Page 4 of Rush
There were tons of guys looking to crack into the AUFC, so why wasn’t there anyone for me to fight? The competition wasn’t that stiff, was it?
Lost in my thoughts, I found myself on Victoria Street, the main thoroughfare through Abbotsford. This area was full of Asian grocery stores, restaurants, and other shops. There was a chemist, newsagent, and some junk stores, but mostly, the entire stretch was full of the scent of spice and honey from cooking. It was the little Asia of Melbourne, and it was an effort not to gorge myself on carbs every time I walked down here.
Turning, I stumbled as a familiar head of ginger curls came into view. It couldn’t be…could it? Of all the places for her to finally appear, it had to be a block away from Pulse.
Jade Forsyth.
She was staring at the buckets of flowers outside the florist like she was frozen in time. Her slender hand was wrapped around the handle of a large suitcase, her other clutching the overflowing handbag that was slung over her left shoulder.
She was exactly how I remembered her, except she was older. Less girl and more woman. Narrowing my eyes, I also remembered when she’d chosen someone else over me. Granted, she didn’t know she was choosing, but by the time I grew enough balls to do something, it was too late.
Crossing the street, I stood a few paces away, not sure if I should say something, but she looked shell-shocked. Something had happened.
“Jade?” I asked, looking her over. Up close, she was even more stunning. She was all woman and then some.
Slowly, her head turned, and my breath caught. It was definitely her. Her skin was pale, the freckles I used to tease her over still dusted across her nose and cheeks, and her pink lips were glossy with lipstick. Green eyes, made iridescent by the brilliant ginger of her hair, stared back at me.
“Ryan?”
Her voice sounded the same, too.
“Yeah. Are you okay?” I asked, my gaze flicking to the suitcase, then back to her.
“I just caught my fiancé screwing another woman…in my bed,” she declared. She just let it rip like a single day hadn’t passed since we’d last seen each other.
“Hunter?” I asked, her declaration opening up an old wound.Fiancé?
She nodded.
“Ah, shit,” I cursed. “I’m sorry.”
“The taxi didn’t come,” she went on. “So I walked, but I took a wrong turn, and now I don’t know what to do.”
From looking at her, I gathered she was lost because she was upset. If her head were screwed on right, she would’ve flagged down any of the half dozen taxis that had passed us while we’d been standing here. Jade was always overconfident, overorganized, and extremely loud. I wondered if she still swore like a drunken sailor.
“I’ll flag a cab for you if you want,” I said. “Where are you going?”
She shrugged. “A hotel, I guess.”
“A hotel? Don’t you have any friends that would let you crash?” I racked my brain to think of the girls she used to hang with at school. Posh bitches who always turned their noses up at me. “Marigold, Margarine, Mag… Whatever her name was.”
“Margaret,” she replied, her lips quirking.Good, a smile.
“You still friends with her and those other girls?”
She nodded. “I don’t want… They can’t know what’s happened.”
I frowned. “Why not? They’re your friends, right? Friends are supposed to do shit like this.”
“I can’t.”
I scowled. Some friends she had if she couldn’t turn to them when things got rough.
“I’m sorry,” Jade said, looking at me with her Bambi eyes. “This wasn’t how I imaged things going.”
“Nobody expects to be cheated on,” I said with a shrug. “No sweat.”
“No, that’s not what I meant…” She sighed, lowering her gaze. “I meant, this wasn’t how I imaginedthisgoing.”
