Bethany
Nothing kills a girl’s lady boner by putting it all out there and hearing nothing in response.
Watching Sexton get off via video makes my pussy pulse with desire and my fingers fly over my clit. I ache to have him here with me right now, burying himself to the hilt in my folds.
I tell him so.
My text is marked as read.
And I never hear another word.
My building orgasm disappears faster than pie at a holiday feast.
I curl beneath the blankets of my bed, an empty cavern yawning where my heart used to be.
What did I do wrong? Why did Sexton bring me to the brink of ecstasy only to abandon me?
I mindfuck this problem to death late into the night. And not in a fun sexy way. Not even a little.
Eventually, I fall into a fitful sleep. When I wake up in the thin light of morning, the insides of my eyelids feel like sandpaper.
And I’m mad.
Mad as hell.
Because what in the actual fuck?
I can handle rejection. But being strung along, only to be digitally ditched? Yeah, that’s not okay.
I’d never let the heroes of my books act in that way. I sure as hell won’t let myself be used that way in real life.
I thought Sexton my hero.
It turns out he’s a villain.
I don’t intend to let him get away with it.
On my drive to Santa’s Workshop, I dial Tansy, set my device to speakerphone, and fill my bestie in on what’s going down.
By the time we’re parked side by side, she’s as seething as I am. Maybe more.
“I’m going to kill that guy,” she declares, springing from her car. “Like, full-on throttle him. Maybe with a side of castration.”
I don’t know how I still possess the ability to find things funny, but I can’t stop myself from snorting. “Overkill much? Er, no pun intended.”
She shakes her finger in my face. “Not after what he did to you!”
I cock my head at my friend. “You going to be okay? I need a wing woman, not a murderer.”
Tansy hauls in a series of deep breaths. “I’m fine. Just pissed. He’s got some fucking nerve.”
“I completely agree,” I say grimly, heading into the theme park. “We’re going to have words.”
“And if that doesn’t pan out, I’m right here.” She brandishes her fists.
“Cool it, Ronda Rousey,” I say, invoking the infamous female MMA fighter. “I doubt it’ll come to that. I just have a few things to get off my chest and then I’m erasing Sexton Kail from my memory.”
Tansy sighs. “Wouldn’t it be great if we could just delete shit from our brains like that? One-click that shit right into the trash.”
“I’m damn sure going to try,” I growl.
We round the corner and there he is.
Sexton fucking Kail.
Brushing down a reindeer like he didn’t just take my heart and stamp all over it.
The park isn’t open yet, and I take full advantage of the fact that there are no children around.
“Hey!” I yell from across the cobblestone path. “What the hell, Sexton?”
Those gorgeous eyes are as wide as the saucers at the park’s Christmas Tea With Mrs. Claus event. They lock onto me and I realize that this is the first time Sexton has looked at me — really looked.
“What?” he says.
I stride to stand toe to toe with him. “You know what. And it was really shitty of you.”
Tansy hovers behind me. I hope I won’t have to restrain the woman. I’ve known her long enough to understand that when she says she’s ready for a fight, she means it.
Sexton holds both hands up in surrender. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Really? You have zero memory of how we texted—”
“Sexted,” Tansy interjects.
“You don’t remember our, um, intimate communications of the past few nights?” I continue, glaring at my friend. She backs off a pace. I whirl back to him. “Or how you all but ignored me at work yesterday, then bailed on me last night?”
He shakes his head mutely.
I snort in derision. “I have a hard time believing that. But what I have no problem believing is that you,” I stab my finger toward his chest, “are an asshole.”
He lowers his hands, brow furrowing. “Excuse me?”
“I just have one question for you — why?” My voice is louder than it should be, but I don’t care. I have to get these words out before my courage abandons me. “Why go through all that? Just to hurt me?”
“Look.” Sexton folds his arms over his broad chest. “I seriously have no clue what this is all about. But,” here he sneers, and the expression makes me feel like someone’s just dumped ice down my back, “if I were to get, ah, intimate with anyone, it sure as hell wouldn’t be you. A lame girl like you doesn’t deserve a prize like me.”
“How dare you?” Tansy sputters.
“No,” he turns on her, “how dare you?” His eyes blaze back to me. “You, practically a stranger, come to my place of work to accuse me of what? Breaking your heart? Trust me, I want nothing to do with you. Leave me alone before I call security.”
“Fine,” Tansy says, giving him the finger. “But fuck you, okay?” She moves to depart, but I’m glued to the spot.
“You really mean it, don’t you?” I say slowly, not that my spirit’s not levitating out of my body in shock. I hate every second that Sexton’s gaze is on me, dick of the year that he is — and not in a nice way — but I need to be absolutely certain of what he’s saying. “We didn’t text.”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you,” he snaps.
I fumble in my pocket and come up with my phone. “Here,” I say, not caring how damn desperate I sound. I bring up the text conversation in question and thrust my phone in his face. “Is this your number?”
Sexton squints at my phone’s screen. “Nope,” he says. “Are we done?”
“Yeah, we’re done.” I slide my phone back into my pocket. “And I stand by what I said — you really are a world-class ass.”
I turn on my heel and don’t look back.
Tansy’s backing away, waving both her middle fingers around. I have to physically haul her away from the barn.
“What an absolute waste of a pretty face. You sure you don’t want me to shank him in the parking lot after work?” she growls.
I wave her words away, brain working hard. “Tansy. It wasn’t Sexton I was texting.”
“Good. He’s loathsome. Bullet dodged.”
I shake my head. “Don’t you get it? I never messaged Sexton. I must’ve entered his number into my phone wrong. And then when I called whoever it was the wrong name, of course he got spooked into silence.”
“And?” She’s looking at me like I’ve lost my damn mind. And maybe I have.
But there’s sudden hope blossoming in my chest and I have to know if there’s real reason for it or not.
“That means the connection I felt when I was texting . . . it might be the real deal. But with someone else, not Sexton.”