Page 43 of Foul & Fake
“Do you?” I ask aggressively, leaning forward on the table to brace on my arms and keep his eyes on me. “Looks a little different from where I’m sitting, Dennis. Maybe you should clear the air, huh? Why’d you ask her to come here? Because I know it wasn’t her.”
His eyes flick to Riley, who answers for him. “It was me, Eli. I asked him to come here, to a public place, so I could ask him questions for an article I’m writing for class.”
Goddamnit.
How am I supposed to feel justified in punching this asshat in the face if she’s the one reaching out to him? “And did he answer your questions?”
I’m still watching him squirm under my sharp gaze as Riley gets even more irritated. “Some of them,” she mutters. “We just got here.”
I stare at him a full minute longer before I finally turn and look at her. “You’ve been here long enough. Excuse the fuck out of me for feeling a little left out of your coffee date with your ex fuck. Is there a reason this couldn’t have been an email? No, actually, is there a reason you kept this a secret and met up this far from campus?”
Riley’s blushing for the wrong reasons this time as Dennis scoffs. “Is there a reason you don’t trust your girlfriend?”
“It’s fine,” she says quickly. “I got what I needed, so thank you, Dennis.”
He seems to feel the threat when my head swivels his way, because I catch the flinch in his shoulders even though he’s trying not to show it. “Ask that question one more time? I don’t think I heard you correctly.”
“You clearly don’t trust her, so why are you with her? Every time I see you two together, she looks fucking embarrassed and you look pissed off at her for existing.”
He might be right, but it’s obvious he’s the common denominator there. He’s never seen us in a good moment because he’s actively trying to get in between us, and it’s time I prove to him that he can’t. I never liked this coffee shop anyway.
Huffing, I stand from the table so abruptly their coffees spill, and as he moves to do the same, my fist meets him halfway to shove him right back down.
Several people scream as he collapses into his chair and slides right off onto his ass, but he gets up quickly with fury lining his face as he rubs his jaw. “Yeah, you clearly trust her. My bad.” His eyes flick to my girl. “Don’t call me again. Good luck with your article.”
He walks out as one of the baristas hustles over, and I take one angry glance at my split knuckles and fight the urge to chase him. What a bitch. The least he could have done is hit me back.
“Get out!” she screams, phone in hand like she’s about to call it in, and I hold up my hands in surrender.
“I’m leaving. Come on, Riley.”
She’s staring at the table with her jaw clenched, standing roughly and walking out without me.
I wait until we’re outside and she’s still speed walking ahead of me to catch up and try to talk to her. “Baby, wait.”
I grab her hand so she doesn’t have a choice but to face me, but she wrenches away so hard, I flinch. “What the actual fuck is wrong with you?”
How much time do we have?
“I don’t know,” I admit. “The thought of him touching you again makes me fucking crazy.”
“We’re not dating!” she snaps. “It’s not fucking real, Elias. We have a break-up date already. And he wasn’t touching me anyway, he was helping me with an article I’m writing. We met out here because I thought it would be less likely anyone would see us and question our fucking sham of a relationship, but I guess I was wrong. Maybe I’ll go to the moon next time.”
“We fucking are dating,” I snap back. “Until that date comes, you’re mine. And I don’t share, Riley.”
She huffs. “I wasn’t asking you to share. I didn’t touch him, nor did I have any plans to. He’s right, you don’t trust me, which is weird considering that you’ve made it so abundantly clear what you’ll do to me if I don’t behave perfectly.”
“This isn’t just about trusting you, I don’t trust him. I don’t trust dudes. How do you not see that?”
“Oh, I get it,” she says sarcastically. “You thought he was going to rape me in the middle of a coffee shop.”
Rape? Jesus. “No. That’s not what I mean. I wouldn’t put it past some guys, but I was meaning he’d try and get you back.”
“Which means you didn’t trust me to say no if he tried.” She turns away from me, but doesn’t take a single step. “It’s a good thing you don’t expect this to last past New Year’s.”
Stepping in, I let her feel my body behind her as I wrap my arms around her. “You don’t have a clue what I expect to happen, Riley,” I say low in her ear.
Because neither do I.
