“Oh, no, it looked like it was goingswimmingly,” Wes quipped, earning a snort from me.
“It’s Saturday. Shouldn’t you be out with everyone?”
“We called it an early night.” I nodded, feeling my stomach twist into a knot. I had a feeling “we” meant him andLoralei.
“What are you doing down this way?”
“Oh, uh…” He suddenly looked sheepish. “Lora, um…she lives in that building there,” he pointed across the street. “I dropped her off, and I saw you when I was walking to my car.”
“Oh…” I nodded, trying to force the thoughts of him being in her apartment away.
“Where’s your car? I’ll walk you to it.”
“I didn’t—he drove. I requested an Uber.”
His brow furrowed. “I can take you home if you need a?—”
“No,” I interrupted, shaking my head. “No. That’s okay, but thank you.”
I did appreciate his offer. I just didn’t trust myself not to do or say something I had no business doing or saying if I was alone with him, even if it was just sitting in a car.
I held his stare for another moment before letting out a breath and peering around him, checking for my Uber. I gestured and started walking, and he fell into step beside me as we made our way in awkward silence to the corner of the street.
After a few moments, he cleared his throat. “So, it’s been a while. You haven’t been around, like…at allin nearly two months.”
“Yeah, uh, I just…I’ve been busy,” I lied.
“Busy…” he repeated. Something told me he wasn’t buying it, but I nodded anyway. “It feels like it’s more than that,” he said a little quieter.
I knew he knew I was avoiding him.
Another heavy bout of silence settled between us before he broke it. “So…that’s it? We just never talk again?” My brow furrowed as I finally looked at him again, not expecting him to just come out with it like that. He let out a quiet, forced chuckle. “I don’t…I don’t know your rules with this side of things, Morgan.”
Myrules.
I felt that lump growing in my throat as I stared at him, his green eyes glinting with what I could have sworn was dejection, but I knew that couldn’t be right.
“You have someone,” I said just above a whisper. “You don’t need me anymore.”
A look I couldn’t quite decipher crossed his expression as his brows dipped, and I dropped his gaze. “Morgan…”
The moment was interrupted by my phone chiming with an alert, and I glanced at it to see a notification that my ride was arriving just as an SUV pulled up alongside the curb. “That’s me. I should…” I trailed off and gestured to the waiting ride.
I didn’t wait before I stepped around him, opened the back door, and got in, feeling a familiar sting in my eyes but fighting it back until I shut myself inside. I stared at him through the tinted glass of the window, watching him watch the SUV pull away.
Chapter 47
“I’m not goingto be able to make it tonight. Something came up.”
“Alright,” I replied.
“You’re not upset?”
“No…” My brow furrowed.Should I be?“If something came up, something came up.”
“Okay. I just wanted to make sure. I’ll give you a call tomorrow.”
“Sounds good.”
