GRANT

The banging on my door sounded like a damn freight train. I pushed the covers off me and looked over at Paige. I’d brought her home with me last night from a party. We’d both had too much to drink and we had plenty of fun before we’d passed out. That much I could remember. Paige was always nice and easy. She didn’t do the clingy thing.

The banging kept on. I grabbed my discarded shorts from last night and pulled them on before walking down the hall toward the door. “Shut the fuck up! Dammit, that’s too fucking loud,” I yelled before opening the door. The sun was up and right in my eyes. I threw my arm over my eyes and squinted while calling whoever was at my door a crazy motherfucker.

I didn’t do hangovers well.

“Aren’t you charming this morning,” Nan drawled as she pushed past me and walked in. Shit. Not who I wanted to deal with this morning.

I slammed the door. “What do you want, Nan? It’s ten fucking a.m.,” I growled.

Nan walked into my kitchen and leaned against the bar.

“I need a place to stay,” she said in a softer voice that she only used when she wanted something. A year ago that shit worked with me. I was so wrapped up in her selfish ass I couldn’t see straight. It was all the sex though. She was good at it. A fucking gymnast in the bed. I’d learned the hard way that sex didn’t make up for heartbreak and bitchiness. I was done with her. With all of it.

“Call Rush. I’m going back to bed. You know the way out,” I replied, heading back to my bedroom.

“I can’t! He won’t help me. I can’t stand Blaire and he knows it. He loves her more than me. She took him away from me. She took everything away from me. I hate her and I can’t pretend to like her. But I don’t have anywhere to go. I don’t want to live with my mother. I want to come back to Rosemary.”

“Sucks for you. Bye Nan.” I opened the bedroom door and walked over to the bed and laid face down.

“Paige? Really Grant? You don’t know where all that has been. You’ve stooped pretty low. Even for you.”

Paige sat up rubbing her face and I enjoyed the fact she was naked and Nan was getting a very good look at her tits. They were a helluva lot nicer than Nan’s.

“I stepped up. Last chick I fucked was you,” I replied. She’d walked into that one.

Paige looked at me then Nan with bloodshot eyes. I was pretty sure she’d been smoking pot last night. “What the fuck?” she grumbled pulling the sheet up to cover herself.

“Nan’s here to make my life hell. Ignore her,” I said rolling on my back and propping my hands behind my head.

“Really? This is what we’ve become?” Nan asked.

“This is what you made us, Nan. You wanted to screw around well I agree. It’s fun. Thanks for the idea.”

“Paige, for godsake, get some clothes on and leave. We’re trying to have a conversation,” Nan snapped at Paige who was sitting quietly listening to us.

I reached over and patted her leg. “Don’t leave. Her ass has been shown the door. She needs to take it,” I told Paige. I really had rather they both leave but I wasn’t an ass. I wouldn’t kick Paige out. I’d let her leave on her own.

“For real? You’re gonna just whore around and not even let me explain? Did you know I was in a rehab? Did you care? You sure as hell didn’t call me. No one did. Not even Rush.”

I felt a small pang for her but it was really small. Sometimes I still saw that little girl who wanted someone to want her so bad. Those were the times I had compassion. Then I remembered the bitch she had become and decided she deserved what she got.

“When you dish shit out you get shit back. That’s what my granddaddy always told me. Maybe somebody should have taught you that too. Saved us all a fucking load of trouble.”

Nan pointed at Paige. “Leave. Now.”

I grabbed Paige’s arm. “Ignore her.”

Paige looked back and forth between the two of us and then shook her head. “You two are all kinds of fucked up. I think I’ll go home and get some rest. My head can’t take this.” She started to get up then reached over and kissed my cheek before crawling out of the bed naked.

I admired her ass while she got her clothes on for Nan’s sake not because I really wanted to. I was too tired to think about naked females.

Paige waved bye to me then hurried out the door carrying her shoes. I had no idea where her car was but that didn’t matter right now. She lived two floors up in the same condo complex as I did. Which was another reason she was handy.

Nan walked over to the bed and sat down.

“Get off my bed, Nan. I swear to God I’ll tell you every detail of what Paige and I did on these sheets last night if you don’t get your damn ass off my bed,” I warned. I couldn’t really remember exactly what we’d done last night. But Nan didn’t have to know that.

“You’re disgusting,” she screamed, standing up and glaring at me.

“Yeah, so are you. At least I know Paige. She’s not some girl I just plucked off the damn street to fuck.”

Her flashed with unleashed fury. I’d called her shit. She’d wanted to push me away and she’d succeeded. I had seen enough. I wasn’t interested anymore.

“You said you loved me,” she reminded me.

“I thought I might could love you, Nan. But then I woke up and realized a hot fuck and good pussy isn’t love. It’s just really good sex.”

The hurt look in her eyes should have made me feel guilty but it didn’t. I had confused need and want with love. I didn’t know what it was like to love someone. Not the way Rush loved Blaire. I’d never felt that. I knew that now. I had no fucking clue and I was pretty damn sure I never would.

“Fine. You want to hurt me then do it. I deserve it,” Nan spat, standing up and walking back to the door. “But this isn’t over, Grant. I can admit that I messed up. You just need to admit that you still have feelings for me.”

Did I? I wasn’t sure I did. I was angry at her for jerking me around but I wasn’t sure there were feelings left.

“I am working through some things. It would be nice if someone gave a shit and understood.”

I would not let her turn this around on me. I hadn’t asked for this shit. I’d tried to make it work. She’d refused to ever be more than a fuck buddy. I had wanted more and she’d made it clear that I could easily be replaced.

“I don’t think I’m the one to help you, Nan. Problem is I know what your life was like and I know why you’re a bitch. But unlike Rush, I don’t let that excuse fly. It’s time you stopped using it and changed. You’re pushing everyone away. Do you want to end up like your mom?”

She stiffened and I knew I’d hit a nerve. Without a word she spun around and stalked out of my condo slamming the door behind her. Good fucking riddance.

Now I could get some sleep.