Bitter Rival: an enemies to lovers romance

by J. Sterling

  “Actually, I don’t,” I said, hoping they wouldn’t be upset with me later for being so boring. “I think all my first dates were pretty normal.”

  To be honest, this was the only part of my job that made me uncomfortable. I didn’t mind being put on the spot occasionally, but I hated when I honestly had nothing to contribute and they expected me to make something up. Tom and John often encouraged me to lie, to wing it for the sake of the show, but I had always been a terrible liar, and we quickly found out that I couldn’t do it when they tried to force me. I would stumble and forget what I had just said. Basically, I was a disaster, and it didn’t make for good radio.

  “Fine,” John said with an evil smile. “If you won’t tell us about a bad first date, then we’ll talk about high school.”

  I almost choked on my own spit. “High school? What about it?” Heat filled my entire body as I attempted to fight back the rush of pure adrenaline that always came from speaking live to the hundreds of thousands of people who listened each morning.

  Tom nodded, his eyes gleaming. “A little birdie told us that your ten-year reunion is happening this weekend. Are you going?”

  Damn it. How’d they find out about that?

  My mind instantly flashed to the two guys I associated with my high school days, my father and Dalton, and my stomach turned at the thought of them both but for different reasons. As I silently wondered which of my coworkers had ratted me out, John cleared his throat impatiently, forcing me to answer.

  “Yeah, I’m going. Of course,” I said, as if there was any other choice in the matter.

  They both oohed and aahed like immature teenage boys. “Hoping to see a special someone, Cammie?” Tom asked, his over-whitened teeth practically blinding me as he smiled.

  My cheeks warmed and I knew I was blushing. I wished I could stop it because the moment they saw that happening, they’d attack me like sharks circling their prey. Anything for a good show, especially if it meant embarrassing me.

  “Oh, she’s blushing! Look at her cheeks!” Tom yelled as John jumped in. “Okay, Cammie, no one turns that shade of red if there isn’t a story to tell. Tell us! Who is he?”

  “Am I red? I’m not red, am I?” I sputtered, attempting to bullshit my way out of this uncomfortable topic. “I’m just excited to see everyone! I swear,” I lied, and prayed they wouldn’t call me on it.

  “There isn’t one guy that you’re hoping will be there?”

  “You didn’t have a crush on anyone back in high school?”

  I averted my eyes, trying to keep what little secrets I still had to myself. “Nope. I didn’t even really date in high school.” That statement was the truth, and I found myself growing more nervous with each second that passed.

  “I think you’re lying, Cammie,” Tom teased.

  John nodded. “She’s definitely lying, Tom.”

  “I swear! I was more hung up on boys in bands than I was on boys I actually went to school with.” That wasn’t an entire lie. I did have a crush on one guy from a boy band for most of my teenage years. Who didn’t?

  “Maybe someone from Cammie’s high school can call in and tell us who you think she’s excited to see,” Tom suggested. “’Cause there’s definitely something she’s not telling us!”

  I sucked in a quick breath, but then remembered that no one from high school knew about me and Dalton. Except my best friend, Kristy, and she’d never throw me under the bus by calling in to the show.

  “No one’s going to call because there’s nothing to tell.”

  I said the words, praying they’d be true as I stared at the phone line buttons, watching all of them flashing simultaneously. Glancing out the divider window, I noted an intern sitting at my seat, fielding the phone calls in my absence. He didn’t look particularly enthused, so I figured none of the calls coming in were about me.

  The guys bantered back and forth, the conversation flowing effortlessly between them due to years of working together. They quickly moved from “worst first dates” to “high school crushes.”

  “What about you, John? Did you have a crush on someone in high school?” Tom asked, as if he didn’t know the answer.

  “Uh, yeah. I married her, dummy,” John said sarcastically, because anyone who was a regular listener already knew that he was married to his high school sweetheart.

  “Lucky bastard,” Tom whispered into the mic. “Enough about John, we want to hear all about your high school love, or obsession, or reveal your crush with us on the air. Call us or text us with your stories.”

  “But let’s get back to Cammie.” John looked up at the computer screen and his eyes lit up. “Uh-oh, hold on a second. We have a caller from your high school on the line. Hello, Debbie, are you there?”

  Crap.

  “I’m here,” a girl said with a giggle, and I narrowed my eyes, trying to place the name with a face from my high school years.

  “Okay, Debbie, did you go to school with Cammie?”

  More giggling. “Uh-huh.”

  “All right.” John lifted his eyebrows and mouthed wow at me, but I was too busy freaking out. “So, are you going to the reunion this weekend?”

  “I wouldn’t miss it for anything! I can’t wait!” she practically screamed into the phone.

  “Sounds like you’re excited to see a special someone too. But, Debbie, let me ask you this. Who do you think Cammie is dying to see there?”

  “I think she’s excited to see David Lampson. I know I am,” she said breathily, and I couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped.

  “Ooh, is that him? Are you excited to see David Lampson?” All eyes turned to stare at me.

  “No! I mean, no offense, David, if you’re listening, but not really. He wasn’t my type.”

  David was definitely all looks and no brains, which had always been a turnoff to me. I liked good-looking guys as much as the next girl, but I needed more than just a pretty face. Call me crazy.

  “Any other guesses, Debbie?”

  “Um, I’m not sure. I don’t remember Cammie dating anyone, but she did hang out with the baseball team and stuff, so maybe it’s one of them?”

  “Thanks for the call, Debbie.” John pressed a button, disconnecting her. “Have fun tomorrow,” he continued, speaking as if she were still on the line. “So, Cammie. The baseball team?”

  “I hung out with the guys on the team because I played softball. All the girls did. It was like a sports bonding thing.”

  “Oh, I bet you bonded, all right,” Tom added.

  “Seriously?” I shot back, feeling ridiculous.

  “Just tell us who it is,” he insisted, and I knew they weren’t going to give up anytime soon. “Or at least admit that there’s someone you want to see.”

  I glared across the desk at them. “Fine.”

  “I knew it! There is someone you can’t wait to see!” Tom shouted, his hands waving in the air.

  I shrugged and said noncommittally, “There might be someone.”

  “Does he know?” John asked.

  “Does he know what?” I smirked, wanting to make the guys work for any information I would be forced to reveal.

  John gave me a frustrated glare, urging me to play along. “Does he know that you can’t wait to see him. And that you love him?”

  “I do not love him.” I breathed into the microphone, already exasperated with this conversation. “And no, he probably has no idea. I’m sure he’s forgotten all about me,” I admitted, the small truth escaping from my betraying mouth.

  Tom shook his head wildly. “No way! Any guy who could forget about you is an idiot, Cammie.”

  “Yeah,” John chimed in. “I’d be counting down the days until I could see you again.”

  “Ten years is a lot of days to count,” I said with a smile.

  “I don’t know about you, John, but I want to hear about this guy. What’s he doing now?”

  My heart raced as beads of sweat formed on unmentionable parts of my body. “I don’t
know what he’s doing now. I don’t even know if he’ll be there or not.”

  “You didn’t keep in touch over the years?” John prodded.

  “Nope.”

  “You’re hopeless, girl.”

  “Trust me, I know.”

  “Let’s look him up online. What’s his name?” Tom winked, and I felt my face completely drop as I stayed silent.

  John’s face brightened. “Cammie, let’s try to find him. It will be fun!”

  “Fun for who, exactly?” I choked out as I secretly plotted their deaths.

  “For everyone listening, obviously.”

  “Are we done yet?” I whined, wanting this to end.

  All this talk about high school, about who I liked and who I hung out with, was starting to bring me down. Tom and John had no idea how much it hurt to mentally go back to a time that wasn’t filled with only pretty memories. It was a time when I experienced the most painful loss of my life, and even after all these years, just thinking about it broke my heart all over again. I suddenly felt like I couldn’t breathe.

  “Cammie, we’re just worried about you,” Tom said with a giant smirk that didn’t match his concerned tone at all. He was good at his job, which was essentially acting.

  Sucking in a quick breath, I attempted to play along. “Why are you worried about me?”

  “First of all, Los Angeles, Cammie is a really pretty girl. And for as long as we’ve known her, she’s been single. So we used to think there was something wrong with her, but so far, we can’t figure it out. We think she’s pretty normal.”

  I felt my cheeks flush with warmth again and wished I could hide behind something, but there was nowhere to go. “Because I’m single, there has to be something wrong with me?” I rolled my eyes before glaring at Tom.

  “It just doesn’t make any sense,” John added.

  “Maybe I just haven’t met the right guy yet? It’s not that easy to find your match in LA, you know,” I admitted as the honest truth spilled from my lips.

  “You’re getting old, girl,” Tom said with a chortle.

  “I’m not old!” I shouted. “Oh my gosh, I’m twenty-seven! And we’re in Los Angeles, not Kansas! Twenty-seven is not old!”

  “It’s kinda old.” Tom looked at John.

  “She is almost thirty,” John said before making a shuddering sound.

  “I hate you both,” I spat out. “So much.”

  “We knew it!” they shouted in unison.

  I stood up from the desk and removed my headphones, placing them down gently under the microphone, signaling to them that I was done being picked on for one morning.

  “One more thing, Cammie,” Tom said, and I turned to face him. “Are you bringing a date to the reunion?”

  I leaned back toward the microphone. “Yeah.” I paused before adding, “My best friend, Kristy.”

  “All right, Los Angeles, keep those calls and texts coming!” John called out before pushing the button that started the next ninety seconds of commercials.

  Tom pulled off his headphones and sent me a knowing look. “I should send an intern to follow you around with a recorder for the show on Monday.”

  “Don’t you dare!” I shot back. “I love this job, but I can’t have someone recording me at my freaking ten-year reunion.” I glared at him, knowing that these two would do pretty much anything for their listeners.

  “So, who’s the guy?” John said as he took a bite out of a jelly doughnut, the powdered sugar sticking on his chin.

  I decided to level with them. “I haven’t seen him since graduation, okay?”

  “Really? Like since the day of graduation?”

  “Yeah. And talking about him is killing me. You have to stop. Please.”

  I hoped that little bit of information and my honest feelings would be enough to get them to lay off of me for now. If they somehow found out about Dalton and mentioned his name for all of LA to hear, I’d shrivel up into a ball and die right there on the radio station floor.

  Then they’d really have something to talk about.

  READ FOR FREE IN KINDLE UNLIMITED!

  Other Books by J. Sterling

  In Dreams

  Chance Encounters

  10 Years Later: A Second Chance Romance

  Heartless—A Serial Romance

  Dear Heart, I Hate You

  The Game Series:

  The Perfect Game—Book One

  The Game Changer—Book Two

  The Sweetest Game—Book Three

  The Other Game (Dean Carter)—Book Four

  The Celebrity Series:

  Seeing Stars—Madison & Walker

  Breaking Stars—Paige & Tatum

  Losing Stars—Quinn & Ryson (Coming)

  The Fisher Brothers Series:

  No Bad Days—A New Adult, Second Chance Romance

  Guy Hater—An Emotional Love Story

  Adios Pantalones—A Single Mom Romance

  Happy Ending

  Thank Yous

  First and foremost, I would like to thank Whitney G. This industry can be so lonely and isolating and sometimes, no matter how long you’ve been in the business, you can still feel like you’re floundering. I am immensely grateful for all of her guidance, suggestions and help. Three things she didn’t have to do, but chose to anyway. Thank you WG for all the life you breathed back into me and this book. I am forever thankful. <3

  Thank you to Sommer Stein for creating this beautiful cover and to Ryan Ball for making it perfect! Jovana, thank you for editing your heart out – I know it was a mess. Lol And thank you to my beta readers; Krista Arnold, Denise Tung and Kristie Wittenberg – you came through so solidly when I needed you. Thank you for dropping everything and helping me out.

  Thank you to all my “kittens” and to every one of you who happens to read my books. I’m so thankful and grateful. I know there are literally a bajillion books out there to choose from, but I’m so humbled everytime you choose to read one of mine. : )

  Blake – you moved out and ditched me and I’m simultaneously happy and sad about it. But mostly I’m proud. I can’t wait to watch you play baseball this year! And congrats on releasing your first poetry book – it takes guts to put yourself out there like that. I think you are so talented; I hope you don’t ever stop writing, or chasing your dreams. I’m so lucky you’re my son.

  Brett – you came back into my life with a vengenance and a whole lot of lost time to make up for. I am obsessed with the way you love me. I hope you never stop. Thank you for choosing me. Thank you for inspiring me and listening to me and for helping me – even when I tell you I don’t want or need your help. I’m stubborn sometimes and instead of getting mad, you simply UNDERSTAND. I’m not sure what I did to deserve having you as my partner, but I’m never letting go. I love you. Fiercely. And forever.

  About the Author

  J. Sterling is a Southern California native who loves writing fun stories that you can get lost in and will leave you with a big smile on your face. She’s a big believer in happily ever after, and hopes all of us find ours. She has her bachelor’s degree in Radio/TV/Film and has worked in the entertainment industry the majority of her life.

  J. loves hearing from her readers and can be found online at:

  Blog & Website:

  www.j-sterling.com

  Twitter:

  twitter.com/AuthorJSterling

  Facebook:

  facebook.com/AuthorJSterling

  Instagram:

  instagram.com/AuthorJSterling

  If you enjoyed this book, please consider writing a spoiler-free review on the site from which you purchased it. And thank you so much for helping me spread the word about my books and for allowing me to continue telling the stories I love to tell. I appreciate you so much. : )

 

 

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