Treat Me (One Night with Sole Regret #8)(68)

She tugged at her arm, refusing to meet his eyes. "Why are you being so stubborn? I said I don't want to be with you anymore."

"But what you're saying doesn't make sense. You can't just turn off your feelings like a switch."

She laughed. "You can if you never had feelings to begin with. Now let go of my arm."

"I'm not letting you go, Amanda. Tell me the truth. What's going on?"

"Don't you get it?" she yelled. "Or are you too fucking stupid to grasp the simplest concepts?"

The background noise went silent, or maybe his ears just stopped working. The confusion holding his hurt at bay shattered. Anguish clenched his gut, expanded within his chest, and clawed up his throat. 

"Do you really think someone like me would fall for an idiot like you?" she spat at him. "I just wanted to get laid by a rock star. That's all this was."

The strength melted from his fingers, and her arm slipped from his grasp. She backed away several steps, but apparently felt the need to deliver another blow to the metal stake piercing his heart.

"Thanks for the nice time, Shade, but I have better things to do than you."

He was too stunned to fight for her. For them. Who was this person? It wasn't Amanda. Not the Amanda he knew. Not the Amanda he loved. But maybe she was just like her sister and kept her inner bitch at bay to get what she wanted and then unleashed all her darkness and cruelty when it served her purpose.

"I'm going to the ladies room," she said, "and when I get back, I want you to be gone. Don't try to contact me. You'll only make it harder for yourself. I'm through with you, Shade. Do you understand?"

The only thing he understood was how it felt to have his heart ripped from his chest and kicked around a dusty wooden floor, but he nodded anyway.

"Good," she said. "Leave. Now. No one wants you here. Least of all me."

She turned-golden brown hair dancing around her shoulders with the motion-and stalked away. That was when Jacob noticed everyone in the bar was staring at him. More than one person was recording his misery on a cellphone. He was sure that within the hour, the entire world would be able to watch him-Shade "Rock Star" Silverton-get his heart broken on YouTube.

Why had Amanda done it in public? Why had she done it at all?

Jacob pulled the sunglasses from the neckband of his T-shirt, flicked them open, and crammed them onto his face. Jaw set, Shade made his exit through the bar's front door, giving everyone watching a one-finger salute as he went back to the life he knew best.

Thank God he could still rely on his fucking band.





Chapter Sixteen


Amanda stopped just outside the ladies room. The guy who'd hit on her on Friday was standing next to the door with his arms crossed over his chest and a knowing smirk on his handsome face. "I guess you skipped step one and went directly to full-out, man-hating bitch mode."

Her eyes narrowed. She hadn't skipped step one. She hadn't even gotten to step one yet. "Go fuck yourself," she spat at him before slamming both hands into the bathroom's swing door. She gave zero fucks what he thought of her. Wasn't sure why he'd taken the time to rub the breakup she'd predicted into her face. Asshole.

Before Amanda had even managed to cross the threshold, the tears she'd been holding in check started to fall. She somehow managed to stifle an anguished sob until the door swung shut behind her. Thank God Jacob hadn't followed her. She wouldn't have been able to force herself to say another cruel thing to him no matter how loudly her sister's threats rang in her ears.

"That was brilliant," Tina said as she burst into the ladies room a moment later. "He left all pride and swagger as usual, but for a minute there, I thought he was actually going to cry."

"If you value your life, you'll get the fuck away from me," Amanda said in an animalistic growl. Her hands balled into tight fists and her eyes narrowed into slits. She wanted to hit something-hard-and Tina's face would serve as the perfect target.

"You did the thing properly, at least," Tina said with a self-serving chuckle. "He'll never take you back after that public humiliation. Half the bar was recording it on their phones."



       
         
       
        

Amanda's stomach clenched, and she pressed her fingertips against her quivering lips. How could she have been so heartless? And to Jacob? He was always so good to her. Had she really called him stupid? An idiot? She knew how sensitive he was about his intelligence, and she'd fucking used his greatest weakness and insecurity against him? How could she have done that to him? In front of all those people?