Page 29 of Dirty Padraig: Dirty Dusters

So, I lie there and pray to The Almighty that she allows me to remain part of her life. That she’d never want to let me go for good.

Because I love her. Because I miss her.

And even though we’re over, I hope that in some small way she loves and misses me too, even if, in the end, she loved the other fella most.

Jaine:Yes.

It’s a strange feeling. I’ve just been dumped, but I still feel like a winner as I get to keep her. And right now, I’ll take anything I can get where Jaine’s concerned.

Padraig:Do you want to hear a joke?

Jaine:Do I have to?

Padraig:Don’t be such a mardy arse, Jaine.

Jaine:Go on then.

Padraig:What do you call an Irishman with a bad case of chickenpox?

Jaine:I don’t know.

Padraig:A lepper-chaun.

Jaine:I’m starting to wish I’d said no to being friends.

Padraig:Now, now. Don’t be like that, darlin’. As my ma says, if you haven’t got anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all.

Jaine:I’ll bear that in mind. If I don’t reply to the majority of your messages, then you’ll know the reason why, Irish.

I chuckle. I can’t help myself. Then I lay my head back on my pillow and, with a watery smile, stare once more at the ceiling.

God, how I fucking love her.

Little did I know that, from that moment on, I would start to live for her messages and phone calls because, without her, everything seemed pointless.

Little did I know that, after her, I would ricochet from one woman to the next because none would ever compare to my Jaine Jones.

My cliché blonde. My Disney Princess. My Holy Grail of women.

And my end game that never will.

CHAPTERTEN

JAINE

12 Years Earlier (Age Nineteen)

Yale University, Connecticut

Lying on my bed,I wipe away tears before staring again at our text exchange.

Almost twenty-four hours ago, Sasha was told by Skylar Knox that Irish had hooked up with Brittany Mason and that they were going to be making things official between them. That they would become the new celebrity couple on campus that everyone had expected them to be right from the start.

There was no mention of the fact that he already had a girlfriend. Not that we’d ever put a label on what we were, but still. After three months, I expected more than to hear on the school grapevine that he was sleeping with someone else.

Skylar would never have told me the breaking news personally. She would never lower herself to speak to the likes of me.

I was an anomaly. A biker shit stain on their pristine world that, for one reason or another, had turned the head of the most eligible male student.

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