Page 36 of My Not So Wicked Ex-Fiance (My Not So Wicked 2)

All my friends cheered. I wasn’t sure how I should behave. I was more of the cockroach in this scenario, though he had called me Miss Duchane and he knew how much that hurt me. I only hurt him because I thought he cheated on me. So, I should have probably made sure those pictures were real or at the very least told him off in person about it before I left.

“Y’all, I’m the awful one in this situation.”

Aspen shook her head vehemently.

“Don’t think of this in terms of who is right and who is wrong,” Emma suggested. “Think of this as a way of letting go.”

“Yeah,” Jenna agreed.

Aspen grabbed my hand. “Watch him die.”

She was beginning to frighten me.

“This guy’s sacrifice was requested by Shelby, also from Colorado. She wishes for Ryder to kiss her tight, perky butt and die.”

“Who came up with that?”

Aspen raised her hand. “Me. You really do have a great butt.”

Jenna and Emma nodded in agreement.

“Y’all are crazy. I can’t watch this.”

Emma placed her hand on my head and held it steady, focused on the screen. “Yes, you can. Say goodbye to Ryder, right here and now.”

“What if I don’t want to?” I whispered.

They all whipped their heads my way with mouths agape.

I bit my lip. “I know it’s over, but,” my voice cracked, “I loved him. I still do.”

“Whoa, whoa, this guy is trying to get away,” the cockroach wrangler’s voice caught our attention. Sure enough, that cockroach was putting up a fight. It took a dive off her hand and landed on the ground in a thud, which spoke to how big and gross it was. It scrambled to get away. A few people jumped in to try and catch it, but it managed to evade them and wriggled under a wall. That was going to give me nightmares.

The woman came back on the screen. “Sorry, Shelby, looks like Ryder is coming for you.”

I sank into my chair and whimpered.

Aspen jumped up to turn off her laptop. “I want my money back. I paid to see two cockroaches get mutilated.”

Jenna stood and placed Elliot in my arms. “No one can be sad when they’re holding this ball of cuteness.” There was never a truer statement.

I sat up straight and cuddled the little cottontop. That was Southern for blondie, or towhead like I heard them use out here. Elliot was a cuddly little bug and he snuggled right into me, but not before I caught his punch-drunk smile. Breast milk was intoxicating to little tykes.

All three of my friends were staring at me with concern.

Emma spoke first. “Maybe that was a sign.”

Aspen tsked. “It was an unfortunate mishap.”

Jenna surprised us all when she sighed. “I just finished reading this book, How to Get Over Your Ex in Ninety Days.”

Emma scrunched her face. “Why are you reading a self-help book about getting over your ex? Is everything okay between you and Brad?”

Jenna rolled her eyes. “Of course, we’re good. Even if we weren’t, I pushed his baby out of my insides, so he’s stuck with me for life.”

We all giggled.

“It’s a romantic comedy,” Jenna cleared up. “Freaking hilarious,” she added. “It totally should be made into a movie. But anyway, the guy in the book does something really stupid. Kind of like Shelby here.” She pointed at me.

I kissed Elliot’s head before responding, “I hope you aren’t trying to make me feel better.”

“Just wait.” Jenna grinned wickedly. “Like you, the hero was, let’s say, coerced into breaking up with the love of his life. When he figures that out, like you have, he spends the rest of the book trying to get her back, all while she’s doing everything she can to get over him. Honestly, it’s comedy gold. You should read her journal entries.”

I bit my lip. “Does she take him back?”

Aspen, exasperated with the direction of the conversation, threw herself in the chair next to me. “Shelby, do you really want him back?”

I stared down at baby Elliot resting so peacefully against me. I ached so bad to have a little one of my own. A little Ryder and Shelby. “Well . . . yes. But I know it’s impossible.”

“I don’t know,” Emma said, albeit reluctantly.

I turned toward her. “What do you mean?”

She squirmed a bit in her seat. “At dinner on Monday night, I couldn’t help but notice the way he looked at you between the anger.”

“Explain.”

She shrugged. “It’s just, I know that look. It’s the same way I looked at Sawyer. It’s this impossible frustration of being so in love with someone but not being able to see how it would work out.”

“Do you think he still loves me?”

Emma gave me a close-lipped smile and nodded. “I do. He almost came after you.”

“He did?”

“He stopped himself. I couldn’t tell if he was angrier that he wanted to go after you or that he wouldn’t.”

---