Page 14 of Beg Me

That’s the toughest part to swallow. I bought into his bullshit.

I believed him.

Jasper was supposed to be the exception, the one who made me believe that not all men were bad. Instead, he proved me right. And that’s what sucks.

I wanted to be wrong.

Gianna glances at him with disdain. “He did you a favor. You’re way too gorgeous to be with him, and if a man isn’t treating you like a queen, he doesn’t deserve you. He can go fuck himself.”

“He probably would if he could figure out how,” I say.

Lisa leans close. “For the record, I agree with everything you both said.” She flashes me a half smile before heading toward Jasper to take his order.

“Thanks,” I say to Gianna. “I’m just glad that he showed me who he really was before I got too invested in him.”

I offer a smile that probably looks, and definitely feels, more like a grimace. Because I had wondered whether Jasper was long-term material, and I had been erring on the side of yes. He was all the wonderful things I’d decided were symptoms of husband material. That I was so wrong is embarrassing, but going any further in that relationship being so incredibly wrong would’ve been humiliating.

Her lips twist as if she has something to say. But before any words pass them, she seems to change her mind. “What’s your plan? You’re not dating anyone for the rest of your life because Jasper is a douchebag?”

I’m fairly certain that wasn’t what she was going to say.

“I don’t know,” I say, straightening my shirt in case he looks this way. I may not care about him, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t want him to wallow in how badly he fumbled me. “I’m not saying I’ll never date again. Never is a long time. But I’m just over it. I’m tired of giving my time and energy to men who’ll wind up treating me like I’m disposable.”

She takes a breath. “Trust me. I get it. I was walking down that same path when Drake changed how I saw the world. That’s all it takes, Markie. One guy can swoop in and make you see that there are good men out there. You just have to find them.”

“I believed that. But Jasper was supposed to be the one good man. Theory busted.”

A chill ripples down my spine, and I don’t have to look over my shoulder to see why. I know Jasper’s standing beside me by the way the hair on the back of my neck stands on end … and from the icy glare Gianna shoots that way.

“Hey, Markie,” Jasper says, his voice as unbothered as ever.

“That’s a stupid opening,” I say, lifting a brow.

“It was two words.”

I paste on a smile that’s so intense, so patently weaponized, that he recoils. “And I said I trusted you. Looks like we both say stupid shit.”

My gaze stays pinned on his face until his Adam’s apple bobs, and he walks away, muttering something under his breath.

“Okay,” Gianna says. “I get what you mean when you say that he hides behind his boy-next-door facade. That pisses me off, too.”

I wait a beat for my blood to stop boiling. “I need to destroy him in the pickleball tournament in front of the whole town, and then I can put this to bed.”

“Or you could let a hot rugby player put you to bed and forget about this whole thing.”

I stare at her.

“What?” She laughs. “I hope that if our roles were reversed, you’d be encouraging me to bang a guy like Jory.”

Of course, I’d be telling her to do that, just like she is me. And up until a few months ago, I’d have been giving myself the same advice. But something flipped inside me when I discovered Jasper’s infidelity. I don’t just want another guy in my bed. I want the guy. The one who probably doesn’t even exist.

“I’m laser focused on the tournament. It’s all I can handle right now. We’re a month out, and I still don’t have a partner. But I am meeting a guy named Adam tonight who I think will be great.”

Before she can reply, our phones buzz with incoming texts.

“Must be the group chat,” Gianna says, smiling.

I grab my phone and open the app.