Page 59 of Rules Of Our Own

Me: Of course I’m fine. Just checking in.

Alex: Why do we think she’s not fine?

River: Because she hasn’t texted in nearly three weeks.

Shit.

Alex: You okay, Kitten? Need me to kick someone’s ass?

I have to stop myself from typing out just how badly I want that. Knowing them, they’d be on the next flight out here, always ready for a fight. Except we aren’t in university anymore, and they’re more likely to end up in jail than anything else. Talk about making headline news. Two famous NHL players beat up a local billionaire’s son for their thief girlfriend.

Me: You two keep this up, I won’t text you for another three weeks.

Alex: Woah now. Don’t be hasty. Just worried about you. Have you spoken with Misty recently? She mentioned you the other day.

Now I feel bad for not returning her call. I’d been so caught up with my own problems I hadn’t been working with her like we planned.

Me: Things have been hectic. I’ll call her back.

River: How have you been?

Bad. Horrible. Lonely.

Me: Busy. You?

River: Busy.

This conversation’s going nowhere. I don’t even know why I started it. That’s a lie. I wanted to tell them everything and just collapse into them. I wanted River to say he’d take care of it while Alex made me laugh. But that’s not who we are to each other.

Several minutes pass in silence before my phone vibrates.

Alex: Please don’t be a stranger. Don’t make me wait another three weeks to hear from you.

My eyes sting for a whole new reason.

Me: Okay.

River: You promise?

Me: Promise.

CHAPTER28

MIA

My phone ringson the end table beside my sofa for the millionth time, and I flip it over, facing it down. I’ve been hiding in my apartment, only leaving to stock up on ice cream since Olivia called me into that conference room and ruined my life.

I know it’s Sidney, who somehow used her Spidey senses to find out I’d been let go and is now freaking out on vacation. I swear that girl has more connections than Beyoncé.

If I answer that phone, I know she’ll be full of understanding andideas.That’s who she is. She’s a solver. But I just want to lie here and wallow in self-pity. Is that really that bad?

Anger sears my veins, thinking about my dickhead of a controlling bastard ex. I can’t believe I fell for all the shit he used to say. He loves me.Bleh.I can’t even blame being distracted in medical school because even then, a little voice in the back of my head was telling me there was something off about him. By the time we graduated, it just made sense for me to follow him to Ottawa. It was easy, especially with Sidney and Jax living here. Well, it was supposed to be easy. I was supposed to havethe boyfriend,the friends,the career.

Now I’m careerless, all because my psycho of an ex is a spoiled rotten brat that’s never been told no and has completely screwed up my life.

I can’t believe he got me fired!

On top of all of that, I haven’t gone a single second without thinking about Alex and River.

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