Page 69 of Just the Tipsy
“We’re 100% done, Kyler. You cheated on me and made it extremely clear that you’re only interested in me because of who my father is,” I say, crossing my arms over my chest.
“No, I didn’t!” He pauses. “I mean, yes to the cheating part, but that was only physical, babe. It didn’t mean anything.”
I roll my eyes. “Okay, sure.”
“Be honest though, B.” Kyler sighs. “You never came. You always acted like sex was a chore. It just wasn’t your thing. I have needs. And as for your dad…I don’t know. Like, if the cheating was just a physical thing, why does your dad have to blackball me?”
I can’t stop the laugh from bursting from my mouth. He looks genuinely confused. Like he didn’t put in the bare minimum amount of effort into sex. Like going out and banging some other models wasn’t a huge ass deal, regardless of whether there were any emotions involved. Like my protective father wouldn’t want to murder him for what he did. Blackballing is the least of his worries.
“You saying that just shows me how little you know me and how dead our relationship is.” I scoff. I nearly tell him that sex definitelyismy thing, especially with Waylon, but I don’t want him to go off on another streak of excuses. I turn to go back inside.
“Bianca, please,” he says, gently grabbing my shoulder. I shake him off. “I’ll do anything. I’ll give you extra money to invest in that spa thing you wanted to do.”
That spa thing. Even the way he phrases it makes it sound dismissive.
“Money won’t fix it,” I say. “Just go home, Kyler. There’s nothing you can say to fix this.”
“Bianca.” He tries to grab my hand again, right as Waylon steps outside.
“Don’t touch her,” Waylon says, taking my hand and gently tugging me back. “I don’t have to hear her say anything to understand she doesn’t want to talk to you.”
“You’re really her boyfriend?” Kyler looks Waylon up and down. As if he can even vaguely compare to Waylon.
“Yes.” Waylon steps up to Kyler, making Kyler take a few steps back. Waylon is usually so gentle that I forget how physically imposing he is. “So you have no reason to talk to her anymore. Leave, or I can make sure you do. Don’t touch my girl, ever.”
“If you touch me, I’ll call my lawyer.” Kyler takes a few more steps back.
Waylon laughs. “I don’t think I’d have to lay a finger on you to get you to leave, man.”
“I’m tired of this shit,” Kyler finally says. “I’m leaving. Voluntarily. You’ll regret this, Bianca.”
“Okay, sure,” Waylon says with a scoff. “Bye.”
Waylon keeps an eye on him until he disappears around the corner.
“I’m sorry,” he says, his body language softening with Kyler out of his sight. “I know you were handling it but when he touched you, I kind of lost it.”
I smile at Waylon’s version of ‘losing it’. Yeah, he was clearly pissed and he definitely isn’t the kind of guy that people mess with, but he stayed as levelheaded as he could possibly be. I liked that — I’d seen Kyler fly off the handle before, mostly at people he assumed were lesser.
God, what did I ever see in Kyler? And how could I think that Waylon would ever turn out to be a dick like he was? Kyler was flinging out little red flags for so long, and I ignored them into they were hitting me in the face. Waylon’s been green flag after green flag.
“It’s fine. Thank you. He wasn’t really leaving me alone so I needed some backup.” I sigh, resisting the urge to lean into him. But he steps forward and I end up leaning against him anyway.
He smells nice and clean, but as always, he isn’t wearing any overpowering scents. His arm goes around my back in a hug and we just stand there for several seconds.
“You want to sit out here and get some air for a while longer?” Waylon asks, gesturing to a bench along the outer wall of the bar.
“Sure, yeah.” I don’t know if I can go back inside and act like everything’s fine with Rose just yet.
We sit down, our thighs pressed against each other, and I lean back into the bench with a sigh. The more distance I get from the incident, the more surreal it feels. How did Kyler find me? I’m sure he still has the means at this point, not that he will forever with the trajectory his career is on. But still, it’s terrifying. Imagine if he were actually threatening? Then what would I do?
I take a deep breath and let it out. It doesn’t really matter - I doubt he’ll come back after seeing Waylon and I together. He’s not the brightest but he’s fully aware he’d get his ass kicked if it came down to it.
“He cheated on you?” Waylon asks, his voice soft.
“Mmhm.” I brush at a bit of dust on my jeans. “Honestly, when I found out, I stayed quiet about it for a long time. I just could not believe he’d do it and barely cover his tracks. It was almost insulting but mostly it just hurt.”
Waylon nods, looking at an undefined point in front of him.
