“Hey, asshole.” My finger presses against the striped green of his polo.
Eyes wide, he puts his hands up reflexively as if this isn’t the first time he’s been accosted by an angry woman in a taco joint. “Do I know you?”
“No, you don’tknowme. I was just supposed to be a bridesmaid in your wedding, you cheating piece of shit.”
He puts his hands down and looks somewhat relieved. “You’re one of Nikki’s friends.”
“Thank god she didn’t marry you, because if she had andthenI found out you cheated on her, I would have torn into you like the bear fromThe Revenantand left you to die in the Canadian wilderness.”
Confusion paints Aaron’s face, along with a slight glimmer of fear in his eyes like he thinks I just might be unhinged enough to gnaw through his ribs.
“LovedBywas a reality TV show. She should’ve known what she was getting into.” He heads to the counter dismissing me.
“She was trying to find true love, and you used her,” I say to his back. Aaron just stands there. Meanwhile, Finn has collected our order and comes up beside me.
He nudges my shoulder with his. “Let’s get out of here.”
“No. I’m not getting out of here until this jerk admits what he did.”
Aaron rolls his eyes, and something inside me snaps.
Before I can process what I’m doing, my hot and toasty burrito is out of the paper bag in Finn’s hand and flying across the room.
Piping hot cheese covers Aaron’s smug face. Egg and avocado drip down his green polo.
Two thoughts hit me simultaneously: one, Nikki is going to kill me; and two, it was worth it.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Aaron shouts, brushing off the piece of bacon that landed on his shoulder.
Adrenaline courses through my veins. I’m breathing heavy, in and out, in and out, exactly like the antianxiety app tells younotto do.
“Emma,” Finn says, placing a firm hand on my shoulder.
“Don’t touch me,” I snap.
Finn pulls his hand away. “Emma, please,” he says, softer this time.
Those words trigger a memory—the first time I made the mistake of trusting Finn Hughes with my heart. Suddenly I’m sixteen again, standing alone, waiting for the boy I liked to show up where he said he would.Emma, please.
I whirl on Finn, jabbing a finger in his chest.
“You know what? You’re just as bad as him.”
Finn’s eyebrows shoot toward his hairline. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me.” My blood is buzzing.
Finn’s looking at me like I’ve lost it.
Behind the counter, the teenage cashier is recording the whole scene on her phone.
“Ma’am.” A man with a name tag that reads “manager” approaches me warily. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
I let him lead me to the exit. But before I pass through the swinging glass door, I turn back to the cashier, looking straight into the phone camera.
“He broke her heart.”
6
