Page 16 of Doctor Bossy

And with every second, he was getting closer and closer.

A feeling that I couldn’t identify wrenched in my chest. Fear? I couldn’t be certain. All I knew was that I wanted to hide before he saw me.

Quickly, I ducked behind a pillar to the left, holding my breath in anticipation. It took two seconds for what I did to sink in, and then I was a little mad at myself.

Why was I hiding?

It wasn’t likeIhad done anything wrong. If anything,hewas the one who had wrongedmeand should be the one running behind pillars and holding his breath.

But somehow, deep inside, I knew James would never do that. He always found it difficult to apologize when he was wrong but was very adept at gaslighting me into either letting the situation go or even apologizing. And sometimes, he could make me feel so stupid, even when I knew I was right to be mad at him.

And here he was, doing it again.

I knew, despite his calls, that James didn’t even care about our breakup that much. I could tell from the way he walked, smirking slightly into his phone like he didn’t have a damn care in the world. Nothing showed that he was missing anything in his life, much less me, his former fiancée that he cheated on.

Anger washed through me. I wish I had something hard in my hand right now so I could throw it at him.

I’m not hiding because I’m scared of him,I thought to myself.This just wasn’t the time or place for a confrontation.

I felt him walk past me and nearly breathed a sigh of relief, but then his footsteps suddenly slowed and then stopped altogether in their progress.

Oh no.

Oh no, no, no.

Had he seen me?

I peeked. His back was facing me, and he wasn’t turning around. Instead, he brought his phone to his ears and said, “Hey, what’s up?”

Shit. He was answering a call. What were the fucking odds that he would choose to pick up a call right here, right now, with me not even three feet away?

And who the hell was he talking to?

He spoke again when I glanced to the other side of the pillar, trying to see if I could make a clean getaway.

“Yeah, sorry I couldn’t make it. My old man called me in today to chew me out.”

There was a pause, and then he said in an annoyed tone, “Over what else? Becca, of course. I suppose she went crying to him, and he believed everything she said. Even the thing about me supposedly leaking her nudes. He got on my ass about that one especially.”

There was another pause, and at this point, I was no longer looking for an escape. I was fully engaged in the conversation. Was he going to deny what he did?

James sighed. “I told you that was an accident. I didn’t mean to send it out to the group. It just…happened. We were all drunk as shit, and it wasyouwhostarted the game of who has the hottest girlfriend, so don’t give me that shit. And that idiot Jeff…he was the one who sent it out. Because he’s a fucking moron who’s too hopped up on pills half the time to even see straight.”

Another pause.

“Yes, how am I supposed to explain it to her when she isn’t answering any of my calls? I must have left her like a million voice messages, and she hasn’t returned a single one of them.”

He paused again for a few beats.

“Yes, she caught me with Laura. It was just that one time. And just because of that, she called off the engagement and isn’t speaking to me anymore.”

Justthat?

Did he call cheating on me a “just because of that” situation?

Oh, he had some damn fucking nerve.

“So yeah,” he continued. “My life is shit right now. I lost Becca, who Iloved, by the way,andthe old man is pulling any extra funds for the next six months. Which means the trip to Spain is almost certainly off.”

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