AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Anything else, ma’am?” the teen on the other end of the line asks.
My eyes slide up to meet Matt’s, and the embers of fury glow red in my stomach again. “Yeah—I don’t have any cash. Can I put a tip on my card?”
Matt’s eyes light up.
“That’s very kind, ma’am. How much?”
I pause. “A thousand dollars.”
“What?”
Those embers burst into flames. “Make it two.”
When I hang up, Matt high-fives me. These petty acts of revenge are what’s keeping me sane, but he takes even more delight in them than I do. Turns out, he has his own grudge against Rafe.
On Christmas Day, Matt got drunk and confessed to him that he has a crush on Anna. Rafe told him to just text her.The worst that could happen is that she says ‘no.’
He was wrong. It turns out her replying to my friend’s heartfelt paragraph with seven laughing emojis and nothing else was the worst that could happen.
“Fuck Raphael Visconti,” Matt mutters, flopping back on the sofa and putting his feet up on the coffee table. “Fuck him, and fuck his shitty dating advice. What does he know, anyway? He couldn’t even keepyouaround, and you probably drop your panties for the right candy bar.”
I only gave Matt the half-baked truth when I turned up on his doorstep. I didn’t tell him about the hotline or the million dollar check, or the fact that my heart was too soft for that whole enemies-with-benefits bullshit.
I’m about to snap back with a shitty retort, when two flashes of light illuminate my curtains. My heart leaps to my throat but sinks back down to my chest just as quick.
It’ll only be Nico; he’s chronically early to everything.
I haul myself off the sofa and go to the window with the intention of beckoning him up for pizza, but when I slide the curtain open, my throat goes dry.
It’s not Nico’s Tesla, but a familiar G-Wagon. One I’ve slept in, eaten in, and fucked in. And behind the windshield is the silhouette of the man I did all those things with.
Numbness makes my limbs heavy.What the fuck is he doing here?I stare blankly at the headlights as they flash again.
“What’s going on?” Matt asks.
“It’s Rafe.”
The sofa groans under him. “Shit. Do you think he heard what I said about him?”
“What? No—”
The headlights flicker again, and this time, they don’t stop. My retinas burn and orange spots dance on the window pane. A sudden fury sweeps through me, charging my blood. I don’t care what he wants—after everything this asshole has done, does he seriously think he can rock up to my apartment, flash his lights, and I’ll trot down to greet him like a grateful puppy?
Fuck off.
I want to ask Matt if he has any kind of heavy, blunt object in his apartment that I can throw at Rafe’s windshield, but instead, I settle for flipping him off—withbothhands—and dramatically drawing the curtains.
Matt watches me as I stalk back to the sofa and glare at the television. I snatch up the remote and turn up the volume.
“Cover your ears.”
“Huh? Why—oh, fuck!”
I don’t even flinch at the sound of Rafe’s horn blasting from the street below; I can barely hear it over the roaring in my ears. He can lay on it all damn night for all I care. Out of all the games we’ve played, this is one I’m certain I’ll win.
“For the love of god, make it stop,” Matt moans after a few minutes, sandwiching his head with two cushions.
Maybe Rafecanhear what Matt says about him, because we’re plunged into sudden silence. He lets out a sigh of relief, and I sigh too, but for a different reason.
