I curse her and her father and The Luminaries under my breath as I make my way into the main room and head to a group in the corner I know from my History of Psychology class. I knock back a few beers, which isn’t like me, but I’ve had a shitty day, and tomorrow is Saturday, so at least I don’t have to get up early.
I’m dancing with a few girls when Julia comes up to me. “I need to leave, but you’re to stay.”
I flip her the bird, fully intending on bouncing as soon as she’s gone and the coast is clear.
“You’re exasperating,” she says, inspecting her nails. “But fine.” She drags out the E. “If you need the bathroom, go now while I pull the car around. I haven’t been drinking, so I’ll drop you off at home on my way.”
I narrow my eyes at her. “What are you up to?”
She feigns innocence. “Moi? Nothing.” Taking my arm, she pulls me over to the wall. “Look, I know we don’t like one another, for obvious reasons, but we have to work together. I’d like to call a truce. I’m tired of all the snarking.”
Honestly, I am too, but I don’t see how she and I will ever get along with the Jase-sized elephant in the room. And I don’t trust this bitch as far as I’d throw her. She’s up to something. I’d bet on it. Still, I’ll play this game for now. Make her think I buy her crap while I figure out what she’s planning.
“Me too.” I sling my arm around her shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze. “We are blood related, and it makes sense we should try to get along.”
“I’m glad you think so.” She removes my hand from her shoulder. “Hurry, babe.” She leans in and kisses me on the cheek. “Bathroom is at the top of the stairs, two doors down on your right. I’ll be waiting outside, so don’t be long.”
I message Jase as I head up the stairs, wondering if he’s still up so I can drop by when I get home. Julia has made it clear she’s going somewhere else, like she often does after we party. I think I’ll start following her to see where she goes. But I’m too beat to play spy tonight. I just need to lose myself in Jase’s arms and forget this shitty day ever existed.
I’m too busy tapping on my phone to properly notice where I’m going. Lifting my head from the screen, I spot the bathroom door and open it, pushing inside with my head bowed over my phone as I close the door behind me.
“Oh, fuck, yes, just like that.”
My head whips up, and I freeze. My cell slips through my fingers, landing on the carpeted floor. It’s not a bathroom. It’s a bedroom.
And the man currently under the sheets with a stunning redhead is the man I was just texting.
The woman’s hair is spread across the pillow like spilled blood, and Jase’s fingers are threaded through some of the strands. His cell vibrates on the bedside table as he thrusts against the woman, leaning down to kiss her neck. She has her eyes closed, moaning and whimpering, as she writhes underneath him, neither of them noticing I’m in the room.
I watch with a pain in my chest and a lump in my throat as Jase checks his cell, glancing briefly at my message, before tossing it on the bouncing bed.
“We have an audience,” the woman says, her eyes now open and fixated on me.
I know her. I’ve seen her around campus. She’s one of the professors. As her hand lands on Jase’s shoulder, the gold band around her ring finger glistens and shines under the ceiling light. She continues to stare at me, unconcerned about who I am or that she’s been caught in bed with a much younger man because, now I can see her more clearly, she is way older than him.
Nausea swims up my throat, and my stomach twists into knots at the sheer horror of what I’ve stumbled upon.
Jase continues fucking her as he slowly turns to face me. His Adam’s apple bobs in his throat, and emotion shimmers in his eyes for a fleeting moment before it’s gone.
I want to yell at him, throw things at him, berate him for doing this, but I can’t move, and I can’t speak. Silent tears roll down my face as I watch him whisper something to the woman before kissing her softly.
A part of me dies inside as he gets off her, swings his legs to the side of the bed, and holds the sheets to his waist. “Wait outside, Ash. I’ll be there in a minute.”
When I don’t move, he fixes me with a hard glare. “Ashley! Go outside. Now.”
I obey in a bit of a daze, keeping a hand on my chest as if that will hold my rupturing heart together.
“Oh my god,” I pant when I’m outside, slumping against the wall. I hold on to the doorway as I inhale and exhale, struggling to pull myself together in the face of that discovery.
I straighten up when the door opens, and a shirtless Jase emerges. Grabbing my elbow, he pulls me down to the end of the hallway, away from the door. “What the hell are you doing here, Ash?”
Anger spikes in my blood as I wrench my arm from his hold, finally snapping out of my fugue state. “That’s what you have to say to me?” I yell, furiously swiping at the hot tears dampening my cheeks.
He looks anxiously around. “Keep your voice down. I don’t want Meredith to hear.”
“What the actual fuck?” I push him back into the wall, beating my fists into his chest. “You’re worried abouther? Who is she, and how long have you been fucking her?”
“She doesn’t matter.” He grabs my wrists. “Stop, Ash. Let me explain.”
