“She didn’t ask for promises,” he counters.“She asked for honesty.”
Honesty.A foreign language I’ve never been fluent in.I pace the small room.“I did what was best.”
“Bullshit.”
My head snaps up.Gainz stands, bracing his palms on the desk as he leans toward me, eyes sharp.“You did what was easy.What was familiar.You pushed away something good before it had a chance to scare you.”
My fists clench at my sides.“She wanted more.”
“And you didn’t want to want her back.”His voice softens—not gentle, but knowing.“Because you did.I saw it.”
I look away, throat tight.“She said don’t fall in love with her.”
“And did you?”he asks.
Silence.
It stretches between us, thick and uncomfortable.
Gainz sits back down.“That’s what I thought.”
I blow out a harsh breath.“It doesn’t matter.It’s done.”
“For now,” he says.“But don’t kid yourself—this isn’t over.Not for you.”
He’s wrong.
Except he’s not.And that pisses me off more than anything.
Before he can dig deeper, my phone buzzes.I check the screen: a message from the hardware store confirming my panel part is ready for pickup.Needed to change out a piece in the electrical panel of my house and I am thankful for the chance to escape this shit.
“Gonna go grab that part,” I mutter.
Gainz nods.“Don’t do anything stupid.”
“Define stupid.”
“Anything involving your feelings.”
I flip him off on my way out, and he chuckles.
But the second I step outside, the weight settles back on my shoulders.
I can’t stay here.Can’t sit still.My head’s too loud and too full of Kelly standing in that hallway, chin high, heartbreak in her eyes she tried like hell to hide.
Acquaintances,she agreed.
She didn’t mean it.And I hated that she even tried.
I swing a leg over my bike, rev the engine, and let the vibration drown out everything else.The ride helps until it doesn’t—until I’m parked outside the hardware store, staring down the strip mall at the glass door knowing she isn’t far from me.
I can envision it perfectly.Her curls spilling over her shoulders.Her laugh.Her eyes going soft when she thought I wasn’t looking.
Damn it.
I grab the part, nod at the cashier, and leave quickly.The moment I step back into the sunlight, an uneasy tension crawls up my spine.
A truck idles at the far end of the lot.
