AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“But… what if it’s not? What if this is fate?”
I roll my eyes. Typical Juliette being her hopeless romantic self. She knows I don’t believe in that fate, love at first sight, romance bullshit. None of it’s real. Even Jimmy proved that to me.
“I doubt that’s what it is,” I mumble.
“So, like, when you say he’s yourbodyguardat all hours of the day… does that mean…”
I nod my head. “Yeah. Heliterallyhas to be with me everywhere I go every second of every day.”
A faint trace of a smile tries to spread itself on Juliette’s lips. I shoot her daggers and she calms down. “This is crazy,” she says. “Where is he now?”
“Who fucking cares. I need another cosmo,” I say, looking at my empty glass.
I feel the need to drink now that I’ve refreshed myself on what’s about to happen to me.
The conversation dies when a recovering Harper makes her way back to the table, sniffling and all. I look to Juliette to give akeep this on the down-low for nowlook.
“Hey, Blaire,” Harper says with a weary tone.
I fight the urge to roll my eyes at her woe-is-me face.
“Hey, Harps. Juliette told me what happened. I’m really sorry. It’s his loss, you know?”
Harper sniffles again and wipes under her smeared off eyeliner. Her lips begin to quiver as if she’s going to break again, and I inwardly kick myself for opening back up the floodgates.
“I just don’t understand why guys aren’t into me. Like, what am I doing wrong?” she says through tears, putting her face in her hands.
We’ve heard these questions time and time again, and by now, all Juliette and I do isshhher and gently stroke Harp’s back. It’s not that we don’t care about her getting her heart broken; it’s that every guy she meets was going to bethe one.
“It’s going to be okay. You’ll find your Prince Charming,” I tell her, looking across the table to Juliette.
A waitress at the bar approaches our table and sets a new full cosmo in front of me. I look at it questioningly and then back to the waitress. “I didn’t order this,” I tell her.
She turns to look back at me. “The gentleman over there did. He said to tell you to watch your limit this time.” With that, she turns to walk away.
I look at the cosmo and then glance around the rest of the bar to figure out who sent over this drink. My eyes scan the stools at the bar until they stop at the very end. My stomach sinks. I feel my blood beginning to boil, and I narrow my eyes at the smirk belonging to Jimmy Maxwell.
Great. This is all just fucking great.
“Holy shit,” I hear Juliette say once her eyes find Jimmy.
Jimmy waves a hand at me with a boyish grin that tells me he’s doing this out of spite.
Keeping my eyes locked with his, I pick up the cosmo and chug the whole thing, setting it back down with more force than necessary. Thankfully, Harper is too busy consoling herself to notice.
“I guess it’s starting now,” Juliette whispers.
I ignore her as I keep my eyes on Jimmy. I guess now is when it really does start.
I feel the urge to get away from him. I turn back to my friends and tell them goodbye before grabbing my wallet and heading out of the bar. It’s now nighttime in New York City, and goosebumps form on my skin. I knew I should have brought a jacket. My teeth begin to chatter as I walk briskly through the wind to my apartment and away from Jimmy fucking Maxwell.
How did he know I was at Murphy’s?
It’s not a question I ponder over long as the thought to distance myself as far away from him as possible floods my mind. If Jimmy was going to be next to me twenty-four seven now, I was going to have to find a way to get in some alone time. It’s what I do best. I enjoy my personal space, and it’s what I love about living on my own. I’ve never been one to crave the company of a companion. I’m completely fine on my own. Icantake care of myself, which is something I really wish my father would have realized before hiring me some hitman or whatever it is Jimmy does.
I continue to speed walk down the streets of New York City toward my apartment before Jimmy can catch up to me.Ifhe followed me. My eyes want to look back to see if he’s right there, following me to my apartment, but my mind keeps telling me to not look. Just keep going.
So, it’s what I do.
