Page 22 of The Wrong Guy

I get off the couch and help her up and then walk out of the room. I throw some money on the table before leading us out of the restaurant. We don’t say anything as we part ways at the office.

We don’t make plans to see each other again.

It is time for the game to begin.

Chapter Fourteen

Audrina

My legs feel like jelly while I climb into my new car. I’m shocked I let something like that happen.

I let someone I don’t know eat me out. Derek had never touched me like that, and he, indeed, never used his mouth like that on me, either.

Unlike a lot of women my age, I’m not very sexually advanced. I wouldn’t say I’m a prude, but the thought of having someone’s facethereon my body… made me feel gross. I have heard my friends telling me how good and desirable they felt afterward, but I couldn’t get over the thought of how personal it must feel.

Now that I’m in my new car, all I can think about is what I will do when I see Stavros again. He works with my brother, and he’s my divorce attorney. I’m sure I will have to talk to and see him again.

I drive toward a gas station at the other end of town and pull into the parking lot. Once parked, I grab my purse before entering the gas station. I know I’m running low on beverages, and since my new goal is to become a hobbit and never leave my house, I will need something to drink.

“Audrina! How are you?”

I spin on my heels to see my parents’ friend, Jane Seamond. Jane has been a family friend for as long as I can remember and has attended every family function my parents have thrown.

“Jane, how are you?” I ask her while hugging her.

She hugs me back a little tighter than she would normally. “I’m just so sorry about your marriage.”

Ouch. Direct hit.

“It’s okay. I’m doing fine.”

I’m doing better than fine. I just came harder than I could ever bring myself to come with practically a stranger.

“Just a young girl like yourself… all alone. In the big city.”

I’m shifting my weight from one foot to the other to get her to realize how uncomfortable I am. I know being a single girl in the city wouldn’t have been okay for her age, but I’m in a different generation.

“Thank you for caring about me, Jane. That is very sweet of you. I need to get a couple of things and then get home.”

“Well,” she continues as I attempt to walk away, “I have a son who’s single.”

Of course, Billy is single. Billy was an asshole throughout my whole childhood who would make comments about my body and then would make me feel bad. When I hit puberty, he would make statements about how I didn’t need to wear a bra yet because my boobs weren’t big enough. I hated that Billy spent so much time with my brother.

Andreas and Billy were friends until college. After college, they separated since Billy became a doctor while my brother focused on law. And then there’s me.

If I wanted to be humbled, all I would have to do is listen to my mother discuss how I could have been something more than what I am. Or maybe if I had spent a little more time on my appearance, I could have snagged a guy who made more money.

My mother and father spent a lot of time on their appearances. The way their friends saw them and the way society saw them was more important. Unfortunately for them, I had no interest in becoming a lawyer or doctor and focused on marketing during school. I know how upset they were that I didn’t graduate with high honors with a degree in marketing.

“Thank you for letting me know. I need to get going,” I tell Jane as a couple of people in the gas station are looking at us.

At least I try to look decently as I’m being betrothed to Jane’s son. I know she would love our families to be more interconnected, and the marriage would have worked out better for her. If there was a marriage connecting us, Jane and her husband, Big Bill, could benefit from the societal gains of being friends with my parents.

My mother and father are friendly enough and have been good parents to Andreas and me. When we were born, they decided that two kids were just enough for them. We attended a good school, attended summer camps, and were in sports and clubs throughout the school year, but their real hope was for our success.

By me getting a divorce from Derek, this brings shame to our family. The Dillards Family has a highly successful rating of marriages, and I’m one of the only people in the process of getting a divorce in generations.

I don’t need the added pressure of knowing what my failed marriage brings to the family and their image. I already know what this does.

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