I’m still scared, terrified every second of the day, but I refuse to let Cole walk all over me just so that I don’t have to be alone.
“Lainey?” Cole sounds annoyed, like my silence means I’m actually contemplating forgiving him, but like I’m taking too long. “I’ll make it up to you. It’ll never happen again.”
“Actually, do whatever and whoever the fuck you want, Cole.” I cry out, my anger delivering every word. “God, I wasted all this goddamn time on you. I gave you so much, and for what? For you to turn out to be the piece of shit everyone told me you were? Well, congratulations. You lived up to your reputation and I’ll make sureeveryoneknows it.”
A beat of silence passes, and when he speaks again, it’s like I’m meeting the real Cole for the first time. “You know what, Lainey? You’re a frigid bitch who cries every time she’s fucked. It was hard enough, getting through it with you. At least now I don’t have to keep the ruse up and deal with your sobs after the fact. Besides, I was staying with you for the good press. My agent liked the deals I was getting since we’ve been together. The media loves a family man.”
The broken pieces of my heart shatter all over again, turning into dust in my chest. Morgan rubs up and down my arms. She has no idea what she walked into. She has no clue and owes me nothing, but she stands here in support anyway.
I laugh as a thought crosses my mind, something so humorous because the genius Cole himself must’ve forgotten that confiding in your “PR girlfriend” is a mistake.
“You’re laughing? What’s so fucking funny?” he snaps.
This will end this entire conversation and keep him the hell away from me.
“You used me for PR, Cole, really? Well then, maybe you shouldn’t have told me all your dirty little secrets. The ones that’ll get you suspended for eternity or even kicked off your team. Hmm? You dumb cunt. I guess you forgot about that when you were calling me a frigid bitch. Go fuck yourself, Cole.”
Before I give him another moment of my time, I end the call and jam my phone as deep in my purse as it’ll go.
My chest is heaving up and down as my anger tries to consume me. But I’m not going to let it or Cole win.
“You said Cole, like Cole Wilder?” Morgan asks timidly, clearly knowing more than I realized about this situation that she walked into.
I nod, staring straight ahead at the cars passing by. “The one and only.”
She rests her head on my shoulder. “Cam told me about him, that they were going to rough him up during the next game for treating you so poorly.”
“He knew he was cheating?”
This time, I meet her eyes as she straightens up, flashing me a smile that says,I think you were the only one who didn’t.
Got it.
A playful smile breaks across her lips, and a maniacal glare flashes in her eyes. “Do you know what you need?”
“A nap for eternity?”
“No. Toforgetabout that speck of dust on your shoe. Trust me, from personal experience, you need a friend, and I’m going to be just that. We’re going to have some fun tonight. There is a bar full of hot guys who would kill for a chance with you.”
My heart tightens. I wish I could be that girl who could have a one-night stand and feel comfortable with anyone that quickly, but unfortunately, there’s only one person in there who I could trust so fast, but that would be a mistake. We’re just friends, and that’s how it should stay.
But I do owe him an apology for laying into him so hard about Cole. It turns out, he really was just trying to look out for me this entire time.
“Come on, Lainey. We’re doing a couple shots.” Morgan grabs my hand and tugs me back inside, and for some reason, I don’t protest.
Who cares? I can let loose for one night, and worst case, if the alcohol makes me more tense and paranoid, then I’ll know to avoid it next time.
But at least then I’ll have learned on my own and not blindly trusted Cole, who has made far too many of my decisions over the last few years. I make my own now; whether they end up disastrously or not, that’s my right.
Morgan drags me straight to the bar and waves a free bartender over. “Hi! Can we get two pineapple upside-down cake shots, please?”
“You got it!” she shouts over the music. “That’ll be ten dollars.”
Morgan responds before I get a chance to pay. “Can you throw it on Costello’s tab? Thank you!”
“You got it!” She pours the shots out and slides the glasses across the bar top. “Here you go!”
Morgan grabs one of the shot glasses, and without skipping a beat, she asks, “Can we maybe just get two more right away?”
