Page 100 of You First
Jamie made a rude noise. “What’sshewant?”
Meredith typed as fast as she could. “She wants to have coffee tomorrow after class.”
Meredith:All good.
“She probably wants to tell you what it’s like to ride a raghead.”
Meredith shot him a dark look. “You’re disgusting,” she seethed. “Rajan is a prince of a man compared to you.”
Her phone chimed again.
“Raaa-jaaaan?”Jamie drew out the name, sounding astonished, and then he started to snicker.
Meredith ignored him and looked back at her phone.
Gray:I don’t like him.
Meredith:Me either.
“A prince of a man,” Jamie mocked, making his voice go high pitched and girly. “Maybe you’re hot for ragheads, too. Maybe you want a three-way with your bestie and her brown boy.”
“I’m going to bed.” Meredith turned on her heel instead of spitting in his face. But he caught her by the elbow and wheeled her around.
“Wa-wa-wait,” he said, smiling, looking entirely too pleased with himself. She pulled, trying to jerk her arm free, but his fingers dug in.
“Jamie, let me go. I’m going to bed. I have class in the morning.”
“Class—” He bit off the word, yanking her to him.
His breath beat against her face. She could smell Skoal, beer, and something darker.
“You think you gotclass. You think you the shit. You think you’re too good for me now.”
Meredith held her breath. He’d said such things before, showing her his insecurities, but never when he’d had too much to drink. For the first time, she felt a little afraid of him.
She put a hand to his chest to push him away, but he wouldn’t budge. “Jamie, I don’t like this.”
“Say it. You think you’re too good for me. You. The girl who practically begged me to fuck her in the back of my truck. On a fucking school night.”
She hadn’t begged, but the shame still stung. Meredith couldn’t deny that she’d wanted him then.
“That was a long time ago, Jamie. Everything’s changed.”
“And now you’re in college, and I’m on a rig, and suddenly I’m not good enough to get into your pants, right?” The animal curl in his lip erased any beauty he may have had. What she saw now was hideous.
But she answered him carefully. “I want a better life for Oscar. I always have.”
“For Oscar, but not for us,” he spat.
Her voice shook as she spoke, but she spoke all the same. “Jamie, there is nous. You know that as well as I do.”
Between them, her phone pinged again, and Jamie looked murderous.
“What the fuck is wrong with her?” With his free hand he snatched at her phone. She tried to wrench it away, but Jamie shook her once, and she gave it up with a yelp. Her heartbeat went into overdrive as she watched him squint through his haze of alcohol to read past her cracked screen.
“Who’s Gray?” he asked, his voice going cold. “And why the hell is he asking if you’re in bed yet?”
Meredith swallowed.
