Perfect Regret (Bad Rep #2)(4)
Author: A. Meredith Walters

Jordan immediately picked up on my mood and intervened. “Nothing at all,” he said coolly and I gave him a small smile, letting him know I appreciated his loyalty. Nice to know Jordan Levitt had my back.

Damien smiled entirely too casually for someone who had so recently dumped his girlfriend. His eyes flickered to me and then away again as though he couldn’t even look at me. “Hey Riley,” he said, sounding as though he had swallowed a mouthful of thumbtacks. And I really wish he had.

“Hey,” I said back, proud of how unaffected and downright bored I sounded. No one could pull off emotionless bitch like Riley Fucking Walker!

“Later, guys!” I called out, waving at Jordan and Lyla who were both watching me closely. It was obvious by the way Lyla was staring at both Damien and me that she knew we had broken up. I’m sure we would be the source of endless gossiping and speculation tonight. Maybe it wasn’t too late to pretend I was still sick.

“Riley, hang on a sec.” I tensed up instantly. Damien’s hand curled around my wrist and I looked down at the offending appendage in shock.

Was he for real? How dare he touch me? I almost hissed at him like an alley cat getting ready to claw someone’s eyes out.

I wrenched my arm away and shot him a look of pure death. I wanted him to get sucked ten feet under by the strength of my anger alone. Too bad he continued to stand there, looking obnoxiously concerned.

“How are you?” he asked in a tone that was completely patronizing. He was looking at me as though he expected me to fall apart at any second. Though to be fair, I had done just that three days ago when he evilly broke my heart.

I gave him the fakest, brightest smile I could muster. “Oh, I’m fine. Don’t you worry your pretty little head about me.” I patted his back condescendingly, my lip curling in disgust. “It’s amazing what losing a year’s worth of shit can do for your outlook on life,” I said nastily, turning my back on him. I didn’t wait for him to say another word. Instead I walked straight to my section and started my shift checklist.

That should have felt good. I wish I could tap dance on the eviscerated remains of our relationship but instead I just felt like icky. Because I didn’t enjoy being nasty to Damien. But at this point it felt like an imperative necessity. I just couldn’t let him know how utterly destroyed I have been. That would be like conceding defeat in some way.

And Riley Walker didn’t do defeat.

“Hey Riley,” a perky voice piped up behind me. I felt my shoulders tense and my teeth clench. I continued to wipe down my tables, even though they were so clean you could lick your food off them.

“Hey,” I responded less than enthusiastically. Jaz Digby was not my favorite person on the planet. She was entirely too enthusiastic about the monotonous routine that defined our roles as wait staff at Barton’s Bar and Grill. I don’t think the girl ever got pissed off and people like that bothered me on a molecular level. There was something wrong about someone that continued to smile while being chewed out by a disgruntled customer. People like that weren’t to be trusted.

The only reason I tolerated her on any level was that Maysie liked her, in that sweet, deluded way of hers.

Jaz sat down at the table I was meticulously scrubbing. She started to rearrange the salt and pepper shakers and given my current state of mind, she might as well be clubbing baby seals. It pissed me off that much. I reached over and quickly put them back the way I had them originally.

Jaz pursed her lips but wisely didn’t say anything. She leaned forward and put her elbows on her knees and cupped her chin. “So I hear you and Damien are kaput,” she said, dropping all pretense of friendliness. She sounded entirely too happy about it actually.

“And that’s your business because?” I asked shortly, turning my back on her and started to sweep up the carpet underneath the tables.

“Because he asked me out and I wanted to make sure that was cool with you,” she said, her lips twisted into a fake smile, her eyes sparkling.

I would have laughed if her words hadn’t just drilled a hole straight into my gut. Was she for real? Or had she burned away the last of her brain cells with her curling iron?

Though I guess it was nice to know we were past pretending to like each other. Acting like she didn’t drive me nuts was more effort than it was worth most days. Plus, I always knew Jaz was a fake ass harpy. Happy to see that my instincts were spot on.

I tried to focus on the blinding rage instead of the knot in my gut that made me want to vomit at the news that not only was Damien all ready asking other girls out, but he had in fact, asked out one of our co-workers. And one that I would have traded easily for a shirt I didn’t like.

Did his asshattery know no bounds?

I held my feelings mercifully in check. I continued to sweep as though my heart hadn’t been shredded to pieces at my feet. I blanked my face and turned to look at Jaz, who seemed both pleased and genuinely perplexed as to whether she had broken a sacred rule of girldome. Thou shalt not date other girl’s jerkwad of an ex within seventy-two hours of break up.

Wasn’t that standard knowledge? Did Jaz not read the handbook on how not to get yourself bitch slapped?

“Do what you want,” I said, trying not to strangle on the words. Jaz raised her eyebrows.

“Really? Because I’d be devastated if the guy I had dated for over a year asked another girl out less than a week after he dumped me,” Jaz stood up and flipped her hair over her shoulder. “And if it bothers you, I swear I won’t do it,” she lied through her teeth.

I squared my shoulders and laughed humorlessly. “It will take more than Damien Green to devastate me,” I leaned in and whispered in Jaz’s ear. “Maybe you’re better equipped than I was to deal with his weird blow up doll fetish and the fact he needs to wear a dress while he has sex.” I shrugged.

Jaz’s face went a little pale. “That’s not true, is it? I mean, I get that you’re upset that he asked me out but making stuff up is wrong, Riley,” she choked out, looking across the restaurant to where Damien was talking to a few of the other servers.

“I understand you’d think that, but here, I’ve got pictures…” I stated, pulling out my phone and making a show of scrolling through, looking for the non-existent photographs. Jaz shook her head.

“No!” she said sharply and I looked up.

“Are you sure? I don’t want you thinking I’m making stuff up. That I’m just being a bitter ex.” I held my phone up, waving it in front of her.