I bit the inside of my cheek and rolled it down, forcing myself to look at him.
His dark irises were hot with anger as he leaned into the window, resting those gigantic forearms on the ledge.
“Hi,” I whispered.
His narrowed eyes remained on my face.
I bit my cheek.
Should I apologize again? If he was angry, I?—
“You didn’t make me uncomfortable, Emmy.”
I blinked.
I didn’t?
“Jo didn’t touch me,” he said. “I pleasured her. She made me feel like shit when I asked her to reciprocate. So I didn’t ask. You surprised me. I wasn’t ready for the feelings it brought back. That’s all.”
I swallowed roughly. “Okay. Where do we go from here?”
“Home. It’ll be easier for me not to lose my shit in my den.”
I nodded.
“I wish I could tell you that I’m stable. Or healed. Or fine. I’m not,” he added.
“Those things are kind of overrated.”
“They’re not.” He lifted his fingers to my face and slowly dragged the backs of his knuckles over my cheekbone. “You deserve better than to be stuck with me.”
“I’ve never come that fast or that hard before. So if one of us deserves better from this friends-with-benefits thing, I don’t think it’s me.”
He stepped back.
Something in his eyes was almost… conflicted.
“Close the garage for me?” I asked. “You just have to hit the enter button after you leave.”
He nodded.
I backed down the driveway and pulled away from the house. When I peeked back at him in my rearview mirror, he was still in the same place, watching me drive off.
five
EMMY
Finn’s truckcaught up to my SUV on the dirt road. I knew it would. I was much more comfortable driving on the dirt during the day, but I was still pretty cautious. The pouring rain didn’t make me any more confident, either.
I slowed to a crawl and rolled my window down to wave Finn past me.
He stayed where he was.
I didn’t know why he wasn’t passing me, but whatever.
He followed me to the fork in the road, and to Jade’s new house. I’d heard her new boyfriend’s—mate’s—name the night before, but I couldn’t remember it.
I was so sweaty my hair and shirt were literally plastered to my skin, and there was now a constant pain in my lower belly. I ignored all of those things as I carried my cake up to the porch.
