Page 45 of Ghosted By Texas

“You don’t know him!” Someone else defended. Clearly, it was Jordan, since she was the only bitch who was dumb enough to do so and put up with his wishy-washy crap after all these years of dealing with it. As far as I was concerned, they deserved one another and could rot in hell together.

“You – shut the fuck up. I’m not speaking to you right now,” my best friend snapped at the whore. Go Clea! If I were in a better place, I’d probably do a little cheer in the hallway. Unfortunately, I was depression’s bitch, so that wouldn’t be happening anytime soon.

“My best friend didn’t deserve what you did to her all those years ago, and don’t you dare try to claim that it was in solidarity for your brother. I’d bet good fucking money that a certain woman was in your ear, giving you that bad fucking advice because she didn’t want to lose you.”

Way to call it exactly how it was, Clea. And I hadn’t even confided in her what went down all those years ago, not the whole truth of the matter anyway.

“My friend didn’t deserve you playing more games with her again the other night either.” I cringed at that because Clea really did think it was a one and done between he and I that night. The done part being all his fault, of course. Still, it probably seemed weird to Austin to hear her talk about it like it was one night, not weeks of us being together.

“I wasn’t playing games with anyone,” Austin denied her accusations, as if he had any room to do so, considering how we’d found him at the movies living his best life with his lips wrapped around those of his supposed best friend.

“Really, Austin? So, you slept with her, then your childhood fuck buddy showed up and you missed the fact that Becs even left your house. When you did realize, you couldn’t be bothered to check on her, to let her know what happened, or at least let her down easily?”

Oh Clea! I loved my friend, but her recap was breaking my heart all over again.

“Instead, you ghosted her again, and after I finally convinced her to shower and leave the house to help heal her heart, what happens? We walked in on you right as fucking rain, sucking face with the woman who is always at the goddamn center of you brushing my bestie off like she’s the dirt under your shoes! Grow the fuck up, Austin, and leave Becs alone. She deserves a real man who can make her happy, not a little boy who doesn’t know how to fucking decide between his past and his future.”

I don’t know if what Clea had to say left Austin as stunned as it left me, or if Jordan held him back from chasing after her to get to me, but when Clea rounded the corner, she was alone. Part of me was once again equal parts disappointed and resigned. Did my heart really think he’d try harder than he had? What a silly organ. Maybe they did transplants for defective proverbial hearts the same way they did for the part that kept your blood pumping through your body.

Clea came up short when she saw me slumped there against the wall, then she wrapped herself around me, as if to shield me from prying eyes. “You didn’t have to wait,” she whispered.

“Yeah, I kind of did. You made me leave the house without keys or money.”

“Shit! Sorry, Becs. I’m so sorry,” she whispered again to reiterate the point. I didn’t think the second sorry was really about leaving me stranded and more about how her plan backfired and I had to see the cause of my pain out enjoying his best life with another woman.

Life sucked that way.

“Thanks for having my back,” I muttered to her.

“I will always have your back, that’s what real besties do,” she promised. That was the lesson Austin never learned about his supposed best friend. She didn’t have his back, she continually stabbed him in it and then smiled sweetly like nothing was amiss, and he believed the lies she fed him hook, line, and sinker every time.

Clea squeezed me tighter before she finally managed to get us to her car. “Oh, Becs,” she hissed when she saw my face. “One day, you’re going to tell me all about it because I really don’t believe all this is over a one-night stand, even if you did have prior history.”

I didn’t say anything as I swiped the sleeve of my hoodie under my nose to keep the snot from trailing down my face with my tears. When I glanced up and past where Clea stood, opening her car door for me, I saw Austin standing there watching us with his phone to his ear. Jordan stood a couple paces away from him looking angrier and angrier by the second.

Served the wench right to have her night ruined the way she’d been ruining mine for years.

On the way home, Clea answered her ringing phone via the Bluetooth in her car. “Hello?”

“Hey sweet Clea,” Houston called over the speakers. His voice sounded so much like Austin’s that it sent shivers up my spine and made me want to cry again.

“Hello, handsome. What can I do for you?”

“My brother just called me,” he mentioned casually, though I didn’t think the call was all that casual and I wished he’d waited until I was no longer in the car with his girlfriend before they had whatever conversation was about to take place.

Clea winked at me. “Oh yeah? Which one?”

I snorted in an attempt to hold back what amounted to sarcastic laughter. We both knew exactly which brother would have called him recently and why. Actually, I wasn’t sure why he’d call Houston, unless it was to tattle to him that his girlfriend broke up his date night and said mean things to him. I really did owe my best friend a lot. I wished I’d been the one to say mean, angry, horrible things I’d never be able to take back in a million years.

“I think you know the one. The biggest asshole of the bunch.”

“Well,” Clea hedged. “A week ago, I would have said Dallas deserved that title, but this week, I’m going to assume you’re talking about Austin.”

“That would be the one.”

“Are you calling to fuss at me for yelling at him and Jordan?” She asked. I could hear the trepidation in her voice and worried that I’d inadvertently caused problems for her with the man of her dreams. That was something I didn’t want, even if it meant I’d have to hear about him from time-to-time as a result of Austin being Clea’s brother-in-law one day. While things might not have worked out for me, I had no doubt that Clea and Houston would go the distance, as long as my bullshit didn’t just pop a hole in their happy bubble.

“Nope,” Houston told her quickly, obviously having heard the same bit of fear in her voice. “Just wanted to check and make sure you and Becs were okay.”

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