Page 54 of Reverse Pass
“Finally going to admit we’re catching feelings, are we?” Joss raises her eyebrow at me.
My phone vibrates and I see a text from Cameron giving me the time and address of our dinner reservation.
“I don’t know. Maybe. And on top of all of this I have to have dinner with Cameron. Apparently, so I can listen to round two of why I deserve a scarlet letter.”
“Why are we still talking to him, exactly?”
“We were together five years? Engaged?”
“And then he wanted to fuck strange pussy.”
One of the more senior curators just happens to pass by at that moment, and I swear she literally clutches her pearls.
“Sorry Dr. Carter!” Joss calls out and then turns to me whispering, “I swear we can have graphic depictions of vulvas all over the wall as long as they have an exhibit label but say the word pussy and the sky is falling. Zero sense with this lot.”
“Agreed.”
We help a few more guests, and then she looks at me expectantly.
“What?”
“You still haven’t given me a good reason for continuing to entertain Cameron’s bullshit.”
“Old habits die hard.” I shrug.
“I will buy you as many nicotine patches as your heart desires if you cut that one out.”
“You’re such a good friend.”
“I know!”
Another wave of guests come to the bar, sensing the party is winding down and the free wine wells are about to run dry, and we barely get another word in for the rest of the night.
EIGHTEEN
Ben
I needto get some dinner. I’m starving after another round at the gym and dying to get something out of the kitchen, but I hesitate to go out to the living room. Cameron came home a little bit ago after his conference was over to wait for Violet to take her out to dinner. Joss had texted to warn me about it, but now I’m stuck hiding in my room like a bitch hoping he’s going to leave, so I don’t have to deal with any awkward confrontations.
I hadn’t heard everything that was said this morning, but enough to know Violet hadn’t slept in the room with him and that he was very aware that I had been sleeping in her room with her. As happy as I would be to rub that in the cocky fucker’s face, I’m just now back in coach’s good graces and a week away from coming off the bench. The last thing I need is any trouble that lands me on his wrong side again.
But I’m hungry, and Cameron’s a professional, a doctor who is nearly a decade my senior. I should be able to get my dinner reheated out of my kitchen without bullshit. I talk myself into doing it, but when I get to the fridge and see him drinking something on the rocks in the dining room, I know I’ve made the wrong decision. His eyes lock onto me the second he hears me, and I can tell from the way he stares I have a target on my back.
“Bet ya thought it was hilarious listening to me talk you and your draft chances up yesterday not knowing you were fucking my fiancée behind my back,” he mutters loud enough for me to hear.
“I didn’t think it was anything.” I keep my tone even as I pull out the boxes from the fridge.
“If you think she and I aren’t anything, you’re in for a fucking world of hurt. She still texts me regularly. Still tells me she loves me. She tell you that?”
“She’s told me that your engagement’s off and you’re sampling everything on the foreign menu,” I say tightly, shoveling the food out onto a plate.
“That’s rich coming from someone who’s probably put his dick in every other coed on campus. You better not give her a fucking STI or hurt her in any fucking way.”
The implication that I would ever put Violet in danger hits a nerve, and I slam the silverware to the counter surface.
“If you think for a second, I would do anything to hurt her, you don’t know fucking anything about me or her.”
“I know her a hell of a lot better than you do. You think cause she’s bored sitting at home waiting for me and decides to fuck you a few times that means something? It doesn’t.” He stands, shoving the glass he’d been drinking out of to the side.
