Page 18 of Rough and Rugged

To claim what I’d decided was mine.

Chapter Two

Asher

BetweenCliff’soverabundantcologneinvading my personal space and his constant blabbering taking me away from eye-fucking the bearded lumbersnack across the bar, I’d never wanted to throw him off one as much as I did now—a cliff that was.

I snorted at my joke, which unfortunately was out loud and Cliff interpreted personally.

Oops.

Double snort.

Damn, how much beer did I have?

I glared at the glass, wondering if it had been spiked, considering this was my first.

“Are you listening to me, Lucky?” Cliff snapped, using the childhood nickname my family had given me. I grimaced at the reminder of how everyone saw me. His onion breath hit me next and it took all my effort not to gag.

“Not really.” I sighed, rubbing my forehead and attempting to move away from him.

“No wonder Ethan cheated on you. He’s way too cool for you.”

Blood pounded in my ears at the reminder of my movie star boyfriend in bed with another man. Ethan ‘perfect’ Ryan wasn’t as great as everyone believed. If I never heard his name again, I’d die happy.

“Yeah, he’s soooo cool.” I rolled my eyes at my cousin. “But he didn’t cheat on me. I broke up with him.” The lie easily rolled off my tongue. I wouldn’t survive this week at home if everyone talked about Ethan.

“Sure, Lucky.” Cliff laughed, slapping the counter. The sight of his dirty fingernails and dry skin made me nauseous.

Gross. Would it kill him to trim his nails and wash under them?

“Have you ever heard of a manicure?”

“That girlie shit?” He scrunched his nose like I’d asked if he had a tampon.

Fucking toxic masculinity.

“Contrary to your belief, getting your nails trimmedwon’tturn you gay.”

“That’s not what I said. I’m not a homophobe,” he huffed.

“Sure thing, buddy.” I returned my stare to the lumberhottie, hoping he was still at the bar so we could resume our mutual eye-fucking. Disappointment settled in my gut at the now empty space.

“Back to Ethan,” he started. “There’s no way you broke up with him. Instagram claims he’s seeing that hotshot director.”

“You a secret fanboy, Cliffy? You seem to know an awful lot about my ex.” My tone was bitter, the complete opposite of what I’d hoped when I came here tonight. So I drained my pint and pulled out my wallet, ignoring my cousin as he waxed poetically about how fucking great Ethan was. I couldn’t take another minute of his nonsense.

Not tonight.

Especially if the only hot guy here was gone. I’d head over to that queer club my sister mentioned and find a hookup. I needed one night of debauchery before I had to smile and pretend my insides weren’t shredded.

“I don’t care what social media claims. I broke up with him.”

“But why?” Cliff furrowed a brow, the lines wrinkling his sweaty forehead. “I’m not into dudes, but even I wouldn’t kick Ethan Ryan out of bed.”

I wanted to laugh at the thought of Cliff with Ethan. Now that was comical. Everyone thought my ex was a fucking god because he saved the world a couple of times and did his own stunts. In reality, he was an egotistical asshole who only cared about himself. Much like everyone else I’d met in Hollywood.

“Yeah, well. I met someone better.”

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