Page 51 of Fight for You (Flirting with Forever 2)

I thumb open my messages, read her text from last night, and send a reply.

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nbsp; Me: I’m an idiot. I’ll come by once I’m done at this wrestling tournament.

My heart leaps as the little dots start to jump, and I smile, throwing up a silent prayer that I’ll be able to explain to Hadleigh how I’d been wrong to not talk to her last night. I hope she doesn’t hate me for it.

Hadleigh: You’re not an idiot. And OMG, what are you doing there?

Me: I’d already planned to attend today because it’s such a big school event.

Me: I volunteered to work the snack bar, which I need to go do in a sec.

Me: Ed actually cleared a few things up for me. He can’t help but run his mouth.

Hadleigh: Why does that scare the shit out of me?

Me: No worries. I’ll come by your place in a little while.

An hour later, my shift at the snack bar wraps up, so I bolt. I turn the corner to head to the parking lot only to find Ed right there, leaning against the building, the same way he’d been the other day while spying on us. He pushes off the wall and blocks my path, so I stop.

“Do you need something else from me? Shouldn’t you be in there with your team?”

He shrugs, “Nah.” One side of his mouth turns up in a smirk. “You know, you can have her. She’s a slut and a bad lay, anyway.”

My mouth drops open, and I’m so gobsmacked by his words I can’t help but chuckle. His outburst gives me more confidence in what I’m about to say. “You know, based on the text you sent last night, I think you still want her. And I’d bet it makes you angry that she doesn’t feel anything for you anymore. Doesn’t want you at all. You lost the best thing that ever happened to you because you were too stupid to do right by her.”

If I’d had any remaining doubts about what’s been going on, the murderous look on his face would’ve confirmed everything I needed to know. I’ve got him pinned and am just waiting on the referee to call the match in my favor.

Meanwhile, Ed stands in my way, panting and furious. “Did you enjoy last night’s photo? Did she show you? I have more.”

This guy just won’t quit. I see this is what he’s been like with her, too. I’m sure every time she’s pulled away from me it’s because he’s been hounding her like this, unwilling to let her go. “You’ve been harassing her with them, haven’t you? Holding them over her head. I get it now. You’re that asshole. The one who just can’t take it when a woman says no.”

I see Ed’s fist coming and pull back so his fist glances off my cheekbone. It’s not a solid hit, but it’s enough to whip my head backward. I exhale through my nose and grind my teeth together. I can take whatever he wants to dish out. I stand my ground, working my head from side to side, then rub a hand over my face. “Yep. You’re that guy.” The next punch rockets from the side, hitting my jaw and splitting the side of my lower lip.

And that’s enough. I jab straight at his nose and hear a sickening crack just before blood gushes from it, dripping all over the sidewalk.

Stunned, he clamps his hands to his face and glares at me.

“Bottom line, Ed, you’re harassing her, and that won’t be happening anymore.”

He shouts, “You’re fucking her, kid. And I’ll make sure everyone knows it. She’ll lose her job, and you’ll never even land one.”

“I’m no kid, Ed, I’m a twenty-four-year-old man, and whatever is between us is our business. But as far as you’re concerned, we have evidence of what you’ve been doing, sending her those text messages, threatening her with sharing private images that you took of her—images I’m guessing she asked you to get rid of. Only you didn’t. Instead, you used them in an attempt to do what? Get her back? That was never gonna happen. You want to make her life hell because she didn’t want you? There’s only one of us who isn’t acting like an adult here, and it’s not me. What you’re doing is called criminal harassment. Know what that is?” I’m on a roll now, in my element, and I can’t wait for this next bit.

He huffs as he holds his nose, narrowing his eyes at me.

“No comment? Let me fill you in. Because this so-called nerd—that’s what you called me the first time you spoke to me—is definitely smarter than you are. I have a damn near photographic memory, in fact. Under Massachusetts state law, chapter 265, section 43A says ‘whoever willfully and maliciously engages in a knowing pattern of conduct or a series of acts over time directed at a specific person, which seriously alarms that person and would cause a reasonable person to suffer substantial emotional distress, shall be guilty of the crime of criminal harassment and shall be punished by imprisonment in a house of correction for not more than two and a half years or by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars, or by both such fine and imprisonment.’”

Ed’s face blanches, and he shuffles his feet. Almost like he wants to turn tail and run but doesn’t want to look like the wuss he actually is.

“Shall I go on?”

Slowly, as if it pains him to do so—which it might, considering the swelling of his nose—he shakes his head.

“If you so much as breathe in her direction, she will press charges against you.” I shove past him and toss over my shoulder, “Yeah, I’m a real fucking nerd, all right. Comes in handy sometimes.”

Chapter 31

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