Page 58 of A Shot of Pretty Poison

He laughs, but we both know how awkward this is.

Last night, he did exactly what I was afraid of when we first got together. He got in, got off, and got out. I stood there, completely mortified as he walked out the door without a word before I could even get my clothes back on. And he didn’t just leave the room.

He left the whole fucking bar.

By the time I cleaned myself up and went back outside, he was gone. His truck was no longer in the parking lot, and Devin wasn’t anywhere to be found either. Lucas finally filled me in when he saw me looking around like a lost fucking puppy.

I was going to tell him that he’s wrong about Nolan. Correct the ridiculous false narrative about me having a boyfriend that’s running through his mind. I’m sure that’s what this is about. He thinks I moved on. Little does he know, there is no moving on for me.

That’s something I accepted a long time ago.

Long before he even kissed me for the sole purpose of getting my ex to leave me alone.

“Can you give us a minute?” I ask Cam and Mali.

Mali nods, immediately heading for the stairs, while Cam looks skeptical.

“I guess,” he says hesitantly. “But I swear to God, if I start hearing moans up here, I will deafen myself with cocktail picks.”

Grabbing his hand, Mali pulls him toward the stairs. “Stop being such a drama queen and let’s go.”

I wait for them to go back downstairs before I look back at Hayes. “Come sit.”

He shakes his head. “It’s fine. We don’t need to do this.”

I roll my eyes and stand up as he rambles.

“I’m serious, Lai,” he continues. “It’s fine. You left. We were done. I get it. You don’t need to explain yourself or any of that.”

Taking my phone out, I scroll through my pictures, and his brows furrow as he watches me.

“What are you doing? I don’t need to see some happy photo of you two. It’s fine. You moved on. That’s your right. I don’t think it’ll ever happen for me, but that’s not your problem to deal with. It’s mine. Can we just—”

He stops the moment I spin my phone around, showing him a picture of Nolan.

“Uh, are you trying to hook me up with someone, because that’s a little weird.”

I roll my eyes. “No.Thisis Nolan.Sheis my roommate.”

Realization settles across his face, and I grin smugly as I watch him realize how wrong he was.

“She’s hot,” he jokes, trying to distract me from where I’m going.

I shake my head in amusement. “You were jealous.”

He scoffs. “I was not.”

“You were. You really, really were.” I put my phone back in my pocket and shoot him another smug grin. “You were allhe can’t touch you like I can.Hate to break it to you, babe, but were green from head to toe. It was like fucking the Incredible Hulk.”

A growl rumbles in the back of his throat before he gives in.

“Fine. I’m jealous,” he confesses. “I’m jealous of all the fucking people who got to see you every goddamn minute that I didn’t. And to see you texting someone else, even if it wasn’t your boyfriend, sucks because I still don’t even have your phone number anymore.”

Honestly, that didn’t even occur to me. A group text was sent to us, which means he could’ve gotten it off that. But it would be just like Hayes for him to wait until he got it from me.

Not our stalker.

Not my brother.

---