Page 41 of Ghosted By Texas

Austin stood, shirtless with only his sweatpants on as he faced off with a very angry Jordan.

“Do you really think it’s okay to have me work your shift so you can go galivanting off with the whore who keeps causing trouble in our friendship? She doesn’t want me around you, so you drop me, and worse, think it’s okay to make me work your shift while I have to imagine all night what you’re getting up to with her?” The woman sounded desperate and slightly unhinged as she all but screamed her questions at Austin.

“It’s not like that, and you know it, Jordan.”

“Oh, no I don’t. I’m sick of her ass coming into your life and pushing me out. The last time you two got together, I had to leave town for you, so that she wouldn’t see me. Now, I’m working your shifts for the same damn reason.”

“I was right to ask you to leave back then. You proved that by the stunt you pulled showing up to my place in your underwear on Valentine’s Day. My girlfriend saw you that night and never bothered to come to the door again. You can’t tell me you didn’t arrange that on purpose.”

I didn’t miss the smug look on her face from where I was standing, so I know there was no way Austin could have missed it unless he’d suddenly gone blind or somehow managed to have the conversation with his eyes closed – just in case she was dressed inappropriately again. If that was the case, kudos to him. Then again, she was wearing her work uniform from the bar, so he could look all he wanted, as long as his next move was to throw her ass out the door.

“I don’t think it’s amusing,” he growled at her.

“Well, too fucking bad, Austin! I’ve been in love with you my whole life. Do you think I find it amusing that I’m working extra shifts so you can go play with some whore you have a temporary infatuation with?”

“Keep your voice down,” Austin warned as he glanced at the stairs, but not high enough to notice that I was hiding there in the shadows watching them.

“What. The. Fuck. Austin?” Jordan all but yelled. “Did you bring your whore to this house?” She snipped. “You promised you wouldn’t do that. This is our space.”

On that note, I’d heard enough. Considering we always went back to my place, tonight being the only exception, something about what she said rang true.

“Jordan, this is my house, and I can…”

“We picked everything for this house together, including the bed you probably have that bitch tucked up in.”

It was a miracle that I didn’t get sick right then and there. I didn’t wait to go back and change out of my shirt. Instead, I hauled ass across the loft to the back set of stairs that Austin told me earlier led to the kitchen and backdoor. Once I was there, I took the stairs so fast, there was a real danger I might fall and kill myself on the way down. As soon as I got to the backdoor, I unlocked it quietly and flung the damn thing open. Austin had a security alarm on the house, but I was betting that he hadn’t reengaged it with Jordan still in the house, considering he was probably trying to get rid of her before I found out it was her banging down the door earlier.

I supposed her urgency made sense. She always thought she had a claim on Austin, but after hearing she helped pick everything in his house out with him, that claim obviously extended to his house as well. Again, I thought my dinner from earlier might resurface as the bile began to rise in my throat.

I managed to get three blocks away from Austin’s house, before my hands stopped shaking so hard that I was finally able to summon an Uber driver to come get me. Once I did, it took another fifteen minutes for him to show up. Truthfully, it was a miracle that there was one on duty, considering it was around four in the morning.

As soon as I opened the door of the Toyota Prius that showed up, the music, which sounded suspiciously like Hello Dolly, dropped to an inaudible level. For that, I was thankful.

“Says here we’re headed to…” the man called out to me before reading off my address.

“That’s correct.”

He looked at me in the rearview mirror for a minute. “Bad hookup?” He asked being far too nosy for my liking.

“Can you just drive, please?”

“Sure,” he huffed, obviously angry I wouldn’t share my drama with him. Up until that moment, I didn’t realize that I’d been crying at all. Damn Austin Mercer and for real, fuck his bestie straight to hell too. Unfortunately, my bastard of a driver liked to wake up with showtunes blasting on his car stereo.

As if I’d pissed off Karma herself, my night ended with the tone-deaf driver attempting to sing the showtunes, loudly, the whole way to my apartment. The minute I got myself free from his car, there was no holding back the sickness that followed.

I purged my stomach of anything that hadn’t already been processed from the night before and then some extra bile just for funsies. My landlord would probably have a huge hissy fit when he saw the mess at the curb in front of our building. With any luck, I’d be firmly ensconced inside before he realized it was there and could blame me.

Once I was safely tucked away in my apartment, I counted down the minutes, until Austin realized I left his house. I truly expected him to come chasing after me, a phone call, or at the very least a text checking to make sure I was okay.

After the first hour, I figured he was still trying to deal with the Jordan situation, and I picked my phone up to send him a text, since not communicating after a Jordan incident before was what killed us.

Becs: I made it home safe and sound. I tried but couldn’t stick around for front row seats about all the ways you and Jordan had built a home together. You never should have taken me there, if that was the case. We can talk about it, later, but Austin, we might be at a very significant crossroads. That talk needs to happen sooner than later.

There. I sounded mature, not entirely angry, and willing to work on things despite having my heart chopped to pieces by their conversation. I took my shoes and pants off and laid down on my bed with my phone clutched in my hand and the ringer turned all the way up, so I wouldn’t miss any calls from him.

As I watched the clock, another hour passed.

No calls.

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