“But I wasn’t there. And I didn’t want to be.” Not that anyone would believe me. Once the rumor mill got wind that Avery and I were broken up, they’d have the story turned around to where I was there, partying as usual. After everything that happened with Avery, I didn’t want to be anywhere but alone.
“What’s gotten into you lately, man? Just because you’re seeing Avery doesn’t mean you have to ghost everyone else in your life. Although I have to say, I’m kind of glad you weren’t around last night.”
“Oh? Why’s that? Did you finally get to be the belle of the ball?” The guy craved attention and had been known to cause a lot of trouble to get it.
He chuckled. “It was a whole lot easier to get Britany’s attention. That’s for sure.” He grinned, wagging his eyes as if he had scored big with her.
I stiffened, the drink in my mouth turned stale as it slid down my throat. “You were with Britany Burns?”
“Yeah,” he said with a shrug. “She took some convincing. She had to get you out of her system first. Man, was she hung up, but don’t worry. I banged that out of her.”
“She asked me to come to the party, you know? But I didn’t.”
“Yeah, I told her to invite you and that you wouldn’t show up. I told her you were with Avery now and to give it up, but she bet me she could change that. She lost. I won. The rest is history. I just dropped her off at home.”
“What do you mean she lost? Aside from sleeping with you?” The jab was too easy not to take. Will had a way of setting himself up. And I had a feeling he was about to set himself up for an ass beating.
“Funny,” he said before taking another drink. He shook his head as he swallowed. “No, she said she could break you up. I told her to give it her best shot. When you didn’t show, she came to my room.” His tone was so matter of fact like he didn’t care whose lives he fucked with. He was clueless.
“You played games with Avery and me to score Britany? Dude, you have no idea what kind of trouble you’ve caused us.”
“Man, I didn’t do shit,” he said, still with a big shit-eating grin on his face. “She was the one talking all kinds of shit about you and her. But don’t worry. By the time I was done with her, she had other things to do with her mouth.” He laughed and took a sip of his beer.
The anger built inside me until I saw red, and knowing that asshole had something to do with me and Avery splitting up made it so much worse. I turned and pushed him off of his barstool, spilling his drink until the bottle crashed to the floor.
“What the fuck is your problem?” he asked, scrambling to his feet. “You don’t know who you’re messing with. I’ll beat your ass.”
“I could say the same to you. You and your stupid whore fucked things up with us last night. Playing your fucking games. Am I a fucking joke to you?” I swung, but he ducked, and when he swung, he missed me too.
The bartender was yelling for us to stop, but there wasn’t much of a crowd, so he eventually stepped back to see what happened next. “Dammit, don’t break anything. I don’t want to call the fucking cops, but I will.”
Will balled up his fists. “If you and Avery have problems, that’s on you. She’s too good for you anyway. Everyone knew you’d fuck it up eventually.”
“Oh, is that so? I suppose your broken, junkie ass is better for her? I know you have something for her. You’ve been sniffing around a little too hard. You decided to have my leftovers instead. I bet you played your little game to break us up and thought you’d come in here to gloat.”
“Fuck you, that’s my past. And if I wanted Avery, I would have had a better chance than you did.”
“Right, tell yourself that. But if drugs are your past, cheating is mine. You’re pathetic. You encouraged Britany to hit on me just so I’d refuse her and you could get her in the sack.”
Will shrugged it off. “Jealous?”
I took another swing, that time connecting. My fist throbbed with pain that seared up my arm to my elbow, but it didn’t stop me from wanting to do it again.
Will’s nose started to bleed, and he wiped it away, his eyes focusing hard as he blinked several times. “I’m going to waste your ass.”
As he came forward, I decided to show the guy what an ass whooping looked like. It wasn’t a sparring contest in a ring with helmets, mouthguards, and gloves.
I had learned to fight the hard way by getting my ass beaten daily by my old man. Bryan and I learned to fight to protect our mother, and as I swung at Will, my father’s face was all I saw.
By the time I was done swinging, Will lay on the floor in a puddle of his own blood and spit. He moaned when I got up, but he lay there, breathing hard from his beating.
I rose up and looked at the bartender who held up both hands. “It’s on the house,” said the old man. “Just don’t break anything else on your way out.”
When I got outside, I jumped in my Jeep and hoped the bartender wouldn’t call the cops. I wasn’t going to be around if they showed up. I started the Jeep and drove out of town, not slowing down and not looking back.
Chapter 25
Avery
At the start of the next week, I was well enough to go to class. I hadn’t seen Seth. Other than one text asking him to please leave me alone, I hadn’t talked to him either.
I hadn’t told Clara about what had happened yet, but I knew that it was only a matter of time before she learned the truth about us. Everyone would. It just didn’t feel real, and I guessed part of me was still hoping for a miracle, even though I kept telling myself to give him up for good this time.
Thinking that gave me pains, but it was a wound that would take time to heal.
The morning after he left, I had called Abi, and seeing me in that state, she had threatened to call Clara. I had begged her not to.
“You have to eat something,” she said. “Is that your food?” She pointed to the stuff Seth had left for me.
“I’m not eating that.” I walked over to throw it in the garbage. “I’ll make a sandwich. I am long past taking my medicine. I figure it serves me right for giving Clara such a fit.”
“Are you absolutely sure this is all true? I was at the party, and Seth wasn’t around as far as I could tell.”
“When did you leave?” I’d asked her.
“Two, two thirty.”
“This happened after that. She probably waited for you to leave, and when the coast was clear, she called him up.”
It seemed like a good theory, and as I played the rest of the day in my head, it didn’t get any better.
I had cried myself to sleep that night and made up my mind that I was not going to let him get me further behind.
Luckily, I had only one class to make up for, and that was the one class I’d shared with Abi, so she was going to let me study her notes. I was on the way to her dorm when she met me outside. “Hey, you. You’ll never guess what I just heard.”
“If it’s about Seth, spare me.”
“Well, sort of, but you’re going to want to hear this.”