Maya had thought long and hard about how to break things off with Dex. She ended up deciding on the truth.
When he arrived at her house Sunday evening, she’d already spent a long weekend stressing about his mother, Selena and how to handle this. All that after dealing with the art festival and then the massive teardown packing up her crafts this afternoon.
After entering her house, Dex leaned down to kiss her. She gave him her cheek, and he seemed puzzled. “Maya? You okay? You look terrible.”
“Let’s talk.” No point in beating around the bush.
“Ah, okay.” He stood next to her until she pointed at the couch. He sat, but she remained standing, needing the position to boost her self-confidence. Despite Riley’s texts and calls to try and convince her she’d been mistaken, Maya knew what she’d heard. It wasn’t like she hadn’t known an end with Dex was coming anyway. This just forced the issue.
“Dex, it’s over.”
He blinked up at her.
“We’re done.”
“Excuse me?”
She swallowed hard, unable to summon another tear after crying all night Saturday and half of the morning. “We had a nice run, and the sex was amazing. But I can’t be with a man whose mother is a racist.”
Calmly said, maturely pointed out. Not even the real reason they were breaking up, but he couldn’t argue against someone sullying her heritage.
“What the hell are you talking about?” He rose, negating her air of superiority.
She moved around the coffee table, putting some space between them. “I overheard your mother and Selena palling around on Saturday. Your mom said some nasty things.”
“Like what?” He seemed genuinely confused. “You sure it was my mother?”
“Apparently you shouldn’t be hanging out with ‘thosepeople’. Meaning me.”
“Those…” He glanced away, then smiled. “Wait, Maya, she was talking about food vendors operating without permits. They have these great fish tacos, and I—”
“I know what I heard, Dex. But you know what? Even if I was mistaken, there’s no point in us going any further.” Ripping her own heart out word by word. This was worse than she’d anticipated.
His grin faded. “So you’re telling me we’re breaking up.”
“Yes.”
“Because…?”
“Your mother isn’t enough?” Apparently not, because he just stood there. “We’re too different. You’re rich. I’m not. You want a girlfriend, and I can barely say the word boyfriend without flinching. I’m not a long-term relationship girl. You know that.”
“Uh-huh.”
“We’ve fucked like bunnies, which was great. Really. But I’m done now. I have to get back to my regularly scheduled life, complete with deadlines, friends and family. Frankly, you’re a distraction I don’t need.”And desperately want.She should have ended this before it started, because now he was in the bloodstream. It would take forever to get him out.
He stared at her, and she prepared for an emotional confrontation.
Instead he smiled, taking her completely off guard. “The sexwasamazing, wasn’t it?” He chuckled. “Well, we’re done then.” He shrugged. “I’ll let myself out. See you when I see you, I guess. I had fun with you, Maya. Take care.” The bastard waved goodbye, still smiling, and left.
She wanted to throw something. Instead, more tears leaked down her face. She tried to convince herself she hated him. But the jackass had been nothing but nice, even at the very end. She cried some more, then moved into her bedroom and tried to sleep off the sad.
When that didn’t work, she counted the cracks in her ceiling, each one a wrinkle on Selena Thorpe’s smarmy face. She remembered breaking the blonde’s nose and replayed the moment in slow motion. But that only made her think of Dex saving her from herself, and she teared up again.
Dex, you jerk. Why did it have to be you who broke the heart I didn’t know I still had?
Dex smiled all the way to Shevlin Park and went on a hike. A long one. The sun had set, and he tripped as much as he walked, but fuck, he wanted to pound something. Namely, Maya’s stupid ego for letting pride and fear get in the way of a good thing.
“We’re done, my fucking ass.” He nearly ripped a sapling tree out of his way when he stumbled again. Then he felt bad for trying to crush something that hadn’t done anything to him and hustled back to his car. By the time he returned to his wet, musty house, Jack and Anson seemed to be in full argument mode.
