Page 8 of Not Over You

Was she catnip for these fuckers or something? Why did she attract such douchebaggery?

Was douchbaggery a word?

It was now. It was firmly in her vocabulary and she’d use it until Merriam and or Webster acknowledged it as a word and gave her credit for inventing it.

“Listen …Ian, we clearly have different opinions here, so let’s not waste anymore of either of our nights and—”

“Get out of here?” he asked, hope springing into his dark brown eyes.

“Uh, no. I was going to say, end this conversation and walk away from each other before the stench of your douchebaggery rubs off on me anymore.” She squirmed and made a face. “I can already smell it and dude, it smells like ass and Axe body spray. Not a good combo.”

Ian reared his head back, causing the swath of floppy blond hair on his head to lift. “Excuse me? What gives you the right to speak—”

“Maybe because she’s right, buddy? And you’re a tool and a fucking incel,” came a deep, raspy voice that had Rayma’s insides turning to warm goo.

Despite the flaming pile of pig shit in front of her, Rayma found herself smiling. She spun around to find Jordan, still looking at Ian and with a less than pleased look on his face.

“Listen, bro, we were talking here. Run along, none of your business.”

“It is my business if this woman is feeling harassed.” Jordan glanced down at Rayma, the twinkle she loved so much glittering in his emerald eyes. “Are you feeling harassed, ma’am?”

She had to keep herself from snorting at his use of the wordma’am.But the lip twitch was something she just couldn’t control. Nodding, she faced Ian again. “I am feeling harassed, actually. Attacked. Females everywhere are being attacked by this misogynistic piece of—”

“That’s enough,” Jordan said softly, resting his big hand on her arm and sending white-hot ribbons of lust through her body. “No need to bruise his ego anymore. The real world will do that for us.”

Ian snorted, regarding both of them with disgust. “I get so much tail, you have no idea. I don’t need this shit.” He rolled his eyes and turned to go, slowly making his way through the crowd.

Only once his floppy blond head was out of sight, did Rayma finally let that rush of air leave her lungs. She turned to face Jordan, grinning like a love-sick idiot. “Hi.”

His smile had her entire body tightening with need. “Hi.”

“What … what are you doing here? Just in town for a mini-vacation?”

Up until then, he’d been all warmth and twinkling eyes, but at her mention of a mini-vacation, his expression changed, his smile dropped and his eyes lost their glimmer.

Rayma furrowed her brow. “What—”

“I live here again,” he said, cutting her off.

Her eyes flew open wide. “Since when?”

“Since about three months ago when I was transferred to the Esquimalt detachment. A position became available, and I’ve been looking for a way to return to the city. Kind of just fell into my lap.”

At seeing him and hearing his voice after all this time, her heart had inflated like a balloon, but now knowing that he’d been in town all summer and hadn’t reached out, was the equivalent of taking a rusty nail and popping that balloon.

“I thought about calling …”

“Then why didn’t you?” She didn’t understand. Why didn’t he call her? Why didn’t he let her know he was in town, that he was back? They hadn’t parted on bad terms, why wasn’t she his first call?

And before he could open his mouth to answer, the answer hit her smack in the face in the form of a sexy blonde with bright blue eyes who sidled up next to Jordan and slid her slender fingers over his shoulder and down his arm. “There you are. The line for the women’s room was crazy-long.” She glanced up at Rayma and smiled brightly, but there was curiosity burning along the edges there, too. “Hi.”

Rayma swallowed the lump of peanut butter and razor blades in her throat. “Hi.”

Heat infused Jordan’s cheeks beneath the short veil of scruff lining his jaw and chin. “Laura, this is Rayma, a … friend. Rayma, this is Laura, my … girlfriend.”

Girlfriend. Rayma’s brows spiked on her forehead and she made sure she fixed Jordan with a look he would understand. One that spoke of her hurt, her surprise, and her anger.

So, that’s why he didn’t call her the moment he moved back to town. Because he’d moved on.

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