Struggling with a combo on stage. Or with finances. Or with my family...
Hell, sometimes I can’t sleep because I’ve watched one too many episodes ofCriminal Minds, and my brain won’t stop thinking about all the ways the locks on my apartment door suck, or how many people see me go about the same routine day in and day out. Have I made it too easy to be grabbed and bagged for human traffickers?
The constant noise is incredibly annoying most days.
Today, it’s maddening loud.
Today, every time I close my eyes, I see Jameson Murphy.Naked. And guess what?
I don’t hate him any less now that I’ve had his penis in my mouth than I did before he gave me five—no, six—orgasms. I’mnot sure even my favorite vibrator has managed that feat in one night, which I’m pretty sure makes me hate Jamie more, not less.
And then there’s Finn.
What the hell am I supposed to tell my best friend?
Oh hey, buddy. I screwed your brother senseless. You know, the one I can’t stand. Yeah, that one. By the way, his dick is as massive as his ego. Maybe that’s why he’s always been such an asshole.
I’m sure Finn would just love that.
He and Jamie are close but in a kind of competitive way.
Jamie’s always been the brawn to Finn’s brain. Even when Finn played football in high school and college, he was never as big or as good as Jamie. But when it came to studying and book smarts, Finn was the one who shined.
I could always just not tell him.
Act like last night didn’t happen.
That seems like the best course of action, even if it’s the coward’s way out.
Of course, it would’ve helped if we’d discussed exactly just how last night didn’t happen, so Jamie and I could be on the same page. But that would have meant talking to him, and there was no time for that. Not to mention there’s no possible way I had the mental capacity to deal with that conversation before an inordinate amount of caffeine. Something I’ve still yet to have.
By the time our flight lands, I’ve been up for four hours, had one incredibly crappy-ass coffee, no Wi-Fi, no nap, and no way to speak to my mother’s attorney.
Basically, I’m the chaos I’m typically bitching about.
I guess it’s time to embrace the bitch.
ASHTON
Don’t expect the full story from a toxic person.
They’ll never recognize the part they played in the destruction they left in their path.
—Ashton’s Secret Thoughts
“Excuse me.” I lean forward in the taxi, grateful for the kind-looking woman behind the wheel. “Is there any chance you have an iPhone charger I could use?”
My driver smiles warmly, adjusting her black and pink Philly Kings hat as brown ringlets bounce around her beautiful face. She reaches into the back seat, a charging cord in hand, and offers it to me. “Rough night?”
“How’d you guess?” I ask, laughing sarcastically as I plug my phone in, then slide back into the seat and buckle my belt. “Do I look that bad?”
She purses her lips as she looks at me through the rearview mirror. “I mean, you’re not exactly rocking raccoon eyes, but youlook a little...” she hesitates, and I shrug, cutting her off before she has to come up with a way to nicely tell me I look like I just did the walk of shame right out of Philadelphia International Airport.
“Yeah. I get it. My flight was delayed yesterday, and I ended up stranded last night in a snowstorm in Chicago.” I leave out the important little nuggets that haven’t stopped haunting me since I woke up and stick with generic instead. “I’m also here to deal with some family drama. So I think it’s safe to say rough is a pretty accurate way to describe the past twenty-four hours.”
Based on her hat, if I gave her my last name, she’d be awfully interested in my family drama, and would probably fangirl over my father or the man who’s currently taking up the spot ofhe who shall not be namedequally, making the decision to change the topic an easy one. “Do you know how long it’ll take to get to Kroydon Hills Hospital?”
“In this traffic?” She taps the map on the screen. “About forty minutes.”
