"We're sorry; you have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service. If you feel you have reached this recording in error, please check the number and try your call again."
The recording sounded in her ear for the tenth time in less than two minutes, her worst fears realized. Jade had no other way of contacting him as he had no social media profile and she didn't even have his email address. As a last resort, she tried his apartment building's front desk and even the university's main office. Both responses were the same.
"I'm sorry, Miss, but we do not know of this Max Powers you are asking for." Had been the cool distant answer.
The one time she'd actually trusted a man with her heart and body and he'd ghosted her. For three long months, she agonized over him, her bouts of crying interrupted by anger and rage at being played. She had really thought he was her endgame...but it seemed she hadn't known him at all. During one of her low points, she'd googled his name for any tidbit, any clue about his current whereabouts. What she'd found shocked her. She wasn't even sure how it happened as his name wasn't tagged but there he was in her Instagram feed. It was a picture of him swapping spit with a model, against a backdrop of a setting sun and it looked like they were on a yacht, turquoise waters behind them. Worst was the timestamp—two days after their one night together.
Hysterical laughter bubbled up inside her. After he'd dismissed her from the hotel, he'd already moved onto his next conquest. While she had waited for his call, text, communication of any kind, he'd been sunbathing on a yacht in some exotic location with a busty Instagram model.
Utter humiliation washed over her, followed closely by devastated defeat. Her slim shoulders shook with heart-wrenching sobs and she folded her arms over her knees, burying her face in them. She wept for her gullibility, for her shattered illusions and broken dreams. Shame sent more tears pouring from her eyes—she'd given her virginity to a man who'd only seen her as another notch on his bedpost.
She was such a fool.
A poor, besotted fool.
"Hey, sweetie, how are you?"
In her misery, she hadn't even heard her door open. Looking up, she turned to see her best friend's concerned face. Her long lashes were spiked with tears and her striking green eyes were glistening. "Oh, Quinn—I really thought—" She hiccuped. "—I really thought he was the one!"
The compassion on Quinn's face was more than she could bear but then the other woman was enveloping her in a warm embrace, offering comfort and sympathy. Quinn held her, tenderly rubbing her back as she sobbed her pain and heartache. For how long they stayed there, Jade didn't know.
"Thank you, Quinn." She pulled away slowly, feeling drained but also cleansed.
"How do you feel, honey?"
"I feel embarrassed...and pretty stupid."
"You've just experienced your first heartbreak." Quinn patted her head. "It happens to all of us at some point."
Jade nodded, her eyes staring blankly ahead. She thought she would cry again but she didn't. Nor did she cry during the hours spent cleaning her neglected apartment. She did laundry, tidied up her closet, cleaned out her pantry and fridge and even rearranged the furniture. Not once did she give another thought to the tall, dark and handsome man who had flirted with her and made her fall for him before discarding her like yesterday's trash.
No.
There were no more tears left in her.