Page 19 of I Blame the Alcohol

Cody nods, oblivious to the competitive fire smouldering from my every pore.

“He was chatting to a friend about an insane cardio workout he has planned. Was worried your little frame wouldn’t be able to handle it.”

Insane cardio? Mylittleframe?

My vision turns red and I’m a second away from blowing smoke out of my ears. Any rational thought flees my mind as my anger takes control of the wheel, cackling like a Disney villain who has two loyal henchmen on her payroll.

I start mentally flipping through my workouts, discarding anything reasonably close to challenging. If Hayden wants to put my little frame through its paces, then I’ll pick a workout that puts my body to the test.

And if he can’t keep up, well, I guess we can call this date a pass or fail evaluation.

By the time my date enters the gym, my bloodlust has dropped to a comfortable simmer. A shy smile brightens Hayden’s blue eyes as he approaches me.

“Stella, hey! I was thinking about what workout we could do together-”

“I’ve got one planned.” I cut him off before he can finish the sentence. Hayden looks taken aback by my abruptness but recovers quickly.

“Oh, okay cool. Hopefully I won’t have to go too easy on you, eh?” He throws me a wink and I return it with a smile that would make wiser men run for the hills.

Unfortunately, Hayden isn’t a wise man.

“Guess we’ll find out.” Keeping my sadistic smile in place, I give Cody a tight nod, and lead my unsuspecting victim to his final resting place.

I start humming as I lay out the mats in our free-range section, easing Hayden into a false sense of security. He hasn’t stopped smiling since he got here, but that’s soon about to change.

My date made an assumption, and you know how the saying goes.

Two repeating thoughts thrum though my body as I gently guide my baby calf to the slaughterhouse.

Hayden thought he could break an O’Brien.

I’m going to show him what being broken feels like.

Cody

Twelve minutes and thirteen seconds.

That’s how long it took for Hayden to go running for the closest trash can.

“Aw, shit. I’m going to have to clean that up, you know.” Stephen and his unruly curls materialize beside me, and I choke back a laugh.

“At least your bet is over.” I tap the stopwatch app on my phone, ending the timer I’d set after watching Stella and Hayden start their workout.

“Hell, this doesn’t count. That man is going to be traumatized for the rest of his life and no one else is going to have the balls to ask out O’Brien for at least six months.” Stephen huffs with annoyance, giving me the evil eye.

“Don’t try and pretend you didn’t have anything to do with this, Ellsworth.”

I smile ruefully, “I just did what needed to be done.”

“What needed to be done, my ass.” Shaking his head, Stephen wanders over to the garbage can Hayden has all but disappeared into.

I would be lying if I said I didn’t feel a bit guilty about the situation. I may or may not have exaggerated the truth to rile Stella up a bit.

Okay, I may have exaggerated a lot.

To be fair, I didn’t expect her to absolutely kill the guy. I was just hoping to stoke the fires of her competitive nature to the point where Hayden would have to tap out.

An obvious oversight on my part.

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