Page 49 of Her Filthy Grump
Kameron
The sound of the scanner as it cycles through radio frequencies is the only noise in the room. The other guys are outside cleaning one of the firetrucks. I opted to stay inside and listen for any calls. Not that anyone wanted to be around me anyway. I’ve been biting everyone’s head off for the last nine hours.
I lean back in the chair, stretch out my legs, and will the throbbing in my head to dissipate.
When I stepped out of the bathroom and saw Layla with my cell phone in her hand, I saw red. The betrayal of my trust cut through to the core, leaving me weak and angry.
Layla seems sweet, nice, naive, and innocent. I growl. But it was all a lie. Women can’t be trusted.
“Hey, dude. What’s up?” Cole’s voice penetrates my self-inflicted pity party.
“Nothing, man. I’m not good company today.” I leave my eyes shut in hopes he’ll take the hint.
Chair legs scrape across the floor, and the sound of his big body slumping into the seat proves that wishful thinking is a waste of time. “Woman troubles?”
“Nothing I can’t handle.” I pop one eye open and study him. He’s near my age, but his eyes don’t carry the same weight mine do. I straighten and cross my arms. I guess we’re going to do this.
“Listen, Layla’s a great girl.”
I cock an eyebrow. “Yeah?” Not from my side of the bed.
“I don’t know what happened, but she’s one of the most open and honest people I’ve ever met. Whatever occurred must have been a misunderstanding.”
“What makes you think something happened?”
He tips his chin up and gives me a look like I’m treading on thin ice. Shit. Maybe I am. “You came in here the other day singing with a sappy smile on your face. This morning, you’re stomping through the place like Attila the Hun. No one else will come in here and talk to you.”
“You drew the short straw?”
“The shortest fucking one we could find.” He lays his forearms on the table and waits.
“Fine.” I unlace my arms. What could go wrong if I tell him the whole story? Heat fills my face, and I clear my throat. Not sharing all the details. As angry as I am with her, I’m not spilling everything for the five o’clock news. “This morning, I caught her on my phone.”
“So?”
“You don’t get it.” I shove my seat back and stand. “Awhile back, I was seeing a woman. We were compatible. We went out on the weekends.” What did we do together? The relationship was dying a slow death until I found out about the bet. As I pace the floor, I forget anyone else is in the room. What did she even mean to me?
Nothing. Basically, she was someone to hang with. Why was I so bent out of shape over her? Our connection was nothing compared to what I feel with Layla.
It was–embarrassment. That’s all it was. She used me to hurt someone else, and I hate being used. Manipulated.
“And?”
“Shit.” I trip over my shoe and twist to stare at Cole. “Sorry. I was lost in thought.”
“I see that.” He chuckles and crosses his arms. “I’ve got all day. Well, at least until a call comes in. I may not be the best guy to spill your guts to, but I’m from here, so I know all the players, and I have nothing else going on.”
I rest my hip against the counter. “Cole, I appreciate it. I moved here over some shit with an ex-girlfriend. She used my old cell phone and pretended to be me. She made a bet with one of my co-workers, pretending to be me, to humiliate another woman.” I shake my head in disgust. “Why? Because she was jealous of something that happened back in high school.”
“That’s stupid. Who cares what happened back in high school?”
“Apparently, Tabitha did. She’d been jealous of this woman, Chloe, and her best friend, Jenna, for years. She told this guy she’d pay him money to screw her. When he did the deed, he would get five hundred bucks for pretending to care about her. Then, he was supposed to dump her and tell her about the bet.”
“The guy sounds like a real asshole, too.” His fingertips tap on the tabletop. “Did he win?”
“No. One of my friends, Rich, who had liked Chloe for years, found out about it, told her about the bet, and now, they’re together.”
“No harm, no foul.”