Page 68 of Badd Ass

“I’m serious, Bax. Don’t do it. You’ll just hurt yourself worse, and thenI’llhurt you even more.”

“Two.”

“I’m fucking serious, asshole.”

“Three.” There was a pause. “Okay, I’m kicking the door down.”

I heard a loud thud, and a splintering sound.

“Ow.” I heard Bax groaning in pain. “Ow, my leg, ow, ow, ow, fuck my leg—fuck, my leg, ow.”

I ignored it.

Another kick, more of Bax shouting in pain, and I laughed despite myself. “Can’t even kick down a flimsy door in one kick?” I taunted. “Pussy.”

And then I heard another voice. A softer one. A more feminine one. A sweet, familiar voice. “Bax, stop. You’ll reopen your injury. I’ll go in there. This is a private conversation anyway.” I heard my doorknob rattle. “Zane? It’s me…it’s Mara. Open up, please.”

“Fuck,” I mumbled under my breath. “Fine, I’m coming,” I said, louder.

I rolled out of bed, tugged on a pair of shorts, and unlocked my door, sighing in frustration at the splintered area below the doorknob. I opened the door.

“You gotta kick just to the side of the knob,” I said to Bax, pointing at the door. “The latch is the weakest spot.”

Mara was standing there, stunning, breathtaking, and looking just as miserable as I felt. She was dressed in tight black yoga pants and a pink crewneck sweatshirt with the word “PINK” across the chest, a pair of leopard print TOMS on her feet.

“Hi.” She whispered the word, staring at her feet.

I stood frozen, unsure what to say, how to feel, what to think. “Hey.”

She finally raised her eyes to mine, and I saw that her beautiful green/brown/gray eyes were red-rimmed from crying. “We need to talk, Zane.”

I really didn’t like the tone in her voice, or that phrasing. “Okay. Come on in.”

She slipped past me into my bedroom and sat on the edge of my bed. She had a small black purse in her hands, and was twisting the strap between her fingers and thumb. “About, uh, the reason I didn’t answer your text or call—”

“I figured you didn’t want to see me.”

She reached out and took my hand. “No, Zane. No. I lost my phone, and then got a new contract and a new number. I just…I figured you wouldn’t be calling me anyway, since you didn’t for like a month and a half.”

“So you would have answered my call?”

She nodded. “Of course. I was a complete mess for the first month, waiting for you to call or text.”

I growled. “Shit.”

She leaned against me, her head on my shoulder. “You went to San Francisco to find me?”

“Yeah, I did.”

A long, awkward, tense silence, and then Mara sat up straight, unzipped her purse, and pulled something out, a white stick inside a Ziploc bag. “So, we have to talk.”

My heart lurched. “So you said. What…um, what do we have to talk about?” I glanced at her hands, at the thing she was holding. “This isn’t about us being together, is it?”

She bobbled her head from side to side. “Yes, and no.”

“What’s that mean, Mara?”

She opened her hands, and extended the baggie and the object inside it to me. “Look.”