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“Joey Brooks, don’t make me slap you!” The smile on her face shows that she’s not upset by my comment.
I break out in laughter and take the boxes from her. “I’ve got these. You go get started in the kitchen.”
Chapter 14
I watch Joey carry the boxes down the hall, internally quivering over the fact that he called me “Angel.” He has no idea the weight that nickname bears to me — it happens to be a nickname from one of my favorite book boyfriends that Sadie wrote. If he wants to keep calling me that, I’m sure as fuck not going to stop him.
Right as I turn to start packing up my coffee mug collection, I see Grant’s shadow darken the kitchen doorway. I can barely contain the eye roll before I pivot away.
“Are you really going through this charade, Kelsey Bear? We both know you’re going to come crawling back in a week when the loneliness sets in.”
I’ve learned over the past few months that I don’t need a whole lot of human interaction to feel… fulfilled, so to speak. The wide array of toys I’ve invested in have proven to me that I don’t need a man for anything. I am a strong, intelligent, independent woman who will never allow myself to need anyone.
I turn back around with a newfound sense of purpose. “One — I already told you to stop calling me Kelsey Bear. I’ve always hated that nickname. Two — I’ve been lonely for a while, Grant. At least now that I’m free of you, I’ll have a chance to be happy again.”
“What, with that asshole out there?” he scoffs as if Joey is a piece of gum stuck to the bottom of his shoe.
I force myself to resist the temptation to throw the mug currently in my hand at him. If it wasn’t my favorite mug, I might. Grant is grasping at any thread he can to get me to reconsider this breakup.
“He’s treated me better in the past 24 hours than you’ve treated me in the past two years. What do you think that says about you?”
“It says more about him — he clearly wants to fuck you, Kels. And once he does, he’ll realize you’re nothing to write home about and look for a new conquest.”
My blood boils at his words, and I grip the countertop in an attempt to calm myself. He’s just trying to get a reaction out of you Kels — don’t give him one.
“What the fuck did you just say, you piece of shit?!” Joey’s voice booms from the hallway, sending a shiver right through me as I turn around.
“I said —” Grant’s words are cut off by Joey’s right hook to the left side of his face.
“You say one more disrespectful word to her or about her, you’ll be picking up your teeth for a week,” Joey grunts before turning and walking toward me. “Are you okay?”
“I’ll be fine. I’m used to his manipulative bullshit.” I turn back to the cupboard and continue grabbing my coffee mugs, realizing in this moment that I have far too many. Truth be told, I only drink from one on a regular basis. The rest have been teacher gifts that I’ve been too sentimental to part with. I pack them anyway, rolling a layer of bubble wrap in between each one. I finally get to the last cup — the one Grant had custom made for my birthday earlier this year. It has a brown teddy bear holding a heart that says “Kelsey” and on the opposite side it says “To my Kelsey Bear, Happy Birthday. I love you, Grant.” I can’t stand to look at it for another second, so with every ounce of force I can muster, I whip the cup at the ground, watching as it shatters into tiny pieces.
“What the fuck, Kelsey?! I sincerely hope you’re going to clean that up!” Grant shouts at me.
“Nope,” I say cheerfully, letting the “p” sound pop off of my lips. “You made this mess by being a lying, cheating, piece of shit — you clean it up. Let’s go, Joey.”
After I pack up the last of my things from the living room, I pull the house key off of my ring and put it on the coffee table. I feel liberated — finally free of the weight that I didn’t even know had been dragging me down.
Joey finishes unloading the last of my boxes into the garage, putting aside the ones containing the items from my dresser and my books.
“Are you sure it’s okay for me to leave these here? I can rent a storage unit until I find a new apartment.”
“Don’t you dare. I don’t mind at all. As for finding an apartment, don’t feel like you have to rush out of here.”
I nod my understanding, pulling him in for a hug. Part of me wants so badly to bring up his earlier nickname, but I don’t know how to approach the topic. Am I reading too much into it because I’m so freshly burned from Grant?
“I want to do something nice for you as a thank you for all of your help today. Can I cook you dinner?”
“That depends… what are you making?” He taps his chin, faking a pensive demeanor.
“What do you like? I can make almost anything as long as I have a recipe to follow.”
“I’m open to anything. You don’t need to cook for me though —” His sentence cuts off abruptly like he stopped himself from saying something he didn’t want to say. Was he going to call me “Angel” again?
“Too bad, I’m cooking. Let me just inventory what you have in your pantry and I’ll make a quick run to the grocery store for whatever else I need.” I pat his shoulder and make my way into the house.
After I make a quick list of what I’ll need on my phone, I head off to the supermarket. While I’m on the way there, I call Savannah and update her on what happened.
