Total pages in book: 117
Estimated words: 111676 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 558(@200wpm)___ 447(@250wpm)___ 372(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 111676 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 558(@200wpm)___ 447(@250wpm)___ 372(@300wpm)
There was a knock on my bedroom door before it opened. Monroe stood in my doorway, fully dressed and radiant, as though she wanted to mock the mess I knew I was.
“Okay. Up. Shower. You’re going to class today.”
“I’m not.” I had called in sick for my shift last night. “I’m sick.” Hungover, same thing.
Monroe eyed the culprit empty bottle with judgment. “Look, Jade. You and Wolf—”
“Don’t say his name!” I pressed the heels of my hands against my eyes, as though it would make her, my heartache, and the light stabbing in my eyeballs disappear. “We had a brief intermission in our year and a half of not speaking to or acknowledging each other, and now it can resume.”
“Is that what you want?” she asked.
“It doesn’t matter what I want. It’s done.” Get out of my house. Out of my life… Pain lanced through my chest at the memory of his words.
“You and Wolf—” she paused briefly when I glared at her— “are never done. He’s just butthurt you might have done the same thing to him as he was doing to you.”
I’d assumed Monroe would be on Wolf’s side, seeing as she had been all about me giving him another chance because I’d “made a mistake.”
“I wouldn’t have done it.”
“I know. Same way he wouldn’t have done it.” Wouldn’t he, though? “Have you tried to talk to him?”
“No. He made it pretty clear that he’s done. And so am I.”
“Did the last time not teach either of you anything? God, you’re both so stubborn.” She glanced at the rat cage and shook her head. “And petty. Now get in the shower. You aren’t failing out, too.” Then she walked away, leaving my door ajar.
She was right. I needed to get up, go to class, and carry on with my life. Because, despite how I felt, it would continue without Wolf.
When I stepped into the living area, showered and dressed and almost human, Cassie was waiting.
“Monroe left for work. Come on.” She nodded toward the door. “I’ll give you a ride.”
I was pretty sure I was still over the limit to drive, so I followed her outside, dread settling in my stomach at the thought of possibly seeing Wolf on campus.
Cassie glanced back at me as we rounded the smelly bottom landing where all the hobos pissed. “Do you actually want to go to class?”
“God, no.”
“Me neither. Fancy a road trip instead?”
“Where?”
“Columbus. To get those scratch-off tickets.” Gravel crunched beneath our shoes when we hit the parking lot. “Remember, I told you about my aunt…”
I couldn’t deny that a distraction would be nice. Not to mention, another day of dodging Wolf on campus.
“I’m assuming you still need money,” she said, heading toward her car.
“Yeah.”
Wolf had helped me almost clear the debt to the bank. He’d done in a week what I couldn’t do in six months, but it would soon build up again if I dropped the ball on the mortgage. The responsibility was all on me again, and the weight felt twice as heavy.
“Get in then.”
Thirty minutes later, the neon light from the Columbus Jet Pep danced over the fifty scratch-off tickets scattered across the dashboard. Cassie tossed a used ticket onto the dash with a huff. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
I stopped scratching my ticket, impressed that she’d managed to bite her tongue this long. Cassie hadn’t mentioned anything about me having that penguin, but I’d heard her ranting when she’d gotten home yesterday morning. About the video and me leaving her there. I’d also heard Monroe try to defend me, while letting the whole thing slip.
“Because you’d have used it.”
“You know, what was the point in even telling me about the whole ‘get something to blackmail them back’ plan, if you didn’t want me involved anyway?” The hurt in her voice was obvious.
I felt bad, but I wasn’t sorry for protecting Wolf. He’d done the same for me enough times. I knew Cassie wouldn’t understand it. She was all fire and retribution.
“Have you ever been in love, Cassie? Love so all-encompassing you feel like you can’t breathe without them?”
A frown blanketed her face. “No.”
I scratched the last of the gold foil off my ticket, revealing a grand prize of ten bucks, then put it on the win pile. “I couldn’t screw over Wolf.”
“He blackmailed you! And let’s not forget, dated that cheerleader bitch right after you broke up last time.” She’d paid witness to my whole break-up mess. Had seen how fractured I was when he started dating Nora. In her mind, I was a heartbroken victim, while he was an asshole who’d moved on within a couple of months.
I should have told her what Brent had done with Wolf’s number, that Wolf wasn’t a bad guy, but right then, I thought maybe I needed her to remind me of all the ways Wolf had hurt me. Of the possibility that he might move on even faster this time. After all, it had only been a couple of weeks of us actually dating, so if we were going off last time, he could be shacked up with Megan by tomorrow. A lump formed in my throat at the thought.