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“So you’re in this bar and you see this guy,” she said, “you know, you. You’re the guy she’s seeing, Ryan.”
“Right, ’cause I’m the girl in this scenario,” I said, following along.
“Sounds about right,” Frank added, and I took a step toward him to punch his chest, but he jumped back out of reach.
“Anyway,” she drawled out, glaring at Frank. “You see this guy and you think he’s cute and he’s flirting with you, making you feel special, and you think that maybe there might be something more there. But then you hear him talk to all the women in the bar that way. And you hear what all the women in the bar are saying about him.”
Jess held up a hand. “Yeah. You hear them talk about sex, and whether it’s true or not, you just assume that it is, because why else would so many women be saying the same things if they weren’t? And then you realize he’s just like every other guy in LA, so you feel dejected and disappointed. And no matter what he does from that point forward, there’s no un-hearing all the things you’ve heard.”
“Yeah. He’s kind of ruined to a girl who’s looking for something serious,” Claudia said, wrapping up her theory. “I mean, if that’s what she’s looking for. Or if that’s the kind of person she is. I’m only guessing here and projecting how I would feel if it were me.”
I bristled, rising to my own defense. “But what if the things they’re saying aren’t true? How is that fair to me?”
Nick gave me a knowing look. “You take your shirt off every night. Not the best defense there, brother.”
I scowled, still thinking about what Claudia and Jess said, torn between being pissed off and feeling a little sorry for myself.
“So, how do I change her mind?” I asked, and smiles crept across both the girls’ faces.
• • •
“You brought me flowers? You shouldn’t have,” Grant said when I walked into his room carrying an armful of colorful tulips. It looked like a box of crayons had exploded in my fist.
“These aren’t for you.” I narrowed my eyes and gave him a fake dirty look before tossing him the items he’d requested from his house.
“Then why’d you bring them into my room? Just to tease me?” He reached for the pants and the hat before smiling. “You’re just a regular heartbreaker, aren’t you, boy? Showing up here with flowers that aren’t even for me.”
I shook my head. “Has she been here already?”
“Has who been here?”
Grant knew exactly who I was referring to, but he refused to give me a straight answer as a sly smile spread across his lips. If he wanted to play games with me, then I’d play.
“You know who.”
“Oh, you mean my angel?”
Not this again. “No, I meant my angel. Has she been here today?”
He laughed, knowing how much this conversation was riling me up. “She’s my angel, my fiancée, and my future wife.”
As he continued to torment me, my body filled with jealous heat. Hearing those words, no matter how untrue they were, still caused a physical reaction inside me that I couldn’t control. The old man was claiming her, and I was about to explode into a thousand shards of glass. I didn’t understand it, any of it, but I didn’t question it either. Whatever it was that I was feeling, whatever insane and irrational thoughts and feelings filtered through my mind and body, I allowed.
I glared at Grant, whose sly smile had now turned into a full shit-eating grin. “Just tell me if she’s been here or not, old man. Spit it out, already.” I held my breath for only a second. “Or maybe you don’t remember. Is that it? Your mind fading already?”
I must have pushed him a smidge too far, because he looked around for something to throw at my head. Again. Between him and Frank, I was always ducking the crap being tossed at me. Maybe I was the problem? Nah, that couldn’t be right. It was their tempers and short fuses that made them want to pummel me with things every chance they got.
“She hasn’t been here yet today, asshole. But I’ll tell you this, she doesn’t like you much.”
I relaxed a little at his admission and the fact that there wasn’t anything within his reach to throw at me. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
“She likes me a lot. A hell of a lot more than she likes you.” He let out a gruff laugh, enjoying bringing me pain. “You think you can steal my angel from me with a few flowers? You’ve got a lot to learn, boy.”
Glancing down at the flowers that I held on to like a lifeline, I shook my head, unwilling to let Grant deter me. He was only teasing me, but every word was like a razor blade slicing through my flesh. Little nicks here and there, and before you knew it, I’d be bleeding out all over the stark white floor.
“What do you suggest then?”
He cleared his throat and faked a cough like he hadn’t heard me right. “Did you, dyin’ for Ryan, just ask for my advice?”
