Page 90 of Free to Judge

I text Jon,

Kalie:

Who’s my watchdog tonight?

Jon:

Why?

Kalie:

I’m going for a run. If they can’t keep up, that’s not my problem.

Little dots flash then…

Jon:

I’ll let them know.

I run straight to the closet and head for the only place I can feel peace.

It’s on the run I come up with the plan of what to do next.

By the time I get home, Declan is blowing up my phone like a malfunctioning gun.

Declan:

Hey, firebrand.

Sorry for running out this morning.

Meeting’s done.

Want me to come over?

Kalie? You okay?

Out running?

Text me. Your phone is showing you’re home.

Each ping assaults my phone one after another, each one hammering into me, making my anger surge as the betrayal from earlier screams through my veins. It takes everything in me to not reply but to plan.

As I shower, every heartbeat pounds like a war drum as I prepare for the true battle to occur—the one between me and Declan. I close my eyes to rinse my hair and the images pop into my mind.Her hands on his body, his hands on hers. The way he leaned back and his smile.

That fucking smile.

That smile that isn’t just mine anymore.

It belongs to the world thanks to Sexy & Social’s significant following.

Shaking the spray out of my face, I mutter, “At least the world doesn’t know he played you, Kalie.”

No, all I had to deal with is the brutality of his deception.

Bitter and enraged, I mutter aloud in the steamy room. “What does this show you that you are to him, Kalie?” I swallow a mouthful of water and spit it out just before the truth falls from my lips. “A ruse. A blind. Of course he took advantage of what was being offered.”

Before I could drown in despair, I turn off the taps. Towel drying my hair, I slide into my worn Harvard Law T-shirt and sleep pants before I strip the bed. It might be midday, but I can’t bear to be in the same space his scent lives in.