Page 7

I spun around and rushed over to the nightstand, flinging the drawer open as I searched for the necklace from my mother.

Gone. It was gone, along with my favorite watch that didn’t match my ring.

Anger swarmed me as I looked around the room, noting all the little touches I’d added had been stripped away. It was as if I had never been here.

How had he managed to remove me so effectively in one afternoon?

I stilled as I realized that was not all that had been wiped clean from this apartment.

I searched room by room, moving methodically in search of the one prized possession I could never leave behind.

But with every room I searched, it became clear that everything was gone.

I tried to stay calm. I really did, but the anger built so fiercely inside me that I couldn’t contain what I knew was coming. I marched out the front door and grabbed the fire extinguisher. If he was going to take everything from me, I would do the same to him.

I pulled the pin and grabbed the hose, looking around for my first victim. Grinning, I walked over to his beloved couch and took aim. “This is for screwing another woman when you were supposed to be mine.”

I sprayed the entire couch, but didn’t stop there.

I walked through every room, taking aim at his most precious items. His favorite recliner.

The windows that always had to be streak-free.

His kitchen, where I spent way too many nights slaving away over his favorite dishes. I saved the bed for last.

By now, tears flooded my eyes. I knew there wasn’t nearly enough white foam to coat the whole bed. But I couldn’t walk away and leave it in one piece. The man had taken something from me that left me with a massive hole in my chest. How dare he take what we had and so callously ruin it.

I pressed the handle, but all that came out was a piddly amount of spray.

I thought of taking a knife to his bed, but that seemed too easy.

No, I wanted him to think everything was fine until he came to bed.

Only then would he truly understand what he had done to me.

I dug through everything in the apartment but could find nothing that would fill my needs.

I stood there for a good five minutes, pondering my next move, when it hit me. With an evil grin, I grabbed the poker from the fireplace and attacked the walls, making it look as though I just went into a jealous rage. I was sweating hard by the time I had finished destroying his walls.

I headed into the kitchen and grabbed my yellow dishwashing gloves and a pair of sunglasses sitting on the kitchen counter.

I gathered small bits of insulation from the walls and took it into the bedroom, pulling back the sheets.

There was no guarantee he’d sleep here, but if he did, he’d be in for a rude awakening.

I rubbed the insulation back and forth over the bed, and only when I was satisfied that he would be well and truly fucked if he laid down did I remake the bed in pristine condition.

I almost left it at that, but then I spied his closet and grinned.

Carefully removing each shirt, I scrubbed the insulation over the inside of the shirts, then replaced them on the hangers.

Taking a deep, satisfied breath, I grinned and replaced the insulation in the wall.

I didn’t have my things, but I sure as hell felt a lot better.

I groaned as I grabbed yet another glass of wine from Jeanie, who backed away like I was going to attack her. In reality, that might happen if I didn’t drown my sorrows with alcohol. I downed half the glass and closed my eyes, trying to block out the images of him sinking his cock inside his whore.

“I’m so stupid.”

“You are, but not for the reasons you think,” Jeanie said, taking a sip from her first glass of wine.

“You know, a good friend would get drunk alongside me and ignore the fact that I’ve already had half the alcohol in the state.”

She snatched the glass from me and held it out of my reach. “No, a good friend would remind you that you’re so much better than that prick. Why are you drinking so much? You’re lucky if you ask me.”

A tear slipped down my cheek, but I was too drunk to wipe it away. Why did life have to be so hard?

“I know I’m lucky, but that doesn’t erase the fact that last night I was engaged and now I’m lonely and pathetic. I mean…why her? Why couldn’t she be some homeless chick he picked up off the street? At least then I would praise him for helping the poor!”

“That’s not?—”

“Or a blind person! He always wanted to be a philanthropist. That was his chance. He could have spent his money on finding a cure for blind people. They would have loved him.”

She sighed heavily.

“There are dogs and cats who would have worshiped the ground he walked on if only he had given them some kibble.”

“At least you still have the ring,” she said, wincing as she looked at my left hand. “Maybe you should take that off.”

I snorted, staring down at the beauty on my left hand.

“Are you kidding? This is the nicest thing I’ve ever owned.

There’s no way I’m taking it off. I’ll wear it until I die, and then the funeral director can attempt to pry it off my cold, dead finger.

Except, it won’t come off because by then I’ll weigh a hundred pounds more and my fingers will be so fat that the ring will be permanently indented on my finger.

And only then, when I’m withering away in the ground, will he have his opportunity to take the ring back.

But he won’t be able to. Do you know why? ”

“Because you’re drunk and you don’t know what you’re saying?”

“Because I will have found a really good way to pay him back for his treachery. I’ll take a sponge and soak it full of water and then shove it up his ass and it’ll expand.”

“I think it expands with water,” she pointed out.

“Or I’ll take a flaming hot poker and carve my initials into his forehead.”

“And then everyone will see the proof of your crimes and you’ll end up in prison.”

I smiled as I thought of doing it. “Or maybe I’ll go over there right now and confront him.” I got to my feet and marched toward the door, but she grabbed me by the arm and stopped me.

“That’s really not a good idea. Remember what you did?”

“It doesn’t matter. I’ve been thinking about this all day. I have a speech thought out and everything!” I turned to her with a pitying frown. “Do you want to hear it?”

“Not at all.”

I turned from her and grabbed the wine bottle by the neck, swinging it around as I faced her.

“James, what you did was unfalthom…able. You broke my heart and trampled all over it like a bull on a bunch of roses. My heart is in little bloody pieces on the ground. Your knife you twisted in my gut is full of heartache and leeches.”

“I can see this is going to be good,” she sighed, taking a seat on the arm of the couch.

“Why did you have to do that to me?” I asked, my voice cracking.

“Why her? Why did you have to go behind my back and ruin the one really good thing in my life?” I sniffled, wiping my nose on the back of my hand.

“Why couldn’t you see me for the wonderful person I am?

I make your dinner and wash your clothes.

I even get the shit stains out of your underwear! ”

“Really? You didn’t just throw them out?” she grimaced.

I shook my head, my eyes dropping to the ground. “I scrubbed them out and bleached them. I had a whole routine and everything. He always seemed to like it so much.”

“That’s…I don’t know what to say to that.”

“Nothing,” I whispered. “Nothing because he doesn’t deserve anything you might say. You know why?”

“Because he’s a shit stain?”

“Right,” I pointed at her, then pulled the bottle in and took a long drink. “I gave him everything, and he shit stained all over my love for him. And he took my stuff. I literally have nothing else to wear! I swear to God, if he donated my clothes to the homeless, I’m gonna tear him a new asshole.”

“I thought you wanted him to help the homeless?” she asked in confusion.

“Yes, but not with my things!”

“Just with his dick,” she nodded. “I see where you’re going with this.”

Tears coursed down my cheeks as I collapsed in a puddle on the floor. “I was going to be a happy bride. I had a dress nearly picked out. It was narrowed down to forty.”

“That few, huh?”

I nodded, taking another swig of wine. “I would have been a beautiful bride.”

“You would have. But you know what you would have been even better at?”

“Huh?”

She walked behind me and pulled me up by my armpits. “You would have been an even better extortionist.”

I snorted at that. “Girl, I can barely touch my toes.”

“Not a contortion— never mind. It’s not important.”

“I can’t believe I replaced one of my fantasy characters with James! I’m so stupid!”

Sighing, she dropped me and walked back around to squat in front of me. “You actually gave up one of your men?”

I nodded pitifully. “I replaced Cassian with him.

She gasped in shock, shaking her head at me. “You did what?”

I flung myself to the side and whimpered, beating the floor. “I know! It was so stupid! How could James ever beat Cassian?”

“Well, not only because he’s a fictional character with magical powers, but also because are you fucking stupid?” she snapped. “I’m sorry, but no man can ever top a fictional character!”

“I know,” I cried. “Because they’re not real!”

“That and, have you seen the reels on Facebook of Cassian and Rhysand? No real-life man could look like that!”

“I know! It was so stupid! And my card was laminated! It was the final fake boyfriend card, and I just threw that all away.”

“I mean, it was stupid to laminate just because another book boyfriend might come along, but James, of all people? What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking that I was going to marry him,” I cried. “I was going to be Mrs. James Johnson!

“Sorry, but did you really want your last name to reference a dick?”

She had a point. I wiped the tears from my face and shook my head. “Can I sleep on your couch tonight?”

“We already covered this.”

“We did?”

She dragged me over to the couch and plopped me down. “Yes. Besides, you’re too drunk to drive.”

“I don’t have a car. Or a license. Or a man to drive me around. Or a driver.” I looked over at her and sighed. “You know what I really loved?”

“The driver?”

I shook my head. “The way he smelled when he came.”

She grimaced, turning away from me. “I don’t need to know this.”

“Seriously, he would come and then he would bury his face in my neck and I could smell the sweat in his hair. And some women don’t like the smell of sweat, but on him, it was so fucking good.”

“Alright,” she chuckled. “I think that’s enough wine for you.”

As she tried to pull the bottle away, I yanked it back, frowning at her. “No. I need more liquor.”

“This hardly counts. Besides, wine will get you nowhere.”

As she plucked the bottle from my hand, I stared at it longingly. “I’ll see you tomorrow, my friend.”

“I know. I’ll wake you up before I leave.”

“I was talking to the wine,” I mumbled, laying back on the couch and closing my eyes. I sighed heavily as my eyes drifted shut. Being single sucked. But getting dumped for some British hoebag was so much worse.