Read The Upside of Being Let Down (new adult romance - 1) for Free Online

first email was from the Dean
at school. Bryan tried to imagine if he ’ d
seen AJ in class before. Not that he could remember. A quick scan of the email
gave the impression that AJ used to go to college. But the second email was the
one. It was a send and reply thread going back months that finally had an email
AJ had written about moving to her new apartment. The address change form
opened and Bryan had it.
    Her address.
    He sat in his car and stared at it.
    It made him smile, wondering what
it would be like to show up and knock on the door. AJ would answer in complete
shock.
    Didn ’ t think you ’ d see me again, huh?
    Bryan started to drive.
    He didn ’ t want to get there too late.

(6)
     
    I knocked again, this time with a
fist. It was safe to say I was freaking pissed off. It was one thing to want to
kick me out of the apartment and it was totally something else to just put my
shit outside the door with a note. But now I just felt violated and used. I
hated feeling used. I ’ d
felt used my entire life and I had nowhere to turn for comfort. In my mind,
being kicked out of college should have nothing to do with the apartment. If I
hadn ’ t been paying the rent
or something, yeah, sure. Still, wasn ’ t
I worthy of a conversation? Damn me for thinking it then, but I almost wanted
to have Angela barrage me with her judgments and complaints.
    My fist hit the door over and over,
but Angela never answered.
    I looked down at the boxes - my
boxes, my life - and knew I had to start packing up soon. I had to take each
box down and put them in my car. One by one. Stack them nicely. Because my car
was going to be my new apartment for the time being.
    Unless I went back to the club.
    I touched my back pocket again,
looking for my phone which doubled as my watch.
    Oh, yeah, it ’ s fucking missing.
    So I couldn ’ t even text or call Winnie. And if I went to the
club and she wasn ’ t there,
then what? Drive to her apartment and chance it? Most nights Winnie didn ’ t go straight home from work. It
occurred to me that the longer Winnie could live her life as Wicked the happier
she ’ d be. Which meant if I
went to her apartment and her roommate was there... or if she was there with a
boyfriend guy (or whatever he was since he just commanded her around the
bedroom)... it could be a long night.
    I really needed a phone.
    Not a phone but my phone.
    I didn ’ t have a single number memorized, not even my own.
Was that pathetic? I couldn ’ t
even give out my cell number if I wanted to. I couldn ’ t even go to a store and buy a coffee and ask
someone to use their phone for a second. Regardless, what would happen if I
called my cell phone? Would someone answer? If so... who?
    I heard the squeal of the top door
as it opened. Before I turned, I heard his voice.
    “ Hey.
Whoa. ”
    I looked to my left and froze like
ice in subzero temperatures. Forget the shock of someone answering my phone.
Forget the shock of seeing Winnie ’ s
roommate Elsie answering the door in handcuffs or tied up or something. Forget
the shock of being kicked out of the apartment and college.
    My body only had the shock of what
I stared at.
    “ Bryan? ” I asked.
    “ You
know, I was just passing through and uh... ”
    He slid his hands into his pockets
and shrugged his shoulders. He couldn ’ t
even finish his line. His big chance to say something cute or flirty or sexy to
me. And he came up with... nothing.
    “ What?
How? ” I asked.
    “ Oh.
That. Yeah, sure. Well, first... here... ”
    Bryan reached into his pocket and
pulled out my cell phone. He handed it to me and let out a sigh of relief.
    Okay then, maybe the night wasn ’ t going to be a complete shit
waste of time.
    “ Thank
you, ” I said. “ This is... ”
    I stared at Bryan.
    His eyes.
    His face.
    That damn jaw of his.
    He casually slid his thumbs into
his pockets and looked comfortable. Much more comforting than the closed - and
locked - door in front of me. I wrapped my