Kissed Blind (Hot Pursuit #2)(97)

“Here! Call your girlfriend. Maybe you can stay with her for a while.”

“Sember, you’re overreacting a little. Come on. Just listen to me.”

“I have absolutely nothing to hear. Get. Out!”

“You know what? Fine. You obviously need some time to cool off, but this isn’t over.” He tossed his head back and slipped on his shoes before walking out the door. As soon as the lock clicked, I fell to my knees and sobbed.





Chapter Three





I stayed on my knees until I caught my breath, but I didn’t want to linger any longer than necessary and risk John coming back. I needed to call my rock, and the one person I could count on no matter what. We’d known each other since we were fifteen, and she’d know the right things to say. I dialed her number, and she picked up after the first ring.

“Liz,” I said.

“Who else would it be, dawling?” She laughed.

“Can I come over?”

“Of course you can,” she said and then hesitated. “What’s wrong? You sound upset.”

“I just caught John having sex with some slut in my living room.”

“What!” She gasped. “Okay. Wait. What happened now?”

I told her everything.

Without hesitation, Liz told me to grab my things and move in with her. She’d inherited an old house from her aunt years ago in the Hyde Park area just east of the city and had plenty of room.

“I can go back later and get more of your stuff if you can’t fit it all in your car. Ugh, what a prick,” she mumbled under her breath. “You get out of there as fast as you can and we’ll talk more when you get here.”

“Okay.” I thanked God she offered to let me move in with her. My parents are great people, but there are two things you need to know about them: One, they loved girl’s names beginning with S’s—my sister being named after our grandmother, and me being named after my mother’s favorite month. And two, they are the most loving and generous people you’ll ever meet. That being said, I didn’t want to move back in with them.

I crammed all my things into my car, and an hour later, I shut the door to John’s condo. On my way out, I broke my key off in the lock. Screw him.

“Good Life” by ONEREPUBLIC played on the radio. “Good life my ass,” I muttered under my breath

The February sky was gray and filled with thick rolling clouds. The weathermen warned of an impending winter storm, but they never seem to get it right anyway. All of the locals called it “white death.” You’d think it was the apocalypse the way people rushed to the stores and emptied the shelves. “Just perfect.” Tears rolled down my cheeks and dripped onto my lap. “Doom and gloom are all around me.” Twenty minutes later, I pulled into Liz’s driveway.

She ran out and greeted me with a hug. “Let’s get this stuff inside then I’ll pour us drink. Sound good?”

“Yeah, I think getting drunk is my only option right now.” I forced a laugh.

We dropped my things on the kitchen floor, and Liz filled two very large glasses with red wine. We sat on the couch, and I wrapped myself in my favorite red velvet throw.

“Tell me everything.” The wind howled outside as I stared into her blue eyes, reliving each painful detail, again, all the while her mouth hung open. “I should go punch that little weasel. You want me to call Michael? He’s got friends who’ll rearrange his face if you want. Just say the word.”

Liz comes from a big, Irish Catholic family. She’s the youngest of five siblings, and her oldest big brother Michael would always be her biggest protector. Her brothers and sisters were like my second family, and I knew Michael would gladly rearrange John’s face if I asked him. But, the last thing I needed was for him to get thrown in jail over someone who wasn’t worth my time.

“It’s a sweet offer, but no, thank you.” I chuckled. “I just can’t believe he threw everything away on some cheap lay—and believe me, she looked cheap,” I said, blowing my nose.

“I don’t doubt it.”

“He didn’t even apologize. He was more annoyed I’d caught him.”

“Typical. Men can be such douchebags. They do something wrong and then twist it around like it was your fault. Remember Jason? He did that all the time. Been there. Done that.”

“Me too, sadly.” I shook my head. “I can’t believe I thought he was the one. What a waste.”

“Well, I never thought he was right for you.” She took another sip of her wine.

“You didn’t?” I curled my lip. “You never said anything.”

“I was waiting to see what you saw in him. I figured there had to be something special about him if you liked him so much, but it never happened. Every time I was around him he rubbed me the wrong way.”

“Really?” I leaned my head against my palm. “Like what?”

“There was just something off about him. It was weird the way he’d get crazy jealous if any other guy glanced your way or dared talk to you.”

“I always thought it was kind of sweet and endearing, like it was his way of claiming me.”

“No, it was weird. You were his territory. You remember the fight he got into when that poor guy offered to buy you a drink when we all went out a while back.”