Page 10 of Runaway Girl
I could see his eye twitching as he shifted to leave. “I’m going now.”
“Bye.” I even managed a finger wave.
“I guess I don’t have to feel guilty anymore…”
That jackass.
“I absolve you of any guilt. You don’t need to have any on my behalf since I don’t feel anything for you anymore. We’re done.”
Ethan practically malfunctioned before me, his panicked eyes cataloguing my professional, plastic smile.
“Done?”
“Yes. That’s what you wanted, no?”
“Ali, about what I said—”
“—Hmm, I don’t have all night to unpackeverythingyou said, Ethan. I’ve already wasted enough time on you.”
“Stop acting like this,” he snapped.
“Like what?”
“Like you don’t care. I know you do,” he said, desperation seeping into the edges of his voice.
With an eerily straight face, I decided to strike the match and light the fucking fuse. “But Ethan, Idon’tcare.”
Boom!
“You could have fooled me, Alicia! You ran away for a whole fucking week because youcaredso much. Emergency leave? Yeah, I looked you up. You’re not as unfazed as you’re making yourself out to be. Now, let me in so we can sort this shit out.”
The problem with igniting an explosive was the unpredictable shattering effect. I had every intention of blowing him up, but I had unintentionally been caught in the crossfire.
Emergency leave?My Dad had a fucking stroke!
My unrelenting mask seemed to crack around the seams as I lost all rational thought, leaving only anger roaring behind.
Retreating a few steps to my console table, I collected the last gift he had bought me, then proceeded to beat him with it.
“Ah! Fuck! Stop!” Ethan yelled, his arms raised to protect himself from the pink dildo repeatedly launching for his face.
After one final whack, I chucked the toy at his chest. “Now, go and fuck yourself!” I screamed, then slammed the door in his stupid, shocked face.
Barely breathing, I spied through the peephole and watched Ethan silently implode behind the door. My lovely neighbours came to check if everything was alright, and I nearly fucking died when they asked for an autograph as he tried to disguise the dildo beneath his shirt.
The sight had me so close to squealing, but I smothered that bitch down by holding a firm hand over my mouth.
When Ethan finished his celebrity obligations, he went to bang on my door again until Burt laid a hand on his shoulder, whispering something in his ear. After a long minute, Burt managed to steer Ethan towards the elevator.
The showdown I had been dreading actually turned out a lot better than I had expected. I bid him goodbye—even said wewere done. That was our four years put to rest with nil room to move forward. It was over, and now, I would surely be able to forget him and move on… right?
I turned for the kitchen, in desperate need of wine, when a knock rang through. After checking, I opened the door to my adorable, middle-aged doorman.
“Thanks for the heads up, Burt. Now, make sure he sends you the other half of the money.”
Burt had messaged me immediately following Ethan’s proposition, asking what I wanted to do. Of course, I couldn’t resist the opportunity.
“But… ah. I was actually going to return the money, Miss Thorne.”
