“He’s not my boyfriend!” I shout, stomping my foot because it doesn’t seem to be getting through his thick skull. “Listen to me. I don’t want to be with you because you’re selfish, and demanding, and a cheater! It has nothing to do with anyone else. I don’t want to be with you because of you!”
He stares at me, gritting his teeth. “This is a bad idea! Hanging around here?” He shakes his head. “It’s a bad move and you know it.”
“I’m not hanging around here. I’m here for my brother. That’s it.”
He lifts a brow. “Is your brother in there right now? Is he partying with everyone to celebrate his discharge from rehab?”
My cheeks heat. “He just left. I was catching up with old friends, and then I was heading home too.”
“Yeah.” His mouth turns down, and he scoffs. “It looks like you were just leaving.”
He stomps across the parking lot.
“Casey, it’s not like that.”
Why am I chasing after him? I don’t owe him an explanation; he’s the one who betrayed my trust.
“It’s not like what, Ashton? You’re not fucking your ex-boyfriend behind my back?”
I rear back and laugh. “One, I’m not fucking anyone. And two, you have a lot of room to talk.”
“It was a mistake! I keep telling you that!” he shouts before throwing his hands up defensively. “You know what? Forget it! Have a great life.”
He barrels toward his car. This time I don’t chase after him. He blew up our marriage, not me. I don’t have anything to feel guilty about. As I stand in the middle of the lot and watch as he pulls away, not a single regret for refusing to take him back crosses my mind.
I make my way back inside and order a shot.
After a few drinks, I’m holding up the bar with JT for an hour, when he asks, “So, tell me, how did this Casey guy manage to let you slip out of his hands?”
“Well.” I pause, laughing. “He let more than his hands slip into someone else.”
I don’t know if it’s because I’m drunk or because I truly don’t care anymore, but it doesn’t sting as much to say it out loud.
“Oh, damn. How do you keep managing to pick the world’s biggest dumbasses?”
I burst out laughing. “Um, one of those dumbasses is your best friend.”
“Oh, I know, and don’t think I haven’t told him exactly how stupid I think he is.”
I elbow him, taking another swig of my beer.
“Are you trying to move in on my girl?” A tattooed arm wraps around my shoulder, and I glance back to find Gabriel and JT having a silent conversation.
“Oh. Now she’s your girl?” JT asks, glaring at Gabriel in a way that doesn’t seem like he’s joking. “I thought it wasn’t like that.”
Gabriel rears back. “That doesn’t mean you can have her,” he snaps, voice laced with venom.
I put my hands up between the two of them.
“Okay, I think I’ll decide who gets to have me.” I turn to Gabriel. “Might I remind you; I am not your girl. I haven’t been in a very long time.”
Removing his arm from my shoulders, I recognize what’s happening.
He’s trashed.
Gabriel doesn’t get drunk. He likes to be in control, but he’s completely wasted right now.
He leans down with his mouth to my ear and whispers, “You’ve always beenmygirl.”
