeing her parading around in nothing but skimpy lingerie while you looked for all the world like you were enjoying the show. Fifteen minutes I sat right outside your house, Austin. You must have noticed my headlights when I pulled up, and maybe even when I took off again, because I had to back up a bit that night before I could pull out.”

He shook his head. “I never noticed headlights that night.”

“No, I guess not, since your fuck buddy was busy shoving her own headlights in your face.”

I laughed then and turned my back to him to keep the asshole from seeing the way my eyes had grown wet again. Damn the never-ending hellscape night!

“You expected me to call or text after you sent me to walk home alone at night, didn’t check on me, and when I did show up to your house, you had the woman who caused problems for us before standing in front of you in her bra and panties. Would you have called or texted if the rolls were reversed?”

“Would you have called or texted if Clea told you she overheard that conversation and then I didn’t show or call or anything?”

“Yes! I would have because we promised each other that we would not believe random shit from previous jealousy-motivated fuck buddies without speaking to one another first!” He was quiet for a minute, and I turned to face him again.

“Let me ask you a question, Austin.” He nodded, so I launched into it. “I didn’t see Jordan’s car outside, so I assume she got a ride to your place. Probably so that she could put on that show in front of the window for me, or possibly so I would come catch the two of you in the act.”

“Your question?”

“Did you make sure Jordan got home safely from your house?”

He appeared stunned by the question for a few minutes before he finally nodded. “After Houston got up and found her sleeping on the couch, he told me I needed to get her out of there and make sure to get the key back that we didn’t realize she still had.”

“So, she slept there?”

“Yes, she fell asleep on the couch while I sat up waiting for you to call or show up and prove her wrong.”

“It’s funny how I was the bad guy who had to prove your girlfriend wrong.”

“You were my girlfriend.”

“It didn’t look like that when I was sitting outside your window watching the two of you. You took her word and ran with it. I fucking told you that you would do just that when you asked me for a second chance. It was why I made you promise to come to me first, if she ever tried to feed you a story about me. You swore you wouldn’t let her manipulate you that way.”

My frustration hit its peak as I shook my head, trying to rid myself of the dark feelings that plagued me along with the memories of that night and the weeks that followed. “I can’t keep going in these circles with you. It really is pointless anyway, since all this happened six fucking years ago, Austin. You and Jordan are still two peas in a pod from what I saw tonight. Why are you even here?”

His shoulders slumped forward, and he mumbled something to himself that I couldn’t hear before his eyes lifted to meet mine again. “We are only friends. She works at the club. That’s it.”

The disbelieving smirk on my face was enough to tell him I didn’t believe that one bit. “So, in the six years since I saw you last, you never picked up with being her fuck buddy again?”

The tips of his ears immediately heated to a very noticeable red tone and there was no way for him to hide the guilty look either. “We just scratched an itch together sometimes after things fell apart between us, and very rarely at that.”

My laughter was something that should have been bottled and used as a weapon against every clueless bastard who ever bothered to speak.

“My, my, my. You do not bother to learn from your mistakes at all, do you? I already knew that about you, considering the conversation we never had before you were steam-rolled by your girlfriend into believing I was some evil-plotting vengeful banshee out to get you. I don’t even know how that seemed plausible to you, but whatever.” I turned and walked to my kitchen to grab a water to take to bed with me. “I’ve heard about all I have the energy for, considering we’re ancient history anyway. The door is behind you, please see your way out.”

The stupid bottles of water were pushed all the way to the back of the fridge, so I had to lean in to be able to get ahold of one. When I pulled back and stood up, a warm body was directly behind mine. Austin’s hands grabbed my hips and held me firmly in place.

“It didn’t feel like we were ancient history when I saw you again in Clea’s office,” he admitted. There was no way I’d agree to that. “When I saw you tonight-”

I turned in his embrace and craned my head back to look up at him. “When you saw me tonight, you ignored me and spent the night talking and flirting with Jordan, so don’t try to feed me some bullshit about how you couldn’t take your eyes off me.”

“Apparently, you couldn’t take your eyes off me all night, since you seem to think you saw so much.” I rolled my eyes because there wasn’t much I could say by way of denial since I had told on myself about watching him. “The truth is, Jordan and I were arguing most of the night.”

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