Page 58 of Rush
“Don’t they?” Margaret said in agreement.
Like a one-piece bathing suit was infringing on someone’s copyright. Nancy’s designs were her own, and her success was well deserved.Jealous rats.
Glancing out the window, that job at the sewerage farm was looking mighty fine. At this rate, I might even supply my own toothbrush so I could get into all those tight little nooks and crannies.
“Can I tell you a secret?” Margaret asked, keeping her voice hushed. “It’s a little naughty…”
“Of course,” Belinda said. “You can tell us anything.”
“No judgment here,” Heather chimed in.
I rolled my eyes, but no one was paying any attention. No judgment? Please, this place was rife with it.
“Do you promise?” Margaret asked.
“Have we ever let you down?” Heather said, gushing.
“Okay… I ran into a guy I used to know at the gym,” she began. “He’s hot as hell, sweet, and totally interested.”
Belinda’s mouth fell open, and I reached for a second macaroon.
“I’m tempted,” Margaret said, searching for her phone in her Hermès Birkin handbag. “He’s really hot…and he practically propositioned me on the spot. I admit…I was turned on.”
“Did he see your ring?” I drawled, earning myself a scathing look from Heather. “Divorces are more costly than engagements.”
“You wouldn’t!” Belinda exclaimed, completely ignoring me.
“You would cheat on Justin?” Heather asked, looking aghast. It paralleled what I was feeling inside, and I restrained the urge to throw down then and there. Of all the insensitive bitches…
Zoning out before I did something that would get me thrown out of yet another hotel, I thought about Ryan. I wondered what he was doing now. If he’d already moved on, if he’d gotten his fight yet, and if he’d been thinking about me. It was completely selfish to hope he was still interested after I’d blatantly used him like I had, but I still hoped.
The entire point about the bucket list week was growing as a person through the experiences I’d never had, right? I was more than my job and my relationship, and underneath all of the shallow bullshit I’d naively bought into, there was someone worth knowing.Right?
My life had turned to complete shit, and it had to be for a reason. The universe couldn’t be that cruel, could it? This was my chance to be a better person. If I could learn and grow, then maybe Ryan would take me back. If he could see, then maybe things would turn out okay…but would he even listen?
“See?” Margaret declared, turning her phone around. “Isn’t he just…completely fuckable?”
Completely bored with her latest attempt at having an open relationship with her wet dishrag of a husband, I glanced at her phone. I kind of had to since it was shoved right into my face, and I wouldn’t get out of here alive until I gave her the reaction she was looking for, but when I saw the picture, I blanched, almost throwing up the bright pink macaroon I’d shoved into my mouth earlier.
It was a selfie she took, and in the foreground, she was wearing her gym clothes, looking beautiful and not in the least bit sweaty. Over her shoulder was a face I knew all too well. I remembered the rise and fall of his cheekbones, the angle of his jaw, the taste of his lips… Ryan Harper stood with Margaret—one of my oldest friends, who’d somehow become my mortal enemy for reasons unknown—looking…well, I could neither confirm nor deny his enthusiasm levels, and that was what threw me the most.
Margaret smirked triumphantly. I’d given her the exact reaction she’d been looking for. Horror.
“That’s Ryan Harper,” Belinda exclaimed. “That kid from high school that used to crash all our parties. It’s him, right?”
“He got…ripped,” Heather said, snatching the phone so she could zoom in.
“Didn’t he used to be hot for Jade?” Belinda went on. “He was always hanging around her.”
“She’s sitting right here,” I declared.
“Oh, don’t be so melodramatic, Jade,” Margaret said, flicking her hair. “Just because he’s no longer interested in you, doesn’t mean he can’t be interested in me.”
Her words slapped me around the face, and I was left stunned. Would he sleep with her to get back at me? Margaret Anastas, megabitch? She was married, but then again, she seemed to get off on the fact Hunter had cheated on me for months while she’d known the entire time. Friends were meant to help one another, not tear them down and taunt them with their heartache.
I was stuck, and she didn’t even know how cornered she had me. Poor, homeless, unemployed, heartbroken, and betrayed. If I didn’t have Margaret, Belinda, and Heather, then I had no one. I should’ve walked away right then and there, but my ass was glued to the chair, fear and humiliation welding me in place.
No one liked to be a target. I suppose that was why I never stood up to her bullying and why I was still letting her walk all over me. I wasn’t strong enough to fight anymore. There was no way I could survive losing everything. This poor excuse for a friendship was the last thing I had.
