Bradford Bastard (Bradford Bastard 1)

God, I really haven’t missed this asshole over the past week.

“Oh, hey,” I say, leaning down and giving him a dazzling smile before bopping his nose and being as condescending as possible, only to realize too late the white powder dusted across the tip of his nose. “If it isn’t my asshole ex-boyfriend. How have you been?”

“Brielle,” he snaps, fear in his eyes. “What the fuck are you doing? I’ve been trying to call you all week.”

Putting on an automated phone voice, I tell him, “Unfortunately, the number you have dialed has been disconnected. Please check the number and try again.”

Rage boils in his eyes and he reaches for me, gripping me by my hair and holding me to him. “Stop being a fucking cunt,” he growls, his mouth barely moving. “I’ll destroy you for this.”

My hand snaps out, my fingers slamming hard against his Adam’s apple, sending him sprawling back. He cries out and falls into the thick crowd before flying back at me, rage in his eyes. Panic tears through me, and I’m narrowly saved by his football friends holding him back to keep him from attacking me.

Smugness tears at me, but I’m not going to lie, I’m shaken. This version of him is a complete stranger to me. The guy I dated was patient and kind, but I’m quickly starting to realize that maybe I didn’t know him at all.

Smirking at him, I straighten out and shake it off, determined to finish this. “I’ve come to set the record straight,” I tell him. “Don’t you think the people of Hope Falls deserve to know the truth? Though to be honest, I’m a little surprised that you’ve even had a chance to talk shit with all the random pussy you’ve been slumming through. You should get yourself checked out. Wouldn’t want you getting crabs before a big game.”

“Bitch,” he snaps, his jaw clenching. “Say one more fucking word, I dare you. See what happens. I have a reputation to uphold, and what do you have? Fucking nothing.”

I laugh. What the hell is wrong with males these days? Why do they all insist on being assholes? “Your reputation was shit before, so I don’t see what you’re so worried about.” He glares up at me as I let out a heavy sigh, shaking my head, embarrassed by my own stupidity for falling for this guy in the first place. “What the fuck did I ever see in you?”

“Brielle,” he warns.

I scoff and glance up at the crowd listening to their gasps and laughter, knowing what they’re seeing on the screen behind me. “I give you exhibit A,” I announce to them, glancing back and looking at the image I’d taken of Colby fucking Ilaria last week. Though I’ve blurred her face, she was all too excited to have her tits shown off to the world. She’s proud, what can I say? “My boyfriend, Colby Jacobs, cheating on me with a Bradford girl at a party last week. I’m not the slut, you guys. He is.”

“Brielle, stop,” Colby spits, reaching for me as murmurs sound throughout the room. I evade his advances and watch over my shoulder as Erica changes the image on the TV to a screen recording that I took, scrolling through the slew of texts and missed calls I’ve received from Colby over the past week, getting worse as the days go on. “Exhibit B,” I announce. “Colby Jacobs being a toxic, desperate asshole and begging me to forgive him, insisting that fucking some other girl was purely an accident, and quite frankly, acting like a little bitch. So, there you have it, Hope Falls. I am not the bad guy here, your captain is. Show of hands, ladies. Who here has fucked Colby Jacobs over the past six months?”

Ten fucking hands shoot high into the sky, and I laugh as I shake my head, feeling like the joke of the century. “Thanks for nothing,” I tell them, recognizing each of their faces, every last one of them knowing we were together at the time. “Hope you ladies covered the stump before you humped because that is a lot of shared DNA right there. On second thought, I hope you all get chlamydia.”

And with that, a chorus of applause sounds through the room right before someone cranks the music back up. Erica disconnects my phone from the big TV, and I jump down as Colby glares at me. “Lose my number, asshole. I’m done with you,” I tell him. “And for the record. You never made me come once. I faked it just to get you to hurry the fuck up and get off me. You wouldn’t know how to satisfy a woman even with a step-by-step instruction manual. Grow the fuck up, dude. You peaked in high school and from here on out, you’ll be nothing but a has been.” I give him a dazzling smile. “Always a pleasure.”