Unfriend Me
Jobs From Hell
Marika Ray
Marika Ray Publishing
Contents
Unfriend Me
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Also by Marika Ray
About the Author
UNFRIEND ME
Copyright © 2020 by Marika Ray
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
First Edition: September 23, 2020
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.
Ebook ISBN: 978-1-950141-23-4
Paperback ISBN: 978-1-950141-24-1
Unfriend Me
It’s hard to tell your best friend you’re in love with her when she’s busy dating everyone but you.
Amelia
I’ve been called a smart-mouthed, tattooed firecracker with a penchant for running straight into trouble, but after coming off the worst breakup in history, all I want is to get my life together. No more trouble, no more surprises.
So when my best friend changes the rules on me, I’m not sure how to react. Though my body sure knows how to react seeing him without his shirt on. Where did all those muscles come from? And when my ex comes back to town to wreak havoc, my lofty plans go right out the window.
Titus
I fell in love with Amelia in the sixth grade when I pulled her off another girl in a hair-pulling fight. And she put me directly in the friend zone. We’ve been through everything together from ER trips after skateboarding mishaps to fighting off a peacock with a mean streak. But the one thing I’ve never told her is how I really feel. Now that Amelia is single again, it’s time to make my move. But Amelia has never gone down without a fight involved, and this will be no different.
Either she’ll fall in love with me like I hope, or Amelia will unfriend me forever.
1
Titus
“What the hell, Amelia?”
She climbed up into my truck after nearly wrenching my passenger door off the hinges, flashing bright pink underwear I most certainly did not need to see. Don’t get me wrong, the woman looked hot as hell and under different circumstances I would have lodged that picture away in the recesses of my brain to take out later when I could dissect it in the privacy of my own delusion. As it was, we weren’t on good terms, so perving over her underwear seemed inappropriate.
Her dark hair hung down her back, a few strands threaded through the hoop earrings she only wore when she went out for a night on the town. Considering she’d called me for a ride in the middle of the night instead of her best friends, the Hell Raisers as they liked to call themselves, spoke to trouble in paradise with her current boyfriend.
I was elated she’d called me. Despite the distance between us the last year or so, I’d always be there for her, and I was glad she remembered that little fact. We’d even carved our initials in one of the huge trees at the park off Main Street one year, sealing the deal on our forever friendship.
The door slammed shut and I blinked away any desire that might have shown on my face. The short skirt that ended just below the curve of her ass wasn’t for me, her best friend. Or maybe ex-best friend. We hadn’t really talked about our official status lately. Hell, we hadn’t really talked at all since Daire came around. The full breasts about to spill out of the tiny tank top weren’t on display for my gaze either. Amelia had always dressed well, a flair for tight, short, and trendy over comfort, but her natural inclination had taken a steeper dive since she met Daire.
“Don’t even ask, Titus,” Amelia snapped, clicking her seat belt into place and turning her head away from the window to study my ancient stereo components like they fascinated her.
I bit my tongue and turned the wheel to exit the parking lot. Just as I was about to give it some gas, I saw movement on the patio outside the bar. Neon lights in the windows illuminated the outline of a guy who looked suspiciously like Daire, Amelia’s boyfriend. The guy was a hulking beast and he used his size to his advantage.
I’d met Daire almost a year ago when I worked a job in San Jose. He was a contractor turned real estate developer, working his way up from tiny side jobs to larger retail buildings. He’d seemed decent enough at the time, which was why I introduced him to Amelia to discuss opening a bed-and-breakfast in Auburn Hill. Unfortunately, I discovered that while Daire was a decent enough guy to other men, put him in the same room with a woman and he became a shark. A predator who thought women were to be hunted and toyed with for sport. He was a misogynist asshole.
My headlights hit the patio, a spotlight for Daire in his all-black attire. His leather-clad arm slithered around some blond woman’s neck, pulling her in to kiss her temple while he grabbed a handful of breast, out in the open where anyone could see them. Sick bastard had a little smile on his face watching me drive away. I clenched my jaw and shot a look at Amelia. Her head was still aimed at the console of my truck, her hair a curtain protecting her from the sight of her boyfriend fondling another woman right in front of her. Somehow I figured this wasn’t the first time she’d had to deal with this type of bullshit from the guy who was supposed to care about her more than anyone else.
Hitting the accelerator a bit harder than I should have, I tore out of the parking lot, a red haze coating the dark sky.
Motherfucker.
I
