Page 63 of The Ring Thief
Lily
As soon as we start throwing out words likecunteloupe, Lucas throws back the rest of his drink, puts a few notes down on the table and takes off, making us both cackle like witches. The curses don’t lessen by the time we switch to margaritas and suck back four tequila shots, any thought of it being a workday tomorrow long gone.
Now, I turn a death stare on her. “Enough about Skeletor,” I declare. “That’s a problem for later. Tomorrow. Maybe next week. You though—” I point a finger at her, lowering my voice sternly. “You have some ‘splaining to do.”
She slumps back in her seat, eyes just a little glazed. “Can’t we put this off until next week as well?”
“No.”
“Well, you can’t be mad about this, then. I’m feeling vulnerable, and you have to be nice to me.” She flutters her lashes dramatically, but that stuff has never worked on me.
“I’m not promising that.”
“Why not?”
I lift my brows pointedly. “Because you wouldn’t ask that unless what you’re gonna say is gonna make me mad.”
Sasha blows out a breath, her shoulders tight around her ears. Shelocks eyes with me, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “Caleb and me?—”
“There’s a Caleb and you?”
The look in her eyes is baleful. “Are you gonna let me get this out or not?” I mime zipping my lips. “We dated in college. I was a junior, and he was a senior. We were together for about six months…” she rubs her lips together, eyes overly bright. I cast my mind back, going back to our years in college and trying to place him, but there’s nothing.
“I thought I loved him,” Sasha admits quietly, reaching for her drink, gulping down a mouthful. “Or I did love him. I’m not really sure anymore, to be honest.”
My mouth is agape as I stare at her because, according to my fuzzy memory, my commitment-phobic friend has never been with anyone longer than a month. “How…how didn’t I know this? We spent—we were together all the time. How did you hide a relationship for half a year?” I shake my head. “Wait, don’t answer that. It’s not important. Or it is, but…Sash, what happened?”
She trails her nails over the condensation on the side of her glass. “I overheard him,” she says quietly. “Talking to his friends. He, um…he said I wasn’t wife material.” She sniffs delicately, keeping her head down. “Whatever that means. What, I couldn’t iron his pant creases just so? Prick.”
There’s something in her tone that makes me ask, “What else?”
The sun dropped over an hour ago and the warm lights that line the outer walls of Lolita’s are more mood lighting than interrogation lighting. Still, I can tell she’s more pale than usual.
“He told his friends they could have me, Lil,” she says in a horrified whisper, lip trembling, and I know she’s still hearing every single nasty word in her head. “We didn’t sleep together for months because I wanted to be sure, you know? And he told them they could have me. All they needed to do was call me pretty, and I’d sprea—” she clamps her teeth down on her bottom lip, cutting the words off.
“That motherfucker,” I growl out, anger hot in my chest. I clench my hands into fists, knowing if he was standing right in front of me, I’d sock him in the jaw.
“Yeah,” she says. “I loved him and he…”
“Shit all over it?”
She hiccups out a rough laugh. “Shit all over it, ran it over and then set it on fire.”
“Your obsession with fire is a little concerning.”
She ignores that, rubbing the heel of her palm over her chest. “I haven’t seen him in five years. I can’t believe he was here. That he was your date the other night.” She blinks rapidly, the drunken haze dissipating under the heavy subject. “He looked right through me, like he had no idea who I was!”
The question spills out before I can stop it, “Do you think he did?”
She blinks, her lashes spiked and clumped together, but then shakes her head. “I think it fits with his MO,” she murmurs finally. “His words have been affecting me for years and he forgot I even existed. God, what a dick.”
I nod in agreement, before saying, “I have a question, judge!”
“Not in court, but okay. I can role-play with the best of them.” She squints an eye at me, looking more pirate than judge. “Approach the bench, counselor!”
I widen my eyes, making myself look as pitiful as possible, which isn’t hard considering I’m sweating tequila. “How come Lucas knew?”
She jerks backwards and I can see the lies about to tip off her tongue. I lean further across the table, jabbing a finger in her direction and almost take out her eye.
