Bad Boy (An Indecent Proposal) - J.C. Reed Page 0,6

wouldn’t tell me what happened.”

“He’s such a concerned friend, our Chase, isn’t he?” I said, dryly.

“Wait, are you being sarcastic?”

I grimaced. Nothing ever escaped Jude. “Maybe.”

There was a short silence.

When she spoke again, her voice was soft. “What’s going on?”

My throat constricted, and unshed tears gathered in my eyes. The knowledge that I had let myself develop feelings for him made me angry. I jumped up from the bed and reached the minibar in a few hasty strides. I didn’t care if I owed money for the rest of my life. I needed something. Anything to numb down the anger bubbling below the surface.

My eyes fell on the small bottles of alcohol—just what I needed. I unscrewed a bottle of Tequila and lifted it to my lips. The smell was strong, unpleasant, but it didn’t matter.

I wanted to get drunk. Better drunk than a sobbing mess. I took a few gulps of the burning liquid, wincing at the burning aftertaste it left in my throat. My stomach growled in protest, reminding me that I hadn’t eaten in a whole day. I eyed the four chips packets, sure that each one would cost me more than my usual weekly shopping.

Then again, for once I didn’t care.

I grabbed one, then slumped down on the floor, my back pressed against the minibar, and tore it open.

“I’m going broke. Real broke, that’s what’s happening,” I mumbled and stuffed a few chips into my mouth, savoring the taste.

“No, what happened between you and Chase?” Jude said.

Hearing his name made me cringe. In fact, every fiber of my body was so tense, I could barely stifle the urge to run for the most secluded place I could find so I’d never have to hear it again. “We…we broke it off,” I said.

There was silence on the other end of the line.

“Jude?” I asked, warily. Was she still on? Had she mentally quit our friendship? Because as much as I liked Jude, I had to admit that she had kind of seemed a little too invested in my fake relationship with Chase. At times she had even reminded me of a mother hen watching over her young, or an eighteenth century matriarch trying to marry off her elder duckling of a daughter.

“You did what?” Jude asked carefully, as if she wasn’t sure she had heard me right.

The sudden iciness in her voice didn’t escape me.

Think matriarch and all.

“Chase and I broke it off,” I said with more confidence than I felt. I wasn’t afraid of Jude per se; she just had this irritating ability to make me feel bad for things I shouldn’t have felt bad about…not least because usually they were none of her business.

“You two did not break it off,” Jude said slowly.

Which was kind of true, literally speaking.

Not Chase but I broke it off, booked a flight, and then I hit the shops right before I boarded a plane, but there was no need to go into specifics.

The thing about specifics is, they always include too much information.

“We’re done.” I cleared my throat. “You now, over and done with. Finito.”

I strained to think of other great words I knew to convey the end of my relationship in the hope that fancy vocabulary would help Jude understand just how much I meant.

“But…” Jude’s voice broke off. I rolled my eyes inwardly. She was shocked, which was sort of rendering her monosyllabic. In fact, she sounded aghast. I had never seen her so lost for words. “You were married for less than twenty-four hours.”

“Yes.” I drew out the word, patiently.

Oh, my god.

She was so right. I couldn’t even hold down a fake relationship. I couldn’t even commit to caring for a pet. When I’d volunteered as a pet sitter as a means of earning a bit of money during college, the stupid dog ran off. Needless to say, I didn’t get the job. Nor the next one.

For some reason, that little embarrassing event reminded me of my love life. Just swap Chase for the dog and me running away instead of him, and voila.

“Things were going so well,” Jude wailed. She sounded like she was in mourning.

“Yes.” I nodded, even though she couldn’t see me.

“And you still have an agreement?”

Uh-huh. Was that the slightest hint of hope in her voice? The denial was back. I couldn’t let that happen.

“Yep, but—” I heaved a sigh, considering my words.

Technically, Chase and I still had an agreement, but not the kind she thought we had.

It wasn’t a mutual agreement,