She was done. She was so done with the lies, the cheating, the stupid, stupid men that she kept falling for. She was off men for good. Like Carla said, they were all rotten apples. No, no, they were more like frogs and she was tired of kissing them. No one turned into a prince. They just stayed the disgusting slimy warty toads they’d always been. Life sure as hell wasn’t a fairy tale. There were no happily ever after’s.
Muffy slammed a fist into her pillow. She did it again, beating at it over and over until some of her anger was spent. She grabbed her phone again right after and deleted Alex’s number.
She then flipped onto her back and stared at the popcorn ceiling until her eyes burned from keeping them open so long without blinking.
Done.
She. Was. So. Done. With. All. Of. It.
CHAPTER 21
Alex
“What did you fucking do?”
Jay could tell from the second Alex barged into his office that he was in serious trouble. He jumped up from behind his desk and put his hands out in a gesture of innocence, but his face said it all. He was definitely to blame for the text Muffy sent.
After waking up on Saturday morning and seeing the text, Alex thought it was legitimately his fault. She’d said she didn’t want to see him anymore. That she didn’t think it was going to work out because they weren’t physically compatible. It was like getting kicked in the nuts, waking up, finding her gone, then reading that text.
Except he was pretty sure that they were definitely physically compatible.
Those three orgasms she had didn’t seem fake. Maybe one. He could have believed it if it was just one, but frick, three? Who faked three orgasms. No one.
It had taken him all weekend to think about it. He’d gone to sleep Sunday night blaming himself. Maybe he’d done something. Come on too strong. Maybe he’d moved too fast, even though she seemed ready. Maybe she was just scared because it felt too right between them. He was pretty sure she felt it too, that crazy thread sewing them up together.
Then he realized, as he was toasting himself a bagel before work- because even though he felt like a sack of shit or a piece of squashed roadkill repeatedly run over until it was unidentifiable, he knew he had to eat something this morning or he’d feel even worse- that it wasn’t him at all.
It was Jay.
The fucker couldn’t keep a secret.
He knew that.
The entire world knew it.
He’d driven Muffy’s roommate home after the pub. Muffy came over to his place. They’d spent an amazing night, so of course, he wasn’t thinking right, and then she’d sent that text the next morning. After she’d gone home. Probably after she talked to her roommate.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Jay shook his head from side to side, as if the motion would help Alex believe in his innocence but he knew him too well for that.
“Oh yes, you fucking do. I got a text from Muffy on Saturday. She wanted to break things off. Said that it wasn’t right. That we weren’t compatible.”
“Oh really?” Jay’s brow creased into a frown. “I’m sorry, man. She seemed like a nice person. Like, really. I’ll admit, you won the bet, whether she dumped you or not.”
“Nope.” Alex’s hands balled into fists. It had been a long damn time since he’d got into it with Jay and the beating was long overdue. “That’s not going to cut it. You did something. You said something to her roommate.”
Jay shrugged. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. If she said you weren’t compatible, maybe you aren’t as good as you think. It’s not my fault your skills are seriously lacking.”
“That is fucking it. You know you’re seriously an asshole? You came up with this bet! You’re the one who ruined everything! I know you said something. There is no way Muffy would send me a text like that after- just- damn it! I know you opened your big mouth and blabbed to her roommate. She’s a smart-looking woman. I’m sure she put it together. Our pictures are on the internet. People can find out who we are pretty easily. She probably looked me up after and realized that I wasn’t who I said I was.”
“Uhhh… she could have figured it out without me saying anything.”
“So, you did say something!” Alex’s heart sunk, but worse, the rage that had been percolating all weekend finally exploded.
Jay looked both ways like he was about to cross the damn street. His eyes darkened and he got that pinched look on his face. Alex knew that he was hiding something. That he definitely knew something he didn’t want to admit. He looked the same way when he’d dipped into his parent’s wallet as a teenager to buy them a pack of smokes back when a note from your parents was all you needed as permission to get a pack, even though they’d forged the note because neither of his parents smoked. They’d gone behind the house and smoked one cigarette and Jay’s mom came home early from work and followed the stench behind the garden shed and caught them. Jay’s face in that moment, the look of terror and guilt mashed up together, looked exactly like his face now. Like he’d been caught in the act and he was cornered, and he knew it. There was no way out.