“Cheated on?”
“No. But my best friend back in Buffalo is one of the most successful people I’ve ever met and her husband had an affair with his secretary.”
“Yikes.” And cliched. I guess that’s one thing cheaters have in common. They’re not original at all.
Rana nods. “She bounced back better than ever. We arenotgoing to let him win.”
“How? By screwing an even bigger asshole?”
“No,” Rana says. “By remembering who the fuck you are.”
I look at her pathetically, because I can feel the question forming on my lips and even if it’s coming from a place of shock and sadness so I don’t want to judge myself for thinking it.
“Who? A dumbass who didn’t realize her boyfriend had another girlfriend.”
Rana gets her serious lawyer face on again. “No. You’re a person who matters with or without a boyfriend.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Rana says. “Trust me. My mom never learned that lesson and it sucked my entire life watching her chase the affections of a man who only wanted to use her.”
“Your dad?”
Rana sighs and nods. Clearly, she doesn’t want to bring up her childhood trauma and I don’t want to dig deeper into the fact that I feel totally lost about who I am, and this stupid break up just exposed something that I’m not at all ready to face.I’ve been standing still with Rakeem, haven’t I?
“We’re going out and we’re going to forget about him,” Rana says, clearing up her voice from its own choking. “Just… promise me you won’t get pregnant.”
“What?”
“It’s a long story. Just promise.”
“Rakeem and I just broke up, Rana. I won’t be having a baby any time soon.”
Thankfully, we live in Massachusetts where my rights in that regard are guaranteed.
“Okay. Sorry. Just being paranoid. I’ll call us a rideshare. All drinks are on me tonight, okay?” Rana says.
“Deal.”
So off I go – to shake my ass on a dive bar table and forget that the man I’ve been telling everyone is the love of my life is a lustful loser who let his second girlfriend try to beat my ass in the barbershop.
Chapter Three
Zeb
2 Weeks Ago
Deacon has me lure them out, but I don’t see what good it will do. Wyatt won’t let them get shot, even if I have all the proof I need that they’re responsible for the drugging situation. Listen, they claim to have good reasons for it and I didn’t ask too many questions aside from if I was getting paid and how much I was getting paid.
For all I knew, this directive came from a higher-up. Deacon comes strolling into my room, unlocking my door with his key like a crazy entitled motherfucker. If I had my gun on me…
“Get up, they’re all getting to the casino within the hour. I need hands.”
He means scary motherfuckers who can stop this situation from turning into a gunfight. We can’t bring any of this to Wyatt until we get answers, but if we all turn and kill each other while he isn’t looking, I can’t say whether it will be better to be dead or alive after that.
Deacon is a harsh boss. I groan and get out of bed, assuring him that I’ll be ready within the next thirty minutes or so. Hetells me to hurry my ass up and follows up with a few more choice words. The whole thing is fucked.
I’ve been stacking my money aside to move out to Boston or Buffalo on the East Coast once all our jobs here are done and I don’t have to keep running back and forth for Wyatt. Frankly, I haven’t decided which. For a while I was seeing this girl who wanted to take us over to Pittsburgh. She went. With her drug dealer. Ghosted me and I never saw her again. God never makes mistakes – I can’t stand the thought of a meth head dragging me down.
