Page 8 of Inspiring Izzy

"Gee, thanks," I shake my head.

"Listen, Iz, I like Steve, but you weren'tyouwith him," he gives me a pitiful pat on the shoulder. "You were a more reserved, less exciting Izzy Thompson."

"I've never been exciting," I counter.

"You bungee jumped with Brady," Liam grins. "And he took you rock climbing, which was totally badass, by the way.He pushed you outside your boundaries and you had the time of your life. When you got with Steve, you stopped having fun. Brady brought out the best in you."

"Yeah," I scoff, "except Brady was a liar who was in a relationship with someone else."

"That you knew about," Liam says pointedly.

I exhale. He's right. I can't play the victim here. I knew about Maya the whole time. I knew they were on a break. I knew Brady wasn't looking for anything serious. I knew when they got back together and I kept chasing him anyway.

"Love is complicated," is all I say. "And I was young. So young."

"Hang in there, Iz. Things will get better," Liam advises before standing from the barstool. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I am going to go dance."

I wave him off. "Knock yourself out. I'll be here."Wallowing in self-pity.

Liam saunters over to the blond and the next thing I see can only be described as a visually nauseating display of hedonism.

I hold up my finger and the bartender walks over.

"Water," I say as he glances at my empty glass.

I lay my forehead on the gummy bartop as a warm body plops into the seat beside me.

"Izzy Thompson?" I hear.

Groaning, I lift my head off the sticky top. "Yeah?"

"It's me, Eliott." I squint, trying to figure out if I know the red-headed guy sitting next to me. His feet don't touch the floor and there's a gap between his front teeth. He looks familiar. Where do I know him from?

"Uh..." I trail off.

"From high school," he supplies. "We were lab partners."

Oh, right. "Eliott, how are you?"

He laughs nervously. "I had the biggest crush on you when we were in high school."

"Did you?" I swallow thickly.Great. I'm already getting hit on and I've only been here five minutes.

"I heard you were back in town," Eliott licks his thin lips. "And that you didn't bring your husband with you."

"You heard correctly," I grimace, frantically checking over my shoulder for Liam. He invited me here. He should be keeping former high school lab partners from hitting on me.

But no, he's sucking face with the chick he was making googly eyes at earlier. They'll probably go back to her hotel room and spend the night defiling every surface with their nauseating displays of hedonism.

Eliott scoots closer and runs his finger down my arm in an unnerving move. "I'm sure it's been a while since you've been intimate with someone. I'd like to take you home and do all the dirty things I thought about doing to you when we were in Chemistry together. I used to fantasize about you so many times."

Ew.

Red fury—blinding and bright—pumps through my veins.

My face heats with anger before grabbing his disgusting finger and yanking it off me. "I'm not in the mood to be hit on, Eliott. I don't care if you jerked off to thoughts of me in high school. It doesn't give you the right to approach me for sex now. I am going through a divorce, I am a single mother, and the last thing on my mind is going home with you and your inappropriateadvances. Don't ever touch me again." He goes to say something, but I add, "On second thought, stop jerking off to thoughts of me. Get some therapy."

I grab my glass of water and spin out of my chair, fuming as I find a corner to sulk in.

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