Page 81 of Degrading Her

“I’m fine,” I tried, sniffling. “It’s okay. I’m going to get some sleep.”

“But your apartment got broken into?—”

I had forgotten about that. “Sawyer said he just killed the person who did it. I’m ‘safe’ now,” I said, adding the air quotes.

“I can stay out of your way. Chill with my phone or something.”

Maisie had never seen how small my apartment was. There was no staying out of someone’s way in my place.

“I’ll be fine,” I said. “Thanks.”

I got out of the car, about to slam the door shut, when she stopped me.

“Fiona?” she said. I opened the door wide. “You know he loves you, right?”

Those words rolled around inside of me. They were so similar to Sawyer’s own confession that night on the lake. Maybe Sawyer did love me. But he was selfish. And I was tired of him playing games with me. I wasn’t going to let anyone take advantage of me like that anymore.

“Maybe,” I said. She gave me a hug and headed out. As I walked up the stairs to my apartment, my phone dinged.

I’m getting the itch to hang out,Erica typed.Maybe something like the other night?

I’m about to pass out,I responded.

You don’t want to chill?she sent.

Broken heart,I typed.

Dude. Let me get your mind off of whoever this asshole is. I swear I can fix it,she replied.

Did she realize it was Sawyer?

Why did I care so much about him, anyway?

Maybe I did want to hang out. Maybe I wanted him off of my mind.

Screw it. I deserved this. I could go out if I wanted to. Without himandwhile wearing my damned panties.

Where are we meeting, then?I asked, adding emojis for good measure.

Yay! I’ll text you my address.

An hour and a half later, I was at Erica’s house. It was nicer than I expected, closer to Lakeville than Pierce, with a decent commute to the library. It seemed strange that she would travel so far for a low-paying job.

“You know there’s a library in Lakeville too, right?” I asked. “Small, but nice. They have a good used bookstore.”

She smirked. “You want to kick me out of the New Host Library already? So that you can be the manager?” My heart dropped, thinking about Sawyer, about everything we had been through. I had said those two words, ‘please, Sawyer.’ That meant that the library would be transformed into whatever he wanted.

“Sweetie, what’s going on?” Erica asked, rubbing my arm. “What happened?”

I told her about Sawyer as best as I could without saying his name or, you know, the fact that he had murdered my apparent stalker in front of me, and I highlighted the part that pissed me off most: the games he played with my head and heart.

“Geez,” Erica whistled. For a moment, we were both silent. Then a gleam flickered in her eye. “You know what could cure this?”

What was she getting at?

“A strong drink,” she said.

I didn’t need alcohol. Not when my head was like this.

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