Page 4 of Seduced By My Bully

At first, Monroe would ignore my comments, but she started firing back towards the end of our sophomore year. It got so bad that our teachers had to intervene in class when we started going at it. We were sworn enemies in high school, and all of my friends kept their distance from her. I had a lot of friends. Monroe kept to herself for the most part, which killed me. I had done this, but I didn’t have the balls to make it right.

What was worse was that whenever I saw a guy getting too close to her, I did whatever I needed to make him get lost. I made up a lot of bullshit over the years.

“I’m sorry, do I know you?” Monroe asks, staring at me blankly.

“It’s me, Cam,” I say, but she doesn’t react. She just stares at me. “Cameron Beckett. You lived across the street from me in high school.”

Monroe tilts her head to the side and studies me for a long moment. Eventually, she just shrugs. “What can I get you?”

“A large coffee, black,” I tell her.

She grabs a large cup and writes Cam on the cup and hands it to Dani. “That will be a dollar ninety-seven.”

Pulling my wallet out of my back pocket, I grab a five and hand it to her. She takes it, then gives me back my change. The whole exchange is nothing special, just ordinary as if I’m only a customer to her. After months of waiting to see her since she’s been home, I would rather her be pissed to see me than not react at all. Her indifference is worse than a slap in the face.

“I see you haven’t changed,” I growl, wanting to get some kind of reaction out of her.

She gives me a tight smile and is about to say something when Dani calls my name and holds up my coffee. I don’t move from my spot, wanting to hear whatever smart ass comment she’s going to make, but she shakes her head instead. The fire that used to burn in her eyes long ago is gone. What happened to this girl to make her look this defeated? Realizing she isn’t going to say anything, I sigh and move to the end of the counter to grab my coffee from Dani.

“Thanks,” I murmur, taking it from her.

“No problem, Occifer,” She laughs, calling me the name she and my sister Lindsay have been calling me for years.

Dani has never cared what people thought of her. She’s always walked to the beat of her own drum. That’s probably why she’s my sister’s best friend. Lindsay, the painter, is the complete opposite of me, and I love her dearly.

I roll my eyes and walk away. I’m pushing out of the shop when Dani yells, “See you tomorrow, Big Boy!”

I look over my shoulder to see Dani grinning evilly and Monroe looking anywhere but at me.

Monroe wants to pretend like she doesn’t know me, fine. I’m going to make sure she remembers, and I’m going to say my piece after all these years. She can go back to ignoring me after that.

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