think about how much it fucking hurts.
“It’s been a great experience,” I tell him, which is the truth. Working with Tazen has been amazing.
“And you got to build?” he says. “Lucky bitch.”
I laugh. “Yeah, I must admit that part is fun.”
“Fun,” he scoffs. “That shit is epic.”
I nod and look down at my half-eaten burger.
“You’re not yourself tonight, Quinnie.”
I shrug. “It’s been a long week, Jace.”
He reaches over the table and taps his finger on my hand so I look up at him. His eyes are concerned and he studies my face. “But that’s not all it is.”
I sigh, slumping. “No, it’s not.”
He frowns. “Tell me it’s not Tazen…”
I swallow and look away.
“Ah, Quinnie … you didn’t.”
I continue looking away.
“You did,” he declares. “Shit.”
I nod turning back to him. “That about covers it.”
“So, was it one time or…”
My cheeks burn. “No, it’s been a few.”
“Quinn,” he says, seriously. “You’re playing with fire.”
“Coming from the guy who probably has an entire bed with notches on it.”
He gives me a look and I snort.
“I don’t work with the women I fuck, and I certainly don’t like them.”
“You just made yourself sound like a giant douche.”
He shrugs. “At least I don’t pretend to be something I’m not.”
“Okay, so Tazen’s my boss and we took things a little too far, but I like him, Jace. A lot.”
“Jesus, woman,” he says, titling his head back and muttering some curses.
“You can’t help who you … like.”
He stares at me, unamused.
“Let’s change the subject.”
He crosses his arms.
“Ack,” I mutter, throwing my hands up. “Come on, Jace, let’s just talk about something else. I’ve had a bad enough day as it is.”
“Fine,” he says, narrowing his eyes. “But we will be talking about this.”
I don’t get the chance to answer him, because a text flashes on the screen of my phone.
T—Where r u?
Oh no, he does not get to text me when he’s ready to acknowledge that I exist.
I reply before thinking.
Q—Eat a giant DICK
Jace snort laughs and I look up to see he’s reading my message. I snatch my phone away and glare at him. “Uncool, Jace.”
“It’s funny though.” He smirks. “I can just imagine that will go down well.”
Just as he finishes his sentence, my phone rings. Tazen’s name flashes on the screen and I let it go to voice mail before typing out another text.
Q—Perhaps one dick isn’t enough for you, as it would appear one vagina certainly isn’t. I know! Go and eat TWO giant dicks.
Jace roars with laughter, leaning back in his chair. “You’re evil and I love it.”
I laugh, unable to hold it back. My phone buzzes and I glance down to see Tazen has texted again.
T—Where the fuck r u?
He doesn’t find my texts funny.
Q—Eating giant dicks.
I smirk as I wait for his response.
It doesn’t come.
Someone is angry. Good. I hope he’s angry. I hope I piss him off. I hope he feels desperate. Those are all the things he made me feel tonight, when he kicked me out as though I was no more than a quick fuck.
I turn my phone off and look up to Jace. “I really have to go. I’ll call you during the week and we’ll go out.”
He smirks up at me, nodding at the same time. “Yeah, honey. No worries.”
I wave with a big grin. “Later, Jace.”
“Later.”
* * *
I arrive at home and see the lights are out inside. That either means Dad is asleep or he went out. I hope he’s asleep. I really do. I’m not in the mood for him tonight. I walk up my front steps in the darkness. “Where were you?”
I scream at the sound of the voice coming out of the darkness. I spin around to see a shadow in the corner of my porch. I know it’s Tazen, but him standing in the dark at my house is just weird.
“What the hell?” I cry, clutching my chest. “Why are you standing in the corner of my porch, in the dark, like a creeper?”
He grunts. “Because you wouldn’t have stopped if you saw me waiting.”
“That’s disturbing.”
I walk towards the front door but he stands in front of it, blocking me off. “We need to talk.”
“No,” I say, trying to reach around him. “We don’t.”
He takes my hand and curls his fingers around it, stopping me from going any further. “We do.”
“No,” I say, jerking backwards. “We don’t. You made it very, very clear where I stood tonight.”
“You don’t understand the situation, Quinn. If you did you would know that