Page 21

As I slide the luxe fabric curtain open, the first thing I see is Ashley sitting in Ricky’s lap. On seeing me, she gives me a deliberate smile and then leans down and presses her mouth against Ricky’s in an open-mouthed kiss. I look in disgust, wondering what exactly she plans to achieve out of this public display of affection. Now that I’m sleeping with a man like Hunter Middleton, I couldn’t give two shits about these two sleeping together.
“Okay.” I look around at the shot glasses on the table. “So, what seems to be the problem with the drinks?”
Ashley’s eyes are open and fixed on mine as she continues to French Kiss Ricky. When she didn’t get the reaction, she clearly expected to get out of me. She pulls away, wiping the sides of her mouth delicately with her thumb.
“I asked to see the manager.”
“You’re looking at her.”
“The drinks are shit here.”
The two other girls sitting on the opposite side of the booth snicker.
“I see.” My eyes go to the tequila bottles and one empty bottle of wine. “Which is why you and your party consumed all of it?”
She doesn’t get annoyed by my retort but instead surprises me with an offer.
“Why don’t you join us? We’ve ordered some more drinks, crappy as they are.”
“Join you?” I echo. “Now, why would I do something as stupid as that?”
She picks up her wineglass and rises from Ricky’s lap, beaming at me. “I just think that we should try to get along.”
“Unfortunately, I don’t share that opinion, Ashley. And since it’s obvious that the server is getting you another round of drinks to make up for whatever convoluted problem there was with the first round, I’m going to excuse myself. Some of us have work to do.”
It’s a physical struggle to be polite. I can feel a sickening feeling of fury moving through my veins like sludge. Choking me from the inside out.
Suddenly, Ashley moves closer toward me, and her two minions stand. One has the empty wine bottle in her hand as if she’s ready to use it as a weapon.
Oh, fuck.
I don’t get time to react as the three of them quickly surround me. The only one still seated and quiet is Ricky as if his irresponsible behavior isn’t the source of Ashley’s sick obsession with me.
The short girl with a menacing look on her face raises the bottle up high, and my arms quickly form a protective formation to defend myself. Ashley then shoves me back into the glass table with so much force that the table shatters under my weight.
“You fucking bitch!” She spits on me as I try to avoid the surrounding glass. “I’m sick of your ass. First, you try to steal my place in the exhibition, and then you make a sex tape with my boyfriend! You fucking slut!”
Stunned by what’s just happened, I’m barely listening to her. All I can think about is how I’m going to get up and not stab myself with the large shards of glass sticking out from the table's edges. Enjoying my struggle, Ashley kicks at my leg, and I feel a sharp pain from my barely healed stitches.
“Crawl over the glass!” She jeers, and the girls surrounding me hoot in laughter.
Finally looking uncomfortable, Ricky stands and extends his hand to help me up until Ashley pushes it away.
“Don’t you dare help her,” she hisses at him.
“You’ve lost your fucking mind!” I snarl at her, wincing in pain. “This is a goddamn assault! Do you think I won’t press charges? You think I won’t tell them how you’ve practically been stalking me because your boyfriend couldn’t keep it in his pants?”
“Assault?” Ashley sneers at me before looking around at her friends. “You saw the way she attacked me, right? I was just defending myself. Even that employee saw it!”
She points towards where Diana is standing, looking a little shaken by the amount of violence that she clearly hadn’t expected.
“Right?” Ashley presses, her eyes narrowing, and Diana bobs her head up and down in frantic agreement.
I pull myself out of the broken table, ignoring the scratches on my legs, and I stand.
“You’ve royally fucked up this time,” I warn her. “This was the worst place you could have attacked me.”
“Is that right?” Ashley leans in to put her ugly snout in my face. “Did you think I would let you steal my position in the program and fuck my boyfriend?”