“You know him already,” I force the words out and his brows furrow.
“I do know of him.” His nostrils flare. “His family owns that rundown hardware store in the tiny town you call home, right?”
“A rundown hardware store.” I make a humph sound, a smile covering my mouth for the first time since I saw him. “I wouldn’t call a store that supplies one of the biggest contractors in our area rundown. O’Shay could order from any chain, but instead runs millions through that little hardware store.”
Again his nostrils flare, and his jaw tenses.
“Was this thing between the two of you going on the entire time we were together?”
This time I do laugh, finally finding my footing. This asshole wants to show up here and confront me on issues that are not even relevant. I laugh, because come on, this is hilarious.
“You, of all people, think you have the right to show up and accuse me of cheating.” I take a step in his direction and noticethe moment of surprise in his eyes. “You are a piece of shit Ryan, you were in the beginning and you still are today, maybe worse. You are the one that couldn’t keep his dick in his pants. You are the one that walks around acting as though he is some kind of treasure to all women, but let me just say you are a joke. The sex was horrible, and on most days I had to think of what I needed to do the next day just to stay awake. You are boring, and predictable, and the only thing I did while I was with you was waste my time.”
“Is that so?”
“Not that I owe you any explanation, but he and I have only been dating a few weeks. But in those few weeks he’s made me laugh and smile more than you ever did. I don’t have to force myself to call him or spend time with him. I actually look forward to seeing him and hearing his voice. He is a good man, and because of him I now know the difference between a man raised right and a boy that is still trying to pretend he is a man.”
I hold his stare, him doing his best to make me climb back into my shell. He doesn’t succeed. Ryan may have never physically harmed me but I can see now he is unstable.
“It won’t last.” He chuckles. “You’ll get bored there too, because honestly you aren’t that lovable, Sophie. In fact, you are pretty forgettable.”
I feel that familiar anxiety rush through me and I do my best to hold it together.
“If I’m so forgettable, then why are you here? Why are you constantly calling and sending me messages, and why in the hell do you care who I do or don’t date?”
“Don’t confuse this for caring.” He sneers.
“Honestly the moment you finally realize it’s time for you to walk away, I can promise I won’t give you a second thought. Most of the time we all sit around and laugh at the ridiculousness that seems to follow you everywhere. Nothing about our time together was memorable. So believe me when I say, you aren’t someone I waste my time thinking about.”
Then I take it one step further and hope that I pull it off. Channeling Adley and Kendall I try to pull off the bitchiness they can always master.
“In fact, when I’m with Finn, when it’s him and I alone together, I can’t seem to think of anything really. He is really good about occupying my every thought. For hours and hours he holds every single ounce of my focus.” I bite my lip for emphasis and pretend to be lost in some erotic memory. “He is really, really good at that.” I add the corner of my mouth tipping upward.
“So being his whore is your new life goal?”
“Did you ever think that he might be mine?” I try not to laugh imagining what he would think if he heard me refer to him as such. “He has managed to open up a part of me I never knew existed. I’ve come to realize that it wasn’t me. It was the men I was choosing to spend time with. Now that I’ve had a real man, I know what I was missing all along.”
I watch and wait, and when it finally registers in his pea-sized brain that I have no intentions of cowering, he turns and practically stomps away.
And it is then that I finally release the breath I’d been holding in a sigh of relief.
Hurrying to dig my phone out of my bag I call Kendall.
“Can I tow his car yet?” I think if I said yes she really would and I have a feeling he wouldn’t be able to recognize it when she was finished.
“He was waiting for me outside of the clinic when I finished my hours.”
I am met with silence.
“Kendall?”
I hear the sounds of something clanking loudly and then the roar of an engine.
“Kendall?”
“Forget the fucking car Soph, I am hooking him by the jaw and dragging his ass for miles.”
“I handled it!” The last thing I needed was for her to get herself into trouble. “He’s gone.”
