Forget You by Jennifer Snyder Page B

If you want
more than that, don’t waste your time. I’m not.”
    “Yeah, that one was good. It wasn’t my best
though; you missed my most extraordinary break up. Cameron was
there for that one, Paige. A few years ago, I dated this guy who
was totally wrong for me.” I paused and took a sip of my wine,
thinking, what guy had I dated that had ever been right for me?
“He’s actually the guy who forced me to come up with a list of
categories in the first place. His name was David, and he was the
typical player pretty boy I strive so hard to avoid now. He’s the
one who Craig reminded me of, Paige.”
    Paige fidgeted in her seat at the mention of
her ex. Craig Owen had been her last boyfriend gone wrong. He’d
been a little intense—to the point of physically hurting her a few
times, and being verbally abusive as well. Thank God, Cameron had
saved her.
    “I’m sure he was a grade A douche, then,”
Lauren muttered. Her eyes shifted from Paige to me, and then back
again.
    While Craig had gotten help from his family
by way of some expensive anger management classes and counseling,
it still didn’t lessen the events that had led up to all those
steps. I understood that better than anyone. A person could be
forgiven, but his or her actions never forgotten.
    “Needless to say, David was very controlling
and physically abusive. As a matter of fact, he’s where I got this
scar on my upper lip.” I pointed to the faint scratch of a scar
above my top lip no one ever seemed to notice besides me. Maybe it
was because I knew the pain that had put it there. “He backhanded
me so hard across the mouth one night that his ugly ass man ring
his father had given him cut my lip.” I tucked my hair behind my
ear, and took another long swig of wine as the memory fizzed in my
mind.
    “Yikes.” Blaire shivered.
    “You did something badass to him for revenge
though, right?” Lauren flashed a wicked smile my way.
    Biting my bottom lip, I envisioned how
non-badass I was back then. “No, I didn’t get my backbone until
later with him. Sure, I had little pieces of it, but I actually
have Cameron to thank for my current backbone. He was the one who
taught me I deserved better, that I deserved more.”
    “Sounds all too familiar,” Paige
insisted.
    Cameron had done the same for her. The only
difference between Paige and my story was the fact that Cameron
knew there was not a chance in hell he would be getting into my
pants. He and I were too much alike. He’d been through some
horrible crap growing up and so had I. We’d bonded over Hemingway
quotes and stories of whose life was more screwed up.
    I won that last category, hands down.
    While he’d had to endure finishing the rest
of his teenage years without his parents who’d loved him
unconditionally, I’d been bounced around in a seriously flawed
foster system since the tender age of six, when my drug-addicted
mother overdosed in front of me.
    “Anyway, long story short. A group of us had
gone on vacation together to a place in South Carolina right on the
ocean. We’d rented a condo, and split it so it would be cheaper and
we could all stay longer. There was a restaurant beside the condo
with an awesome rooftop bar we went to every single night. They had
a live band, the backdrop of the ocean, and amazing mojitos.” I
unwrapped a chocolate. After taking a small bite, I continued with
my story. “I was sitting at the bar with this girl, Sheila. She was
the girlfriend of one of David’s best buddies. We were drinking and
talking. The bartender kept giving us free refills, so, naturally,
we continued to accept them. I didn’t know David had been watching
me from where he sat with his friends. Eventually, he came over and
proceeded to drag me from my chair, telling me I was embarrassing
him by accepting the drinks, and it was time to go. For whatever
reason, I didn’t go willingly with him. Instead, I told him I would
leave when I wanted. Alcohol was always my courage back