11 #2
Oh, we really hated each other, yeah.
“It’s just that Aegan didn’t want to admit that he liked me standing up to him.” I laughed sweetly.
He forced a tight-lipped, insincere smile.
“Of course, and you didn’t want to admit that you challenged me because you liked me the moment we met,” he shot back.
We both let out a stupid chuckle. Wasn’t our sham relationship just beautiful?
I continued for the sake of the people watching.
“I swear, I’m the luckiest girl in the world.” I sounded like an Oscar winner with my performance. “As soon as I wake up in the morning, I say to myself: ‘I’m Aegan Cash’s girlfriend! What more could a girl need?’”
I let out a dramatic sigh, then braced myself before what came next.
I kissed him.
I had to. If I wanted to convince everyone that I liked Aegan, I had no other choice.
I pressed closer to him, resting my hands on his chest to latch onto him better. Up close, I got a waft of his expensive aftershave and could feel the warmth radiating from his skin. Unfortunately, Aegan was one of those guys with a hell in his eyes that every girl stupidly wanted to burn in.
I resisted the urge to push him away from me. In fact, I really tried to find something likable about him to make it through.
I was going to kiss him. I was going to kiss him. I was going to . . .
Oh, no, sick, sick!
No way!
No fucking way!
Destiny came to my rescue.
“Hey,” someone suddenly said, putting a hand on my shoulder.
I never kissed him, thanks to that sudden—but timely—interruption. Aegan let go of me and turned away just as I looked to see who it was.
It was a girl I didn’t know, holding a half-finished drink and clearly a bit tipsy. She had a curious expression on her face, like she was looking trying to figure something out.
“This is going to sound crazy right, but you look a lot like a girl who served me at my local Starbucks,” she added.
I felt everyone’s gaze, and especially Aegan’s, shift toward me.
“Um, I’ve never worked at Starbucks,” I replied in disbelief.
She squinted and swayed without realizing, losing her balance a bit.
“Yeah, maybe I got confused.” She flashed an amused, incoherent smile. “She had red hair, but you look a lot like her . . .”
I was just about to tell her it couldn’t have been me when, out of nowhere, a volleyball smashed into my cheek.
Yeah, a ball right in my face.
Would I ever catch a break?
I didn’t realize I’d been hit at first. The ball they’d been playing with in the pool had been thrown with such force there would’ve been no way of stopping it. It smashed into my cheek, sending me tumbling to the ground. It must have looked funny to everyone else.
A sharp, searing pain shot through my jaw.
Some people gathered around me. I heard voices and questions.
For a few seconds, everything was blurry, but as my vision cleared, I realized people were staring at me like I was a juicy piece of gossip.
The guys in the pool, Aleixandre included, had jumped out to make sure they hadn’t killed me.
Despite everything, I focused solely on Aegan, who was struggling to hold back his laughter.
Minutes later, he then started laughing loudly and, as if giving the cue, everybody else joined in.
“Jude, can I help you up?” Aleixandre asked me, seemingly the only one who wasn’t laughing.
I reached out and grabbed his hand so he could pull me up. The pain spread to my forehead and nose. I let out a groan.
Aegan was still in fits; he was laughing so hard he looked like he was going to wet himself. I wished he’d choke on his own saliva and drop dead right there on the spot.
“Your face . . .” he said, not even trying to hold back his laughter. “You . . . It was . . . It left a mark . . . Let me . . . take . . . take a . . .”
He took out his phone to take a picture of me.
A surge of intense, vengeful rage hit me.
I wanted to leap at him, snatch it out of his hand, and hurl an insult, but my mind screamed at me to resist. Doing that would only prove to everyone I was the crazy girl Aegan was trying to make me out to be.
I couldn’t do it in front of his little fan club.
Holding back my anger, I had to get out of there before I lost control and drowned Aegan in the pool.
I ran to the stairs. My nose ached, my cheek throbbed, part of my mouth hurt, and I felt a bit dizzy. The anger I felt from their laughter made me head straight to the first place I thought of: the stable.
I started kicking the hay like a madwoman.
“Fucking Aegan!” I screamed. “I hate you!”
The horses had a front-row ticket to my meltdown. Some neighed as if to say: Hey, crazy girl, what’s all the fuss about?
I’m sure I looked like a lunatic, but if I didn’t let off steam, I was going to have a heart attack. I had to unleash my rage or I’d black out. So, I ranted and raved for few minutes, cursing and hurling insults, until my foot got caught up in the hay and I fell over like a complete fool.
My ass was covered in hay and dirt. Half trembling and half dizzy, I stood up, shook myself off, and turned to leave. But I ran into Adrik, who was just standing there, watching me.
He was dressed like a stable hand.
“By destroying the hay, you’re just giving me more work,” he said, scowling.
I wanted to ask what he was doing there. Can’t a girl get some privacy to let off some steam? But it made more sense for him to be in the stable than me.
“Sorry,” I apologized, trying to regain some composure. “I didn’t know you cleaned this place.”
As he looked me up and down, it seemed to dawn on him that I was in a bikini and a complete mess. I felt the need to cover myself up, because when Adrik looked at me like that, so intently and with such focus, it was almost like he was staring right through me.
“It’s okay, I guess,” he said, hesitantly. I nodded, happy to move on from my tantrum.
“You’re probably thinking I’m a stupid, ridiculous, half-naked girl who can’t do anything right, aren’t you?”
“Partly,” he admitted with a hint of doubt.
“Well, you’re right,” I conceded.
He didn’t seem to care. He put the hay into a neat pile, dusted off his hand, and grabbed the rake leaning against the wall. He started raking up the hay that I’d left all over the place. He seemed to be the only one who really bothered to keep the stable clean and tidy.
I was about to leave, when he spoke.
“Whatever happened to you just now, it’s your own fault.”
I wanted to hit back with something hurtful, but all I could muster up was: “Why?”
“Why are you going out with him if you hate him so much?” Adrik asked.
I had to lie.
“I don’t—”
“‘I hate you, Aegan,’” he cut me off, mimicking my words. “‘Fuck you, you’re such an asshole, I wish I could kick you in the face like I’m kicking this hay.’”
Okayyyy, he’d heard me. Now that was stupid of me.
He had seen through my devoted girlfriend act. “It sounded like you wanted to murder him,” he said.
“Well, I didn’t mean it,” I said, trying to cover my tracks. “I was just angry, but I’m over it now.”
He didn’t believe me. He shook his head and kept raking.
“Do you want a real piece of advice, Jude?” he said unexpectedly. “You’re not as dumb as you let on. If you really don’t want to have to go through stuff like this, then stay away from us and focus on your studies. Why are you even with him if he gives you such a hard time?”
I was gobsmacked . . . Was he giving me a good piece of advice? Him? Me?
Was this actually happening?
“It’s . . . complicated,” I said. Then I tried to act serious. “Maybe it isn’t a good idea to talk to you about this. I know the three of you can team up to—”