I slip on my torn jacket and pull it around me. “I told you. Probably the man I owe money to.”
“For the gambling?”
I nod, hesitantly. I don’t like lying. It makes me feel dirty. Low. I don’t want to be that person.
Gen has been kind since I showed up tonight. Kinder than I deserve after I snarled at her the first couple of weeks she dated Lewis. It was a jerk thing to do and I’m ashamed of it. Lying to her makes me feel worse.
After I reluctantly agree to remove my jacket and shirt, Cali and Gen wipe more grime from my face and arms. Cali helps me pull on the clean sweatshirt she retrieved, because raising my arms is tantamount to torture with my ribs hurting the way they do. She bundles my torn clothes in a bag.
The next knock that comes is more insistent. “Mira? You okay?” Lewis asks, his voice gruff.
“I’m fine,” I call out.
“We’d better get her to the doctor,” Cali says, and opens the door.
“I don’t need a doctor,” I reply as we emerge into the living room. The guys’ heated voices die. Everyone’s attention turns to me.
Except for Tyler. He’s seated with his forehead propped on clasped hands, his gaze focused on the ground.
I swallow, my throat burning.
Tyler will never look at me the way he did before I ruined our friendship.
Here I am, my life dissolving before my eyes, proof that he and I come from two different worlds and were never meant to be together. That moment we shared six years ago, I stole out of selfishness because I wanted him. Now I’m paying the price for taking what was never meant to be mine.
Because the way I still feel for him and the way his eyes avoid me hurts worse than any physical injuries I suffered tonight.
Chapter Six
Tyler
“Why would she return to that place?” Lewis shakes his head. “Her mother—” He utters an oath and growls in frustration. “Never mind. I can’t get Mira to see reason where her mom is concerned.”
Lewis takes two steps, then turns and strides in the opposite direction.
Cali’s chalet, as she refers to her dinky cabin rental, isn’t ideal for pacing. Not for a guy Lewis’s size. I’m larger than average at six foot two, but Gen’s new boyfriend and my buddy Jaeg are so tall, they make me look like a little guy.
“How did you know where to find her?”
I’m sitting on the edge of the recliner, my hands dangling between my knees as Jaeg and Lewis discuss the situation. They seem surprised Mira is in trouble, but either Lewis isn’t very bright—which I know isn’t true, since he was valedictorian the year we graduated from high school—or Mira has him fooled. It takes me a minute to realize Lewis addressed me.
I clear my throat. “I saw her. A couple of weeks ago. I was riding on an isolated trail and found a cabin that looked like it had been abandoned. Mira was sitting on the porch.”
“Her mother was there?” Lewis asks.
I nod. “Mira said it was her mom’s cabin. I saw a woman there tonight along with some guy. Not sure if Mira made it to the place, or if she was on her way back when…” I unclench the hands I’m fisting. “I don’t know what happened, man. Mira wouldn’t talk to me.”
Nothing has changed between Mira and me. Our relationship was reduced to avoidance those last few weeks before I graduated. I burned up the trails on my bike until I could leave Lake Tahoe and forget about Mira Frasier. But not before I took Holly Walker up on her offer.
I went to prom with Holly and slept with her. I was so drunk I barely remember it. It was one of the worst nights of my life. I puked my guts out the next day from the alcohol—and from what I’d done.
“That’ll teach you to drink, son. Good lesson for ya,” my mom had said when she found me hugging the porcelain.
My mom was right, and she was wrong. I didn’t hit the keg as hard as some of the kids I went to college with, but that didn’t mean I was an angel. I was indiscriminate and gratuitous with my hookups. And I never let anyone in the way I did with Mira.
I shake my head, willing those memories gone, along with the fucked-up emotions they induce. I don’t need this right now. I’ve got enough history I’m trying to work through.
“The hospital isn’t necessary,” Mira says a little while later, after exiting the bathroom with Cali and Gen.
