Naggie grabbed off the floor the strips of material that Tally considered clothes and hauled her out of the bedroom, down the hallway, and kicked her trampy ass out of the house.
“You bitch!” she repeated. “Rob isn’t going to stop seeing me.” Tally was scrambling to put her clothes on as she stood on the front porch. “In fact, he’s been fucking me for the last three months.” She grinned, but she looked like the damn Joker, because her red lipstick was smeared across her face. “You remember that night he went out with his buddies?” Tally slipped her shirt over her head, and the thing barely covered her big, fake tits. “Yeah, met him up there, and he jumped right at the opportunity to get laid good and hard.”
Naggie curled her hand into a fist again and without thinking popped Tally right in the side of the head. The bitch fell backward, hit the ground on her bare ass, and instantly blood started to drip down her lip.
“You psychotic—”
“He’s all yours, bitch.” Naggie slammed the door shut and locked it, and then she was storming back in the bedroom. Rob already had his pants on, but she couldn’t even look at him she was so pissed and disgusted.
“Naggie, I’m really sorry.”
“Shut the fuck up.” She turned and grabbed her bag out of the closet.
“Don’t leave. Tally means nothing, absolutely nothing to me. She was just a fuck, and—”
Naggie spun around and narrowed her eyes on Rob until he snapped his mouth closed. “And how in the hell is that supposed to make me feel better?” Before he could respond, she shook her head. “You know what? It doesn’t even fucking matter. I’m done. You cheat on me once, you’ll always do it. Hell, you probably have been screwing a slew of chicks since we’ve been together.”
When he didn’t answer and she saw his throat work as he swallowed, she knew right then that this whole relationship had been a joke.
“Wow, you dirty motherfucker.” She turned and grabbed her clothes hanging up and shoved them in her bag.
“Please, let’s talk.” Rob came up to her and grabbed her arm, but on instinct she turned around and brought her fist across his cheek.
“Don’t touch me. You don’t ever get that right again.” It had felt damn good to hit Tally, but there was even more pleasure in doing it to the man she lived with and had thought she cared about.
“What the fuck, Naggie? What did you expect me to do when you haven’t been giving it up?”
“So now it’s my fault you’re a piece-of-shit boyfriend?” She snorted, turned back around, and finished getting her shit out of the drawers. “I think that is the standard line a POS guy says when caught cheating.”
“Where are you going to go?” There was a bite in Rob’s voice, but no way did he get to be pissed about this.
“Not your concern. You can now bring that slut to the house and fuck her to your heart’s content.” She turned around and stared at him. “Or is the thrill gone now that you’re single?”
“I wanted to tell you but didn’t know how to explain it. I mean, I felt like shit doing it behind your back.”
His pathetic excuse just made her even more pissed, and if she didn’t leave, she was going to do something she might regret later, like crack the lamp over his head. “I don’t have to put up with this shit.” She stared at him, right in the eye so he knew she was dead serious. “I am too good for this bullshit.”
“What the hell, Naggie? Let me explain.”
She didn’t bother telling him there was nothing to explain. He had been caught, didn’t deny it, and had been doing it for months. But it wouldn’t have mattered if this was the only time he had done it, or if he had been doing this for their entire relationship. Cheating was cheating, and she was done. She moved past him, brushed him off when he tried to reach for her, and walked out of the room.
Once she had her keys and her other bag she had set on the floor by the front door, she headed to her Pilot, tossed her crap inside, and got in. Tally was lucky she had been smart enough to leave, because if she had still been standing outside, Naggie would have beaten her ass for real this time. She started her car and looked at Rob, who still stood on the porch.
With a grin, she lifted her hand and flipped him off. Yeah, that felt good, but what was going to feel even better was getting drunk and trying to forget about this shitty night and everything the last year had entailed.
4
Naggie lifted her empty shot glass to Ryan, the bartender at O’Henry’s, one of the only decent bars in Reckless. She needed a refill like last week, but for some reason, the bar was busy tonight, and that meant Ryan was slower than normal in keeping people hydrated. The bar was dimly lit, but who wanted to go to a place to get drunk with florescent lighting?
Hell, she wanted to feel like she was in a haze as she drowned her sorrows in a bottle of whiskey. There were guys off to the side playing pool, others sitting on overstuffed chairs in front of a big-screen TV watching sports, and even some scantily clad college-aged girls shaking their asses and tits on the makeshift dance floor.
“You sure you want to get trashed?” the woman beside her asked.
Naggie looked at Bennie, her friend for the last two years. Bennie had come in for some ink a couple years ago, and after Naggie had been the artist to give it to her, they clicked. Bennie was a gorgeous brunette who looked like one of those pin-up girls. She wore tight pencils skirts and baby doll shirts like she owned the damn world. Naggie wasn’t gay, but Bennie had curves that could make any straight girl want to see her naked.
But it wasn’t just her awesome attitude, her killer sense of style, or the fact that Naggie clicked with Bennie almost instantly. She also had some awesome ink, and Naggie was honored to have been able to work on her.
Bennie held up her hands in defense, but if she was about to say something, Ryan stopped her when he leaned on the counter and started talking.
“So, more Crown, or do you want to mix it up?”
Naggie shook her head. “No, I don’t want to mess with the buzz I got going on by mixing shit. How about you just bring the whole bottle over here?”
Ryan cocked a dark eyebrow.
“Fine, just send over a couple more shots, please?” She batted her eyelashes, feeling good and warm already.
“So, is this going to be an ‘I can’t walk straight’ night?” Bennie asked.
“This is a totally I can’t walk, talk, or think straight kind of night.”
Bennie nodded. “You want to talk more about it? You were kind of vague on the details over the phone.”
She nodded and rested her elbows on the counter then stared at Ryan. “He’s a cute guy, in that sort of vanilla way.”
“Naggie, stop diverting and spill it. You know you can talk to me.”
She looked over at Bennie. “I know. I guess I’m just humiliated and still furious over the whole thing.”
But her friend didn’t give her a sympathetic look, and she loved her even more for that.
“Hey, the important thing is that you are too good for that kind of bullshit, and you are still young, hot, and ready to rock.” She winked, and Naggie burst out laughing.