“I didn’t know you guys had broken up,” a voice said behind me. I turned around to face Milo, who looked a mixture of strained and humorous.
“Yeah,” I replied with a frown. “It’s a recent development.”
“I guess so. I thought you guys were going to tackle each other there for a minute. I wasn’t sure if it was because you wanted to kill each other or jump each other’s bones.”
I smirked at that. “Well, I’ll tell you which one I felt like doing, and then you can be sure she felt the other one.”
Milo chuckled. “So what happened between the last time we saw you and when you broke up?”
Shaking my head, I glanced across the yard where Saidy stood next to Andrea and the other man who had been standing here earlier. My heart dipped, imagining her talking to that guy. Flirting with him. Falling in love with him. Okay, so I was spiraling a little fast, but that was exactly what had happened with us in the beginning. I didn’t like watching her with another man; didn’t want her to have the same opportunity to do the same thing with this dude.
“Oh, hey, is that your mom who just walked in?” I pointed over my shoulder to where Milo’s mother had indeed walked in, along with Andrea’s mom.
“We’d better go say hi or I’ll be in trouble,” Milo muttered. “Andrea!”
Andrea looked up from her conversation with Saidy and gave him a wave when she saw their mothers converging on them.
“I’ll be right there,” she called as she motioned for the man to follow her. I didn’t know who he was, but I felt utter relief when he walked away with Andrea.
I tipped my bottle toward Saidy in acknowledgement. She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her fingers against her elbow.
She glared. I smirked.
And that was when I realized something.
She’d nominated me for World’s Worst Boyfriend. Which meant she was angry. And while an angry Saidy was terrifying, it also meant she still felt something toward me. Maybe I could channel that anger into wanting to fix our relationship instead of demeaning it.
I loved Saidy. I would never do anything to hurt her. But maybe I hadn’t done enough. Maybe I hadn’t given her enough reasons to feel passionate toward me.
Maybe it was time I finally fought for her in the way she deserved.
Chapter Thirteen
Saidy
After work later that week, Zoe convinced me to go get dinner with her and a friend.
They were meeting at a popular restaurant and bar with a dance floor. I’d agreed.
And I regretted it. The Fletcher bashing had started the minute I sat down. While I knew he was no hero, I also didn’t think he deserved to be shredded the way Zoe was going after him.
The hurt in his eyes a couple of days before at Milo and Andrea’s party pained me. I knew I shouldn’t have entered him into the stupid contest. It was petty. And I didn’t like to be petty. I should have ended our relationship on a classy note.
Instead, I was sitting here listening to my friend tell me all the ways my boyfriend sucked.
It felt gross.
She hadn’t even bothered to introduce me to her friend. A girl sitting there fairly aloof, scanning the dance floor like she was measuring the options.
“Hi, I’m Saidy, by the way,” I cut off Zoe’s tirade and reached across the table to shake her hand. She smiled, extending her hands at the same moment. We had an awkward laugh as I reached for the hand closest to me.
“I’m Bee.”
“So great to meet you. But I feel like I’ve maybe met you before. You seem familiar somehow.”
“I know who you are,” she said with a little smile.
Zoe butted in, “You know that podcast I got you hooked on? Well, this is Bee!”
Bee. Bee Best podcast. The podcast I’d just been defending to Fletcher that weekend. My stomach dropped as I realized what that could mean.
They knew. Zoe and Bee both knew what a petty queen I was.
“You entered him into that contest and didn’t even tell me!” Zoe pushed. “I had to find out from Bee who the winner was.”
So much for the one-hundred-percent confidentiality they’d promised. Fletcher calling it a dumb podcast might not be completely off the mark if they couldn’t keep their confidentiality clause.
I gave Bee a tight smile as I leaned back in my chair. “Yes, not my finest moment.”
“I know.” Both Bee and Zoe nodded in agreement. “Next time you need to listen to me and break up with him sooner.”
That wasn’t what I’d been referring to.
“No more cheating, loser boyfriends!” Zoe cheered loudly. I contemplated hiding under the table, as several heads swung our way.
It wasn’t until I watched Zoe chug her drink that her words sank in.
“Wait, Fletcher was a lot of things, but he wasn’t a cheater. What did you mean by that?”
Zoe shrugged. “One day I saw him driving with another woman in his car. And I didn’t want to tell you. I didn’t want you to be hurt.”
“And when was this?”
“Just last week.”
I slowly relaxed. “Well, we were already broken up by then. Besides, having someone ride in the car with you doesn’t mean he was doing anything.”
Bee made a sympathetic sound, “Oh, honey, you’re in straight-up denial right now.”
I glared at her thinking she was going to lose at least one listener’s support before the night was through. “Where did you see him?”
“He was practically in her seat.” Zoe paused for dramatic affect. “And he was making out with her. In his car. So much tongue.”
“Wait, I thought you said he was driving?”
She waved a hand through the air. “It was the way he was looking at her. Disgusting. We didn’t want to tell you…”
I could tell that she did want to tell me. But whether Fletcher had been kissing another woman or not shouldn’t have mattered to me anymore. But for some reason it did.
“What was it he got you for your birthday this year?” She pretended to think about it.
I rolled my eyes. “He gave me socks.”
“Socks!” she cried out. “That man is not worth your time!”
“You know what? I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” I said firmly. Zoe’s favorite thing to do was shred people, and she could go on for hours.
“Okay. The first thing you need to do is find a guy to make you forget him.”
“Actually, I don’t think that’s very healthy…” I tried to say but they cut me off.
“Oh, look at that Hottie McHottie!”
They grinned together and stared in the direction of the bar.
“Oh, that won’t work for Saidy because I think he’s looking at me,” Zoe said. She flipped her hair back and lifted her hand in a little greeting.
I turned to look; it was awkward as hell trying to do it subtly. There were several men lined up at the bar, but there was only one who was what would be considered traditionally handsome.
Holy cow. It was Sullivan Keene.
My knight in a shiny SUV stood leaning against the bar looking in our direction when the bartender passed him a drink—whiskey on the rocks.
This was the third time I’d run into him. Not completely strange. Riverly wasn’t a huge town. But it was big enough that something about our seeing each other was beginning to feel like fate.
“I think he’s coming over here,” Bee whispered excitedly. “This will be the perfect time to show Saidy how to get the most out of a man. She’s been a doormat too long.”
“Good evening,” Sullivan said as he reached our table. He walked straight past the girls to stand next to my chair and extended his hand toward me. “I was hoping we would meet again when we had more time to talk—or was less scary than the middle of the night.”
I laughed and shook his hand. “Trust me, you made that circumstance so much less scary than it could have been, and it wasn’t quite the middle of the
night. And besides, I know where you live, remember?”
He smiled and held onto my hand. I studied his eyes. Intelligent eyes with a sparkle in them.
Someone cleared their throat.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Sullivan, this is Zoe and Bee. This is Sullivan. He’s the nice man who helped me when I had car trouble.”
“Why don’t you sit down and join us?” Bee asked as she patted the seat next to her.
“Thank you,” Sullivan nodded, but sat down on the chair next to me. “No boyfriend tonight again?”
He took a sip of the whiskey, studying me over the rim of his glass. I wasn’t sure I wanted to tell him that Fletcher was my ex-boyfriend. It felt weird to tell him that the guy who worked on his security system was my ex.
“Unfortunately, there won’t be a boyfriend on any night.” I shook my head and took a sip from my glass.
“I’m sorry…” he said, looking anything but.
“Thank you, you seem so sincere,” I told him with raised eyebrows.
He just grinned. “But I’m not sorry for me. Would you like to grab dinner this week?”
A small gasp sounded across the table from me. Like they were shocked someone would be interested in me.
I looked at him in surprise. “Well, I only just broke up with him—”
“She’s fresh off a breakup. But I could keep you company while you wait on her.” Zoe cut in with a sly smile. And there it was. The first play for any man who had an interest in me. I could count on it like clockwork from her. Fletcher and I had already been dating for a while before I ever introduced him to Zoe. It was probably the only thing that prevented her from asking him out too.
Sullivan chuckled as he leaned back in his chair. But ignored Zoe’s statement as he rested his hand on the back of my chair. “Do you like Italian?” he asked me.
That elusive shrimp scampi. I still hadn’t gotten myself any of that. “Yes, I do.”
“Perfect. We’ll figure out a time that works for both our calendars. I know you’re a busy woman.” With a wink, he pushed a lock of hair behind my ear and stood up. “Ladies. Wonderful to meet you.”
He saluted my friends with his whiskey glass, then sauntered off to the bar.
“Wowzer, girl. I expected you to be all over that,” Bee said in surprise.
Explaining that strange, uneasy feeling I got from Sullivan would not go over well with the girls. So, I leaned forward and rested my elbows on the table. “I just broke up with Fletch! I’m not going to jump back into dating this soon. That’s ridiculous.”
“It sounds like you have a date. So, I guess you are jumping back into the dating pool.” Zoe wasn’t smiling as she said it. In fact, she was still staring at Sullivan and looked like she was about to start drooling on the table in his absence.
He still wasn’t as good looking as Fletcher. I shook my head. “You guys are ridiculous. I’m going to use the restroom. I’ll be back in a little bit.”
I gathered my jacket and purse, then walked down the corridor toward the bathroom.
I yelped when a set of large hands grabbed my waist from behind, pushing me into a small room. The sound of a door slamming sounded off like a canon. I was locked in a closet-sized room with a stranger.
I spun around and tried to knee my assailant but caught him on the outside of his thigh unfortunately.
The small room lit up when the man flipped the light switch. “Geez, Saidy. Don’t knee me there!”
My breath came more rapidly as I glared at the World’s Worst Boyfriend. “What do you think you are doing? What are you doing here?”
I hadn’t even noticed him out in the bar. As a matter of fact, I knew he hadn’t been in the main room of the bar. Zoe and Bee’s thorough perusal of anything remotely male would have picked up on Fletcher.
“I needed to talk to you.” His earnest face bent down to my level.
“So you waited in the hall and dragged me into a supply closet? Thanks, but no thanks. I’m going home now. Get out of my way, Fletch.”
The strong smell of cleaning supplies burned my nostrils. Several large mops sat in buckets and looked like they’d seen a little too much use.
He kept a firm but gentle grip on my hips as he whispered, “So it’s still Fletch, huh?”
Shaking my head rapidly, I answered, “No, I meant Fletch-er. Er.”
I took a deep breath trying to calm my racing heart and tingling nerves. All I got was a breath full of bleach. “Can you please move out of the way so that I can leave?”
“I’ve been worried about you.” He sounded so sincere, and those puppy dog eyes were nearly more than I could resist. But I managed. “Why was Sullivan talking to you?”
“I don’t think that has anything to do with you anymore.” I folded my arms across my chest, but that meant I was touching Fletcher’s chest.
Fletcher worked his jaw back and forth as he pushed the brim of his baseball cap up. “He’s moving too fast. I don’t like it.”
“You don’t have to like it, but if you don’t let me out of here, I’m going to scream so that this entire restaurant comes down on you.”
With a frustrated groan he stepped out of the way, even opening the door for me. I looked both ways to make sure the hall was empty before I stepped outside. Instead of walking toward the bathroom, my original destination, I turned back toward the main restaurant. I wanted to avoid being in a dark hallway with Fletcher any longer than necessary. My self-control wasn’t a well-used muscle concerning him.
As I approached the table, I realized the Zoe was out on the dance floor, and Bee had a man sitting very close to her. She definitely “couldn’t fit a Bible between them” as my mom liked to say.
I didn’t feel like sitting back down. I didn’t feel like listening to them tear Fletcher or me apart any longer. I wanted to go home. I wanted to know why Fletcher had been waiting in the hall for me. Had he been watching me? I wasn’t sure if I should be concerned or flattered that he was still that hung up on me.
The girls probably wouldn’t even miss me.
So, without a second thought, I weaved past the tables and made my way out to the parking lot.
Walking into the center of the lot, I glanced around for my car before I remembered that they had given me a ride that night.
“Missing something?”
I turned around to find Sullivan standing next to his SUV.
I laughed. “You always seem to be catching me when I’m having car trouble.”
Sullivan smiled and walked closer to me, his hands resting in his pockets. “What seems to be the problem this time?”
“I forgot that I didn’t bring my car.”
“That does seem to be a problem,” he agreed. “Luckily, I have room for two in mine. I can drop you off wherever you need to go.”
“I can’t ask you to do that again.”
“Please. It would be my pleasure.” He winked and held his hand out toward me, guiding me to the passenger side of his car. He opened the door and guided—pushed, really—me into the seat.
I told him my address again and he took a minute to enter it into his GPS, saying that he was horrible at remembering directions even if he’d been to a place before. The drive home was quick, my house was only about five minutes from the restaurant, but when he pulled into my driveway, he shut the car off.
“I’d like to walk you to the door, if that’s all right.”
I glanced at my dark house, then back at him with a raised eyebrow.
He chuckled. “I promise no ulterior motives, though if you were wanting me to have some, I’d be happy to oblige.”
He squeezed my hand. A cold sweat broke out at the base of my neck. I laughed nervously. Fletcher might have been a pain in the butt, but he’d never pressured me into anything. “Well, like I said earlier, I think I need some time to get over my ex. Besides, we have that Italian dinner first.”
Sullivan nodded, releasing my hand. “Of course. I’m looking forward to dinner, even i
f it’s only as a friend.”
I gave him a tight-lipped smile. “I appreciate that.” With that, I hopped out of the car and hurried up the sidewalk to my front door. I unlocked it and stepped inside.
I left the lights off as I watched Sullivan drive off into the distance.
I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. All the first-time jitters were worse than I remembered. That must have been the reason I was uncomfortable around him. I’d forgotten what it was like to have a man want to charm you.
I turned around to flick the lamp on in the living room.
And screamed.
There was a man sitting on my couch.
Chapter Fourteen
Saidy
“I figured since you didn’t like the supply closet, that you’d rather talk here,” Fletcher said after I stopped screaming. He looked incredibly comfortable sitting on my couch.
“Right after I kill you.” I stomped past him into the kitchen to make some tea. “Are you stalking me?”
“No!” He stood up and followed me. He pulled the blue light glasses from his face and set them on the counter. “I was meeting someone else there. I didn’t know you would be at the bar.”
“A likely story,” I muttered, pulling my eyes away from the muscles flexing on his forearms.
He leaned forward and planted a hand on the countertop. Those muscles were doing a happy dance again. “Who dropped you off just now?”
I ignored him and asked, “Where’s your car and how did you get into my house?”
“I asked you a question first.” His voice carried a note of authority he’d never used on me before—well, except that one time when I was cheating at game night. (Sue me. I suck at Monopoly.)
“Why are you in my house?” I shut off the water and set the teapot down on the counter, clicking it on to boil the water.
Opening another cupboard, I tried to reach the extra boxes of tea on the top shelf. Climbing onto the counter to reach, I dug around until I found a box of sleepy lavender tea.
World's Worst Boyfriend: A Romantic Comedy Adventure (Fake It Book 3) Page 11
