Consumed: A MMA Sports Romance Read Online Free Page A

you’re going out with
him now.”
    That sends a pang of
guilt through me. Jana’s exceptional at that when she wants to be.
    Jana answers the phone
and walks off a little ways as I sink into the couch. On the one hand, this is
a perfect opportunity for me to make my escape, but if that actually is Mason calling to shove our dinner
plans in her face, I’d rather know about it so I can be sure to never see him
again.
    “…all right, I’ll talk to
you soon,” Jana says. “Bye.” She hangs up the phone and comes back over to me,
asking, “What were we talking about?”
    “Was that him?” I ask.
    “No,” Jana says. “You’re
really going to take off, aren’t you?”
    “Only if you’re okay with
it,” I tell her. “I should have asked if you’d be okay with me seeing him. How
long did the two of you date?”
    She turns her head and
folds her arms. “It doesn’t matter,” she says. “My mom’s on her way and you
want to ditch us for my ex before
she’s even got here.”
    “Gotten,” I correct. It’s
a waste of time: She never learns. Still, habits are habits. “If you don’t want
me to go out with him, I won’t go out with him,” I tell her, “but please don’t make me live under a roof
with your mother for months on end.”
    “Just go,” Jana says.
“I’m sure mom and I can lug all her stuff to the apartment all by ourselves.
She’s going to be so sad that you’re not here, though. She loves the crap out
of you.”
    “She does not,” I
respond. “The only times your mom and I have even had a full conversation, she
was stoned out of her mind.”
    “Well, that’s not really
telling me much,” Jana says. “Mom’s always stoned.”
    “You can see why that
might be a problem,” I tell her.
    “Well, at least you got
to know her a bit,” Jana says.
    “Yeah,” I scoff. “She
told me about how she followed Jefferson Airplane on tour when they did that
reunion in the eighties. Apparently, they never let her backstage, but she did
end up making it with a roadie at some point.”
    Jana giggles and shakes
her head. “Moms,” she says, smiling.
    “Listen,” I tell her, “if
you don’t want me to see Mason, I won’t, but I’m not going to stick around to
wait for your mother to ‘cleanse my aura’ with burning sage. That stuff gives
me a headache.”
    Jana sighs. “It’s not
like Mason and I were a big deal or anything,” she says. “It’s just a little
weird. I mean, if you want to see him, go ahead. We’re cool, but come on.
You’ve got to at least wait and say hi to my mom. She’s going to be here
whenever you get back anyway, so it’s not like you’re really getting away with
anything. Just stay until she gets here, okay?”
    “Well…” I start, but
Jana’s phone starts ringing again.
    “Just a sec,” Jana says
and answers the call. “Hey, did you find it? Great. Just stay on Fairfax until
you get to Twelfth Street and then take a left. We’re in the Green Village
Apartments. We’ll be outside. Okay, bye.” Jana hangs up the phone and turns
back to me. “That was mom. She’s about ten minutes out.”
    Suddenly, I don’t feel so
guilty anymore.
    “Yeah, I’m out,” I tell
Jana and start for the door, “See ya later.”
    It’s delaying the
inevitable. I know that. Still, given what the inevitable is, I’m pretty happy
putting it off for a while.
    “You know he sleeps
around, right?” Jana asks and I stop.
    “What?” I ask. “Did he
cheat on you?”
    “No,” Jana says. “Well,
we weren’t really a couple. We were kind of sex acquaintances.”
    “Sex acquaintances?” I ask.
    “Yeah,” she says. “When
we first met, we had sex. I gave him my number, he gave me his. Things were
just so busy for me back then. We really only got together when one of us
needed a booty call. Then I met someone else, and then he met someone else. If
you want to go see him, I’m not going to be that friend, but I thought you should know.”
    “So what you’re