Wrong Side Girl (The Girl Series Book 1) by Julia Goda

some kind of claim on me.” I was right. I didn’t like what I was hearing. Courtney was a bitch with a capital B. A conniving, mean bitch, who had ridiculed me whenever she had a chance, had played mean tricks on me and taunted me. I knew Cole had screwed her because she was all too happy to tell me all about it in detail when she had me pinned against the wall in the locker room of our high school gym, with her friends egging her on. She had been mean to me because Cole had never made a secret of being protective of me and she had considered him hers. It was almost like she had singled me out of all the people she considered losers. Even when she had graduated, she hadn’t let up torturing and embarrassing me whenever she got a chance.
    Fucking hell!
    I turned away from him to my back and stared at the ceiling. This was not good. If he had been going back to her for all these years, then she would still consider Cole hers. She was not someone who would give up easily. And she hated me, which would fuel her anger only more.
    “Did you tell her why you are not available any longer?” I asked the ceiling.
    “Yes. I told her we’re together. That I love you and am committed to you. That I want her to lose my number.”
    Okay. That made me feel better. But she sure as hell would not accept that and let me have him without a fight. Good thing I didn’t intend to ever set foot in Ashford again. I’d never gone back home even once since I started college. Nothing for me to go back to. I wouldn’t have to see her and deal with her.
    “She didn’t like the fact that you committed to me of all people, did she?” I was still talking to the ceiling, trying to come to terms with the fact that Cole had been in a relationship with her for years. A very, very casual relationship, but it was still a relationship in my eyes, and Courtney was the type of woman who would see it as something more than what it was. I couldn’t put my finger on why exactly, but his revelation worried me more than I wanted to admit.
    Cole’s hand on my stomach started stroking me soothingly. He could tell this was a blow and he was being cautious.
    “No. She wasn’t,” he paused, then, “she keeps calling and texting me. I turned my phone off.” I nodded. What else could I do?
    “Baby, you have nothing to worry about. I’ll deal with her.” I sighed. He thought I was jealous. Granted, I had been extremely jealous of her before, since she had been one of those girls lucky enough to get attention from Cole, but I was not jealous now.
    “I’m not jealous if that’s what you’re thinking. Is that what you were brooding about for an hour?” I felt him tense beside me, but then he relaxed and pulled me closer to him. “Yes. And the fact that by now she’ll probably have called my mother since they run in the same circles. Though, why she would think she has any claim on me, I have no idea. I never promised her anything but a good time. Like all the other women who came before you, she was nothing but a fuck. She knew the drill. I wanted to enjoy this weekend and was gonna tell my parents about us on Monday, but Courtney likely has jumped the gun, seeing as my mother is also calling me non-stop.” I closed my eyes. Right. I had forgotten about his mother. She despised me. Hated me. Hated what I represented. I knew in her eyes, I was never going to be good enough for her son. Not because she loved him and she thought I would break his heart. Oh, no. Simply because I would tarnish the family name and status, because I was born on the wrong side of town, was trash. Having to deal with his mother would understandably make him zone out. They didn’t get along. He put up with her to avoid an argument, but this argument he wasn’t going to be able to ignore.
    “Liz, baby, look at me.” I did. “You have nothing to worry about. I don’t care what my parents think. They never gave a shit about me, so it’s none of their business who I’m with.