Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3)(29)

She struggled away from him, pushed past an admirer that strayed too close to the train wreck, and burst out of the bar. She was bawling so hard she leaned against the wall to prevent herself from falling. She could have had him again. He would have gotten back together with her. He might have tried to push her away initially, but in the end, he did come for her.

Except, it was on his terms. The last two and a half years were on his terms. Krista was still just a pawn. The variable in his equation.

And she was tired of not having control of the game. Of her life.

She felt hands on her shoulders and flailed before she realized it was Kate.

“Calm down, honey, it’s just me. Let’s get you home. Jaz and Ben are helping Marcus with damage control then they’ll follow, okay? They’ll pick up more beer on the way—you won’t remember tonight when we’re done, okay?”

“It hurts, Kate.” She cried into her best bud. Onto her, more like. She had to bend down to reach Kate’s shoulder.

Kate walked a sobbing Krista to the curb and a cab. They climbed in together, bumping off the door and landing in a crash onto the plastic seats.

“I know it hurts, sweetie. But you did what was best for you. He needed that. I love Sean, but he thinks he rules the world. He wants control of everything, including you. Including your relationship. That isn’t balanced. It isn’t fair. You did what was right for you. That’s all that matters.”

Krista dipped her head as the tears fell. “But I love him.”

“I know, sweetie. But you love you more. You need to look out for yourself if he won’t. You can’t look out for him if no one is looking out for you, you know? I sound like a f**king idiot right now, but trust me, it’s for the best. You did the right thing.”

“Okay.”

Kate hugged her and stroked her hair, letting Krista sag and close her eyes against the pain. Krista wished for sleep. For painless sleep. Instead, she was taken home and given mass quantities of alcohol.

“Bottom’s up, girl. Let’s drink it away tonight. Then tomorrow, the hangover will drown out the hurt, okay? After that, exercise, work, and healing. It’ll be a long road, but we’ll do it together, okay? Bottom’s up. We’ll forget together.”

And so it went. Jasmine and Ben met up with them when Krista was still seeing straight. By the end of the night, that was remedied. They did some karaoke, Krista cried a little. and Ben moped—he was still heartbroken, too. They did some twister, Krista cried some more, and Ben moped more animatedly. They ended up passing out in various places in the house. Krista had been rejected by Sean, even though he came back to collect the pieces he’d made, but Krista had never felt so loved by a group of people than she did that night.

Monday was another story, altogether. All four of them were wrecked on Saturday, so they went for the hair of the dog. That turned into another drunken fest, in which Ben finally broke down while Krista was sobbing. They held each other up as Kate and Jasmine took turns singing sad ballads and yelling at men trying to hit on them. Sunday they nursed their hangovers with grease and sleep, and Monday they still felt like dog poop. But they all felt like it together.

It was mid-day and Krista was debating lunch when Marcus rolled in.

“Geegee, what are you up to?” he said in his easy way as he sat down.

“Well, Marcus, I’m glad you asked. You see, I do what is called work. Basically, I show up to this place for a certain amount of time, do things that are asked of me, and get paid for it. It really cuts down on my social time, but I manage.”

“About your social time…”

Krista lost her sarcasm to fear. “How bad is the rumor mill?”

“Well, I had to get partially na**d to keep everyone’s attention on Friday--”

“I’m sure you hated that.”

“—and the band was pretty loud, so we could only hear every fifth word or so. We got the gist but the details were missed.”

Krista relaxed a little until he said, “But the rumor mill is in full swing. I took the liberty of sampling the waters this morning.”

“How did I fare?”

“Well, I’ll tell you: Sean is ahead in the polls on a generic level. The overall consensus is that you are a fool for turning him down in any capacity. Besides that, the married people think that he showed his worth by coming for you eventually. Apparently that is enough for most of the married women. I would like to add a side note that possibly marriage isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, based on that perspective.”

Marcus cleared his throat. “The single women do agree with you for the most part, but still think you are a fool, of course. They are under the impression you should, at least, have used him for sex. Too hot to let go, obviously. The g*y men think he should’ve been put out with the trash, but beforehand used for sex. The straight men don’t want to be caught talking about relationship issues, but have taken even more of an interest in trying to get you in bed. Beware. They think you are feisty and, therefore, good in the sack.”

“They are right, obviously. Great in bed,” she said sarcastically, rubbing her eyes.

“I’m sure, yeah. Anyway, that’s about it. It could be a lot worse. That scene is only being talked about because you are the two best looking people in the company, besides me, of course.” Marcus paused for effect. Krista rolled her eyes. He continued, “You two are such demanding ass**les most people think you deserve each other. Oh, and Chet is a celebrity. The abused, misunderstood ex-boyfriend of the Big Bitch. Thank God he got out in time, and all that.”