Bishop Brothers Series: Four Book Complete Set

Chapter 2-3

Oh my God!

I’m completely drenched, except my hair. Not that it matters because it looks like a bird set up home there anyway. It’s early October in southern Wisconsin, which means the temps have dropped into the forties and fifties. Stupidly, I wasn’t wearing my winter jacket, and now I’ll sit on the bus freezing my ass off.

Once I’m home, I strip off everything before I enter the kitchen. The ride across town was complete hell, and I’m cold to the bone. My shoes, scrubs, and bra find their way to the floor. My roommate is a girl I went to college with years ago, but she’s never home. Sasha spends most nights at her boyfriend’s place, which makes being her roommate easy. As long as she pays her half of the rent, I don’t care if she’s home or not. The only complaint I have is how she leaves her cat, and I’m constantly feeding and watering him since she seems to forget that responsibility.

“Hey, Leo,” I coo as he jumps on my bed, begging for some kind of attention. I pet him briefly before grabbing my towels and heading to the bathroom for a shower.

The hot water feels amazing and soothes my tense muscles. My legs and feet are sore from walking so much today, and I can’t wait to climb into bed with my k****e. But as soon as I turn off the water and wrap a towel around my body, I hear noises coming from the hallway.

First, pictures are falling off the wall. Next, I hear giggling. Then more smacking against the wall.

What the f**k?

Tightening the grip on my towel, I open the door and peek out. Long brown hair falls loosely down Sasha’s back, and her legs are wrapped around a man’s waist as she dry humps him against the wall.

Blinking, I’m shocked to see her home at this hour on a Tuesday night, considering I know she works early in the morning. But then I look over at the guy she’s sucking face with, and that’s when I realize it’s not her boyfriend.

It’s Asshole.

By the time I get to work the next day, I’m still in shock. Suffice it to say, I had a shitty night’s sleep. Not because I found my roommate with my ex, but because Andrew is loud in bed. Once I started thinking about it, I understood why he was that way. He was overcompensating for his teeny weenie by insisting he loved eating p***y more than making love.

I roll my eyes so hard at the revelation.

No guy needs to make that much noise while feasting between your legs. The woman should be the loud one; if he’s doing it right, anyway.

After texting Natalie on the way to work to tell her what happened, she insisted it was a sign. A sign I needed to go to Florida with them, and after hearing his voice and seeing his nasty face, I could use a vacation more than ever.

During my break, Natalie and I meet up again.

“I can’t believe he left you a voice message and then hours later ended up in your apartment with Sasha,” she says for the third time, just as shocked as I was.

Well, there’s a club she can join because I can hardly believe it either.

“Yeah, he probably thought I was her, considering I have bleach blonde hair and she has dark brown hair. It’d be easy to get us confused.” I snort.

“God, I’m so glad you broke up with his nasty ass. I should send Adam over there to kick his butt.” She starts to get all worked up.

“Natalie,” I say, covering her hand with mine. “I appreciate the sentiment, but Adam would hurt himself before hurting Andrew.”

She scowls. “Hey, he’s muscular.”

I chuckle. “I know he is. I wasn’t saying he isn’t, but Andrew ate steroids for breakfast, so no one stands a chance. He’s a fake, liar, and cheater, and not worth anyone’s time or energy.”

She frowns. “I’m sorry you had to find that out the hard way.”

I shrug, lowering my eyes to the floor. “Live and learn, right?” I blink and meet her gaze. “Besides, he left his six-thousand dollar watch in my room.” I grin.

“Holy s**t!” She gasps. “What kind of watch costs that much? It better come with fifty-five hundred dollars and a male stripper on the side.”

Bursting out laughing, I’m easily reminded why Natalie and I are friends. She always finds a way to make me smile in the worst of times.

“Some hoity-toity designer, but it was a gift from his job when he got promoted last year.”

“Oh, boo for him.” She wiggles a finger down her cheek to mimic a tear. “You should pawn it instead.”

I snap her a look. “That’s a little vindictive.”

“Or…” She snaps her fingers. “It’s being resourceful and now paying for your well-deserved vacation. Think of that as a real parting gift.” She starts to hold up her fingers. “He cheated, lied, and now screwed your roommate in the same apartment as you. That dirtbag deserves a lot worse.”

I can’t argue with her, but I don’t feel right pawning it. Though, he doesn’t exactly deserve to have the watch returned to him either.

Or does he?

After my shift, I head home and sit on the edge of the bed. Deciding to take the high road, I grab the watch from my nightstand and stare at it. It really is a nice-looking watch. Too bad he doesn’t know a good thing when he has it. He should know better than to leave valuables lying around.

Thankfully, he and Sasha were gone this morning before I left for work because I’m not sure what I would’ve done. Thinking back to the night before and hearing them in the room next door boils my blood even more. I’m so pissed I wasted my time on him. I replay moments of us together and realize all the signs pointed to this. I should’ve known from his sketchy behavior and random phone calls. I shouldn’t have been so naïve, and I almost can’t believe how vengeful he is. f*****g my roommate and knowing I’d be home was just a low blow. That bastard.

I take his watch and place it on the kitchen counter. A moment passes, and I stare at the shiny gold band and diamonds on the face. Searching through the drawers, I find a meat tenderizer—well suited name, too—and grip it firmly in my hand. Raising it above my head, I lower it and slam it against the watch. I do this over and over, groaning and grunting until only tiny pieces are left.

Whew! That felt f*****g great.

Next, I find an envelope, shove all the remaining pieces inside, and before sealing it, write him a little note.

Hope you think twice before wasting someone’s TIME again.

Love, River

P.S. f**k you.

Feeling satisfied, I write his business address on the front and shove the envelope into my purse, so I can mail it first thing in the morning before work.

Looking around my apartment, I realize all the anger and resentment I’ve been harboring, and it makes me really consider Natalie’s offer.

I grab my phone from the nightstand and type out a text to her.

River: Okay, you win. Send me the info for the resort. I’m going.