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Teagan took a deep breath to steady her nerves. Maybe itwasthat simple? Could it be?
If she knew what Jaxon had done to make Eric leave her place that night. Because hell, if he’d seen Jaxon there, then all of this would be moot, wouldn’t it?
But he must have seen no one. Which only brought up more questions instead. She’d have to talk to Jaxon again. Tell him it didmatter what he’d done because if they were going to pull this off, they’d need to present a united front.
She’d call him after her shift tonight.
Teagan went back to the greenhouse, her head still filled with worries and thoughts. Mostly worries, though. But the best thing to combat worrisome thoughts was some sort of repetitive task, and repotting the slow-growing sansevieria plants seemed like the easiest way to clear her mind. She’d left her gloves where they’d fallen, but having dirt on her hands might be nice. Beneficial.
Unfortunately, the entire time she shook the plants free of their nursery pots, all she could think about was what Eric had said, running it over and over in her head until the words lost meaning.
“Do give the boyfriend a call…”
How in the hell did he decide to use that word? Why not sister? Or brother? Oranythingelse?
It wasn’t even as if shehada boyfriend. She wasn’t the type who dated around, and she hadn’t dated anyone since Josh.
Teagan shook another plant free of dirt before jamming it down into a bigger pot. The sweat was dripping down her forehead by now. The greenhouse was uncomfortably humid even in the dead of winter.
She pulled another single plant and stuck it in alongside the first. Brittany liked to sell these full-sized pots with at least three established plants inside. And it felt good to jam something into a pile of dirt. She could pretend it was Eric’s head. Or Joshua’s.
Her eyes stung and Teagan pretended it was just the sweat dripping into them rather than the memory of her most recent boyfriend. Recent felt like the wrong word to use. Recent implied that it had happened well,recently.
But Josh had been over three years ago. Approaching three and a half once the new year rolled around.
Eric wasn’t like that.
No, she hadn’t even dated Eric before he was screwing her over, she thought bitterly. At least Joshua had done more than sweet-talk her. Not that Josh deserved praise for what he’d done to her either.
The lies. The tricks. The utter betrayal of her trust.
Joshua had kissed her and hugged her. Cuddled while watching movies. Caught her eye from across a crowded room. Beamed special smiles her way. Kissed her well enough that he coaxed her into bed. And then into sending him pictures while she was visiting her parents. It was fall break. Her first semester at North Rock University. She was away from her boyfriend. So she’d opened her shirt and her camera app and sent him pictures.
Risqué ones.
Nudes.
Her cheeks burned as she dumped more dirt on top of the plants now situated in the pot. It stuck to her skin, under her fingernails. She should have put on the gloves, but honestly, feeling the dirt in her hands was grounding. No pun intended. It kept her here in the present instead of allowing her to float off into an unseemly, nightmarish memory.
She’d felt a thrill when she’d sent those pictures. One after the other. All above the waist, nothing below. But enough above the waist that it had warranted Joshua to send them to all his friends under the heading “Check out the ice bitch.”
Taking a deep breath, Teagan pushed down the nausea and shame to remind herself that it was all in the past. Joshua had been in the wrong,not her. Her father hadn’t even been angry with her.
Maybe that was the worst part. Because the guilty thoughts gave her no reprieve, but Dad had been so fuckingniceabout it.
After her return south to campus and subsequent discovery that she had become a very hot topic around Josh’s group of friends, with no feasible support from Joshua in the slightest, she’d called the only person she could think to call.
Brad.
“Teags? You have visitors!” Brittany pushed open the swinging door that separated the greenhouse from the rest of the shop and called loudly through it. Quickly enough that the door only had to swing once before it closed once more. The sound of her voice was jarring. Not because it was quiet in the greenhouse, but because it wasn’t.
There were large fans blowing at all times, and Brittany perfected a way to get anyone’s attention while they were in here was impressive.
But also very jarring when one was lost in thought.
Teagan glanced down at her hands, covered in wet potting soil and sighed. She’d at least gotten most of the sansevieria repotted. But she’d only been working for a short while, so she’d have to come back soon to finish. Which meant there wasn’t much point in washing her hands if she was just going to go elbow deep in the dirt again.
She pushed up from her knees and turned to walk back out into the shop, holding her hands out in front of her, and turning and pushing the door open with her back. A fake smile was plastered on her face as she spun to face her visitor. She couldn’t think who it was, but judging by Brittany’s tone, it wasn’t Eric again.
