Denying The Bad Boy (Tattooed and Pierced #2) (7 page)

“You called to see how I was doing?” Now it was his
turn to be silent for a moment, but that might have been because her tone was a
bit crass. Mary pressed forward, because this conversation had gone on a little
too long. “Why exactly did you call me, Lance? I know it wasn’t just to check
up on me.”

It had been over two summers ago since she had last
spoken to Lance, and the memories were less than favorable. Anger, hurt, and
betrayal mixed inside of her, and she was pissed at herself for still feeling
this way. Those unwelcome emotions had been buried deep inside of her, and she
thought she had moved past all that, but hearing his voice had brought up the
memory of how he had pushed her away so easily, and made her feel like what
they had shared was really nothing at all. He sighed dramatically, and she
heard the sound of sheets rustling in the background. Had he called her right
after he screwed someone, or maybe she was still lying beside him in his bed? It
wouldn’t have surprised her either way. She should hang up, yet she didn’t.

“I did call to see how you are doing. It’s been
years, Mary. I still care about you.” Mary didn’t bother hiding her snort. She
should have been way past this, had in fact, but then all it took was one
little phone call to drag her bag to
that
place. “We are adults, have matured and all that.”

Dead air filled the space between them, and she
glanced at the ground. A pigeon landed a few feet from her, pecking at the
cement and then fluffing out its wings.

“Are you there, Mary?” She gritted her teeth, not
about to let him gloss things over. She might have been a pushover back then, let
him get away with things that were inexcusable on every level, but not anymore.
She didn’t need to prove herself to him, his family, or even hers. Mary was now
standing on her own, and living her life, and because of that had grown in more
ways than one.

“Yeah, I’m here.” She didn’t bother hiding the
iciness in her voice. “To be honest, Lance, I don’t have much to say to you. I
think your parting words back then were adequate.”

He sighed again, which pissed her off even more. He
had left her heartbroken and humiliated in front of all of the people she had
thought were her friends, yet here he was trying to act like that had been so
long ago, and it wasn’t even a big deal.

“Listen, I already apologized for how I acted back
then, and don’t really know why you haven’t moved past this. That was so long
ago. There isn’t any reason we can’t be civilized to each other. Our parents
are best friends.”

Mary pinched the bridge of her nose. Why she was
still on the phone with him was beyond her. She should have just hung up
already. “Lance, I’m not getting into this with you, especially on the phone.
You calling me out of the blue
doesn’t
do anything but
piss me the hell off.” She felt her face heating at how angry she was getting.

“God, Mary, going to a public university has changed
you. Here you are swearing like some kind of sailor.” She rolled her eyes even
though he couldn’t see her. He had a lot of nerve thinking he could talk down
to her. Had he thought she’d forgotten how he used to treat her? The time that
had passed was nothing in the grand scheme of things. Right when she was about
to tell him she was done talking he started to speak again. “Your mom told me
you’re coming down before the wedding. I was thinking we could get together,
maybe before for lunch on Saturday? I know you have the rehearsal and all, but
for old times’ sake?”

She wasn’t surprised he knew when they were having
the rehearsal, not when he probably knew every aspect of what was going on in
her family’s life.

“No.” The word came out so quickly and harsh that
she was surprised with herself, but then again she was furious that she was still
talking to Lance, and that she allowed herself to continue to do it after
everything that happened between them. “Things are done between us. I don’t need
or want to be your friend, even if our parents are close. I’ve moved on,
started my life, and am not thinking about the relationship we had. You decided
on what you wanted to do back then, and so did I.”

She could practically hear him gritting his teeth on
the other end. Lance may appear calm and socially perfect when others were
watching, but she knew the real him. Get a few drinks in him and it was like
watching a grotesque science project. Her quickly morphed into Mr. Hyde. Of
course that wasn’t why their relationship had ended so badly, although she
should have dumped his ass for that alone. She should have left him the first
time he yelled at her while he was drunk, and said some very hurtful things,
but back then he was all she knew, and she was such a naive teenager that his
apologies had smoothed out things that should have not been fixable.
 
Since starting at OSU she had come to realize
a lot of
things, mainly that
she didn’t need a man in
her life to feel whole. She supposed that was the only thing she had to thank
Lance for, because if they hadn’t broken up the way they did things would have
been very different in her
life, that
she was sure of.

“I’m not asking for anything more than you’re
willing to give. I just want to be your friend again, like we were before
everything happened.”

What pissed her off the most was the fact Lance had
never once told her he made a mistake. It was bad enough she had caught him
screwing her best friend, but even worse when she found out all of their
“friends” had known about what was going on. So there she had stood, watching in
disgust as the boy she thought she had loved had sex with someone she had thought
was her closest friend. Hell, she thought a lot of people cared about her, but
it was funny and depressing to realize she had been wrong in all of that. He had
apologized, begged her, and promised her that he would never do it again. In
the end she had walked away, and she would be eternally thankful she had been
strong enough to do that back then. No longer would she be everyone’s verbal
punching bag. No longer would she allow a man to walk all over her, and smooth
it out with a simple “I’m sorry”. The only thing he had been sorry about was
the fact he had gotten caught. That had been the last time she saw any of those
so called “friends”.

Mary may have gone back home since then, but she
made sure to stay clear of the people she used to associate with. These years had
taught her a lot, and that was she could only rely on herself, and that people
wore many masks.

“Lance, I really do have to go. I’d say it was nice
talking to you, but I’d be lying.” He stuttered out something, but she hung up
and threw her phone back in her bag. The only thing she could think about as to
why he was calling her was because he was most likely not with Brittany any
longer. Her whole body tightened as she thought about her once best friend.
Last she heard, from Margo because her sister couldn’t stop from gossiping when
she came into town, was that Lance and Brittany were still going strong. They
both deceived her and deserved each other.

Just
stop thinking about it.
You’ve
gone this long without them intruding on your life, and don’t let them start
now.
She stood, no longer in the mood to research at the library, and
headed back to her place. Mary wasn’t much of a drinker, but she could really
use one right now. But maybe a good workout would do her some good instead?

Ten minutes later and she was closing the door to
her room and sitting on the edge of the bed. Her phone started vibrating, but
when she saw it was her mom she threw it back in her bag. There was no surprise
that she was calling right after Lance had talked to her. In fact, she wouldn’t
put it by her ex to try to get her mom to talk her into seeing him. That had
been a big problem with him when they were dating, well, one of the problems.

Looking back on her relationship with him she
realized there had been a lot of things she had been ignorant of. Her phone
rang again, but she didn’t bother looking at it. When her mother was angry
enough, or desperate, she was persistent.

After changing into a pair of stretch pants and her
workout shirt, Mary grabbed her backpack and shoved a change of clothes in it.
She headed out of her room and into the kitchen where she stopped when she saw
Darcy sitting at the table looking pretty rough.

“Hey.”

Darcy glanced up, her mascara creating dark rings
around her eyes and her normally blonde spiral curls looking especially frizzy.
It was late in the afternoon, and she knew her roommate should have been in
class. “You okay?” Darcy leaned back and ran her finger under her right eye,
effectively smearing the mascara even more. “Hey, what’s wrong?” Her normally
peppy and outgoing friend looked pathetically sad, and that was the first time
Mary had ever seen her this way. Darcy sniffed, and a fresh batch of tears
filled her eyes right before overflowing and making black tracks down her
cheeks.

“I just got into a fight with Dane.” By the tone of
her voice Mary knew there was more, and could only guess what it was that would
make her usually lively friend so upset. She looked up at Mary, and the tip of
her nose became redder at the same time her nose scrunched up and she cried
harder. “I heard from Meghan that he fucked some sorority chick last weekend.”
Well, Mary could relate to that, but didn’t say anything until Darcy was
finished. “I confronted the asshole, and he didn’t even deny it. He even had
the balls to blame the whole thing on me because he said I didn’t get freaky
enough for him.” Darcy’s voice was rising now, and Mary leaned back, giving her
a wide berth. “I mean, fuck, how much freakier did he want me to get? I let
him—” Mary held up her hand and shook her head, stopping Darcy from finishing
that sentence.

“Uh, no, just no.
I
can imagine what the two of you did when I heard the headboard slamming against
the wall.”

This had Darcy smiling, but then immediately she started
crying again. Crap, she should have just kept her mouth shut. Mary moved closer
and wrapped her arms around Darcy’s shoulders.

“I really liked him, Mary, like really liked him.”

“I know.” Mary didn’t really know, but was trying to
empathize with her friend. Honestly she had seen more guys come in and out of
Darcy’s life in the short time they lived together then she thought was even
possible. She didn’t judge, and knew her roommate was enjoying life, which was
something Mary wasn’t doing. Darcy angrily wiped at her cheeks.

“I know what you’re thinking.” Darcy pulled away
from Mary and sniffed. “I have had a lot of boyfriends, but I thought he was
The One
. Turns out they are all the
same, Mary. These guys only want one thing, and that’s pussy.” Mary was used to
the crude way Darcy talked, but never had she heard so much pain and anguish in
her voice.

“I’m so sorry. If it makes you feel any better I can
relate to what you’re going through.”

“Really?”
Darcy sniffed again, and Mary reached in her backpack for a tissue and handed it
to her. “Thanks.” Darcy blew her nose, and Mary couldn’t help but smile at how
manly it sounded.

“Yeah, I really do know how you feel.” She didn’t go
into details with Darcy, but then again her friend didn’t ask her to elaborate.
“It sucks, but I can tell you that it gets better over time, and you’ll find
someone that treats you the way you deserve.”

“Yeah, I know.” She leaned back and looked at Mary.
“To think I’m crying over some pompous prick.” She shook her head and heaved a
big sigh. “Maybe you’d want to go out with me this weekend, help me forget how
shitty men are by getting drunk and dancing like no one is watching?”

“Uh.”
Mary
wasn’t really into that kind of scene, but by the way Darcy puffed out her
lips, gave her a wide-eyed stare, and all but begged her without words to go
with her, she knew she couldn’t say no. Mary hadn’t had anyone to talk to or
help her forget about what Lance did all those years ago. If she could help
Darcy forget about what an asshole Dane was, then she was all for it. “Okay.”

Darcy’s whole demeanor changed. She clapped her
hands together and stood. “I’m excited now. Fuck that asshole, and fuck the guy
who broke your heart.” Darcy couldn’t have said it any better.

Chapter
Six

Alex slammed his fist into the red, scarred punching
bag. His knuckles were sore from hitting the damn thing over and over again,
but he welcomed the pain. Sweat had made his short hair drenched, and beads
slid down his bare chest. He swung out with his right fist, and then did the
same with his left. He felt the tightening of his muscles as he tensed and put
all his power right into the bag. Keeping on the balls of his feet, he did a
few moves, making sure his body stayed warmed up. The sounds of guys fighting
surrounded him, and the smell of sweat and testosterone filled his nose. This
was why Alex came to this hole-in-the-way gym, where the roughest of the rough
trained, and where he could let out all of his aggression. The gyms around
campus were usually filled with the same ‘
roided
-out
jocks who had big heads and small dicks. How many fights had he gotten into
with one of those pricks because they had started shit with him for not wiping
down the machine fast enough?