Read Online Discovering Us by Harper Bentley - Free Book Online Page B

deeply accented voice asked.
    Ah. A real live Southern belle. And all I could think of at that moment was Prissy screaming in her baby voice, “I don’t know nothin’ ‘bout birthin’ babies!” for some stupid ass reason. Ugh. Memory retention. It’s a fine thing.
    “Tell him it’s Ellen.”
    “Helen?” she said in a smooth, snarky drawl.
    I knew she’d heard my name correctly, had probably seen it on his caller ID before she’d answered. Whatever. “Ellen. Ellen Love.”
    “Oh. Ellen? Well, Jag’s never mentioned having a friend named Ellen. Let me see if he wants to take your call. I was using his phone to make my own call when you interrupted,” her sweeter-than-pie voice dragged out.
    It took everything I had not to answer, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.” I mean, how many times in life do you get to even use that line much less have it set up so perfectly? Sad thing was, Ms. Magnolia probably wouldn’t have cottoned on to what I’d done there, so better to withhold than to waste a golden opportunity on an idiot, I always say.
    Now, I didn’t think Jag would cheat on me. And if he were going to cheat, I didn’t think it’d be that blatant, so in my face. So Little Ms. Thang, whoever she was, had just happened to get his phone and I’d called at just the right time. It happened. Nothing to beat her face in about. This time. I snorted to myself at this lovely thought.
    “Hello?” I heard Jag yell into the phone.
    “Yeah. What’s up?”
    “El? Hang on. I can’t hear you.”
    I heard the music getting quieter as he moved from wherever the party was. I heard him fumbling around with the phone before he asked, “El?”
    “Yeah.” Now, I said I didn’t think he’d cheat on me. I didn’t say it didn’t piss me off that some little twerp was answering his phone.
    “What’s going on?”
    “I was wondering the same,” I said, deadpan.
    “Sorry about that. Wendy’s kind of…”
    “A bitch?”
    He chuckled. “Yeah, you could say that. I’m sorry. She asked to use my phone to call her boyfriend when you called.”
    “Where are you?” I asked.
    “Just at Doug and Jason’s apartment. What’re you doing?”
    “Well, I could be out partying myself, but I decided to stay home and wait for your call.”
    “Party? Where?” he asked with an edge to his voice.
    Oh, no. Uh uh. He did not get to go all possessive on me after what’d just occurred. “Just to a party with Rebecca and Ross. It’s not like I’d be loaning my phone out to guys who’d answer it if you happened to call…”
    “El, I didn’t plan it that way. I was going to call you later. It’s Friday, so I didn’t think you’d go to bed until after midnight.”
    “What’d you think I’d be doing, Jag? Sometimes I feel like all I do is sit around and wait for you to call.”
    “We’ve talked about this before, El. I don’t expect you to wait around. Go do things. Hang out with your friends.”
    So, Mr. Possessive Alpha Male was telling me this after he’d just about bitten my head off when I told him about a party?
    “Do you ever get tired of it, Jag?”
    He sighed. “Tired of what, El?” He knew what I was going to say.
    “Just… being apart.” It’d been almost three months since we’d seen each other at Christmas.
    He was quiet for a few beats. “Yeah, I get tired of it. I want you here with me. I want to be with you, El, but we both know that’s not gonna happen right now. We’ve got a lot going on. Why? Are you getting tired of it?”
    I sighed now. I was tired of it. I wanted him here with me. Home. Away from Wendy and her Ya-Ya Sisterhood crew. But it wasn’t Jag’s fault. It was no one’s fault. It was just life. “No. I mean, yeah, I’m tired of not seeing you, of course. I’m tired of random chicks answering your phone.”
    “That happened once,” he scoffed.
    “And if it happens again?”
    “Not gonna happen again. Trust, El. We’ve got to trust each other.”
    “Yeah.