Page 5 of You Again
Chapter 3
Henley – (Three Months Later)~
“You need to snap out of it,” my sister, Ellie, said. “You know they say indifference is the only truth to being over someone.”
I cradled the phone to my ear and looked out the window. Sheets of rain were pouring down, distorting my view of the city. It was fitting weather for my craptastic mood.
My day had started out pleasant enough. I hadn’t overslept. There were no slips in the shower. I’d even had enough time to stop at Charm and get a tall coffee and pastry. I hadn’t had to drive to Egypt for a parking space in the employee garage at Salinas Advertising and Marketing. It had been a good morning.
That is, until I had walked into the employee breakroom, to put my lunch away, and saw the balloons and box of congratulations donuts on the table with Arnold’s name scripted in perfect calligraphy across the top.
Motherfucker.
Being the grownup that I was, though, I had put my lunch away and had headed straight for my office. I was self-aware enough to take responsibility for dating someone I worked with. Everyone knew it was a bad idea, but we had done it anyway.
Or, at least, I had.
Three years ago, Arnold had come to work for S.A.M. from a competing advertising firm, and he’d been a rising star from the beginning. He was smart, ambitious, and dedicated to his climb up the ladder. He exuded confidence, and he had that home-town boy charm that snagged clients left and right.
It didn’t hurt that he was good-looking with his sandy-brown hair and light green eyes. Arnold was also six-foot, and every girl loved a tall man. He wasn’t ripped with abs, but he took care of himself and was nicely built.
And I fell for the slithering snake hook, line, and sinker.
“I am over him,” I insisted. “It’s not that.”
“Well, it can’t be because he landed another client,” she argued. “He’s always doing that.” Ellie was right, but before I could comment, she let out a long, annoying, sibling laugh. And, yes, siblings had a very specific laugh that was designed to specifically irritate the shit out of your brothers and/or sisters. And, in this case, it was sister, as I was Ellie’s only sister and sibling. “Don’t tell me you’re still in a funk over Hotel Guy.”
“He has a name, you know,” I retorted childishly.
“You would know,” she teased. “According to you, you screamed it for hours.” My head dropped back in my chair, the groan of embarrassment real and emerging from my soul.
The morning after I had snuck out on Dash, I had called Ellie and spilled everything. I told her about flying to Austin, catching Arnold with another woman, stuffing my engagement ring down his throat, flying home, going to the first bar I came across after dropping off my shit at home, and the six hours I spent with a stranger at The Lux. I didn’t tell her every little thing the man had done to me, but I gave her enough details to apparently tease me for the past three months.
And she was right.
Ihadscreamed his name for hours.
“This isn’t about Dash either,” I denied, because even I could admit I’ve been in a funk since that night. But any woman with a working hoo-hah would be sad knowing another night like that was probably not likely to happen again.
After Dash had passed out from a job well-done, and the pleasure of his touch was no longer distracting me, shame had immediately washed over me as I laid naked next to him.
I hadusedhim.
Sure, the tequila shots had played a part, but by the time Dash had entered my body for the third time that night, I couldn’t blame it on the alcohol anymore. I wasn’t sure what his story had been, but I had needed to feel wanted, plain and simple. And, all the baby angels in Heaven, he had delivered on that score.
It had also been the best sex I had ever had in my life.
The only cringe worthy part of the night had been the lack of condoms. Neither of us had planned on ending up at a hotel with a complete stranger, but whatever demons we’d been fighting that day, they’d been stronger than responsibility and common sense. That was another reason I had snuck out like a married athlete out of town for a game. Dash’s words from earlier, about how women didn’t know how to keep their legs closed, had slammed through my head and I had wondered how I could have fallen in bed with a man, only hours after having my heart broken by a man I was supposed to have been madly in love with.
I had planned on marrying the prick, for Christ’s sake.
Sure, it could be argued that Arnold deserved it and I had the right to act out, but that didn’t change the fact that I had used Dash to make myself feel better. And I couldn’t rid myself of how it made me feel…icky, not to mention he was basically a woman-hater. But that hadn’t taken away from the fact that he hadn’t fucked me like he hated women.
No.
He had fucked me like helovedwomen.
“Then what’s your damage, Henley?” Ellie asked. “Your life is pretty spectacular, save for those two men.” Ellie’s big sister advice sucked. At thirty-three, Ellie was two years older than I was.
