Page 50 of Sizzle

My jaw nearly hits the floor. “Excuse me?”

She fluffs her hair and wipes some imaginary lipstick from the corner of her mouth. “I thought it was odd that he never wanted to take me home, but now I know it’s because he’s fooling around with his teacher, right? Must be the scandal in it that gets him hot.”

Holy fuck, she did not just say that. I mean, I know she did, but it seems surreal that one person would talk to another like that.

“I-I …” Her cruel jabs have rendered me speechless, and I don’t get anything out before she turns on her heel with a vicious smile and walks out of the bathroom.

Part of me wants to crumple to the floor and cry. Part of me wants to give that woman a piece of my mind and tell her to fuck off. Another part wants to hightail it out of this bar, back to the condo, and pack my bags to bolt.

Instead, I brace my hands on the bathroom counter for a few minutes and will myself not to cry while I inhale and exhale deeply. I have not a shred of courage or mental stability as I exit the bathroom, but I know for my own self-preservation that I have to get out of here as quickly as possible.

Scampering back over to where the Ashton family sits, I bend down to tell Liam I’m leaving.

“Something came up, I have to go.”

He catches my elbow before I can whirl around and leave it to this man to notice something is gravely wrong just by looking at my face.

“What happened? Did you see the man from the farm? Sit down, talk to me.” He turns us away from the group, but I can tell they’re looking at us.

Shaking my head, I try to pull away from him. “It’s … I just need to go.”

“Gabrielle?” Alana questions, and Liam practically growls with annoyance at her butting in.

Leaning down to whisper in his ear, I deliver the blow that just nearly tore my gut out.

“That woman said something about me being your teacher,” I whisper, my face on fire and my heart pumping double time.

“Who?” Liam looks concerned, but he isn’t getting up to bolt like I want to.

Subtly as I can, I point over my shoulder.

“Fucking, Valerie,” he mumbles, stringing in some other curse words. “Ignore her, she’s jealous. She’s wanted to go home with me a number of times and I turned her down.”

A hot poker of jealousy stabs my gut, but it doesn’t outweigh the shame of her comments. “I can’t. I’m going to go, okay? I’ll …”

Call you? See you later? I can’t seem to form words because I don’t know if the ones I say will be true.

“Let’s talk outside.” He doesn’t give me another choice as he stands, plants a hand on my back, and steers us toward a back exit.

Over my shoulder, Cass throws me a questioning look, but I leave his family in the dust with no explanation. I hope they don’t also start forming terrible opinions of me.

My mind spirals as we walk outside, from the worst outcomes to horrible things that might happen because of tonight in that bathroom.

“Can you tell me what’s going on in that head of yours?” he says quietly as we step out alone into a gravel parking lot.

Running my hands through my hair in frustration, I try. “I told you this would happen. That someone would say something about me teaching here, and now she’ll get the whole town on it. This is why we shouldn’t be out in public, Liam. People still care. Gossip will spread. The shame I’ll feel, the judgment we’ll get …”

It makes me want to throw up. My hands start to shake as bile wells at the bottom of my throat.

Liam looks up to the sky and then back at me, as if gathering his wits that are nearing their end. “Gabrielle, no one thinks that. Does some jealous woman? Maybe. Maybe she’ll talk shit and tell her friends. But I promise, no one else cares. My family loves you, we were having a great time. And sometimes you just have to accept that people might talk, then forget about it. I love you, you love me. That should be all that matters.”

Except I’m not really hearing him, not when my ears are ringing with the oncoming anxiety attack. My brain is playing tricks on me, and I’m too far down the rabbit hole to comprehend anything rational.

“You don’t care that someone thinks this. You … you actually like it.” My head tilts sideways, assessing him like he’s the enemy.

“Don’t make shit up because you’re in your own head. Stop it, Gabrielle.” That deep voice takes on an edge of defensiveness as he tries to reach for me.

But I’m already stepping back, away from him.

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