Page 50 of Rush
“Where were you yesterday?” she demanded the moment I answered the call. “You never showed up for brunch. We couldn’t wait, you know.”
“I’ve been busy,” I replied.Thanks for the hello, how are you. Anything I can do for you, Jade?
“With?”
I could envisage the stamp of her foot like a toddler throwing a temper tantrum because they couldn’t get a second cookie. To Margaret, the undercurrent of my excuse meant there were more important things in my life than her. She was the center of the universe after all. My optic nerve was getting RSI from all the eye rolling, and at any moment, my eyeballs would pop out.
“The post-Hunter fallout,” I replied, rubbing my eyes.
Margaret let out ahumph. “Well, I suppose we can let you off the hook.This time.”
“Listen, I’m sorry, but I’ve got a lot to do. I’ve got to find a new place to live, sort out my bank accounts, move my things out of Hunter’s place…”
“Find somewhere to live?” she asked. “I would’ve thought you’d sorted that out first thing last Saturday. Where have you been the last week?”
Knowing her, I bet she hoped for me to say the wordsslumming itso she had some ammunition, just like the numerous screenshots of Facebook posts and private messages she had saved in a folder named ‘blackmail fodder.’ I should’ve hung up right then and there, but I was alone and desperate for any shred of kindness I could scrape out of the gutter, so I told her.
“I’ve been staying with Ryan.”
“Ryan?” She sounded confused. “Ryan who?”
“Harper.”
“Ryan Harper?” she shrieked. “That piece of trash? He’s still a thing?”
“He’s not trash,” I said, hissing. Just because she looked down her nose at him back in high school didn’t mean we all had to.
“How did you even find him?” Margaret went on, ignoring me. “Isn’t he, like, in jail or something?”
“No, he’s not in jail. He’s a professional athlete, thank you very much.”
“An athlete?” Her ears were pricking up. “What kind?”
“Mixed Martial Arts. Ultimate Fighting,” I explained.
“Well, you always had him wrapped around your finger. I’m sure it was easy to get him to agree to let you stay at his place.”
Great, even Margaret thought I was a manipulative piece of shit.
“How was he?” she asked coyly.
“Excuse me?”
“How was he in bed, Jade.”
“Ugh.” I immediately hung up the call, knowing I was digging my hole deeper and deeper. My impulse control was completely shot to hell.
Margaret could throw anything she wanted at me. Let her fucking try. Considering I was about to spend the night sleeping in Hunter’s BMW, I was pretty sure there wasn’t anything lower than this.
Jade Forsyth’s ass was scraping on rock bottom.
18
Ryan
Pulse lookeddifferent after a week away. Nothing had changed, but deep down, I knew I had. The last week had been incredible, but now it was all ruined.
The first thing I’d done when I’d walked through the doors was dive headfirst back into training like I’d never stopped. Focusing on another kind of pain was a mediocre salve for a deeper hurt, but it was all I had left. In time, all memory of Jade would fade away, and I would forget everything about her.
