Yet, unlike me, he kept talking. “It was Rob,” he explained. “When he moved inhere, he was all ‘this needs to be changed, and that needs to be changed’ and all that bullshit.”
“Clearly you were happy about it,” I joked sarcastically.
He took a bite of his eggs, seeming to need the time to think of his answer. “I was at the time,” he decided. “Or at least I thought I was happy.”
“But you weren’t?” The question was pointless. We both knew that. But I wanted to hear more,and I needed to avoid opening up to him about myself. It was all just too damn painful.
The laugh that fell from his lips was a humorless sound. “No,” he stated simply, before adding, “I wanted to be. So damn bad. And I lied to myself about it so much, but I just didn’t know it then.”
“So what exactly happened with him? You made it pretty clear at the wedding that he wasn’t your favorite person.”
“You could say that again,” he snapped, offering another heartless laugh. After finishing his plate, he walked around the counter to the sink. He rinsed it and put it in the dishwasher, which was, of course, state of the art; hell, I hadn’t even realized it was the dishwasher. It just looked like another cabinet to me. Resting his ass against the edge of the counter, he crossed his arms. The bulgeof his muscles nearly distracted me from his words. “He cheated. Walked in on him in bed with another man. Lied to me about the affair for months, too. And even now, for the life of me, I can’t figure out what I did wrong.”
Following his lead, I rinsed my plate and put it in the fancy-ass dishwasher when I was done eating. I had no clue how to pick up our conversation. I didn’t know where togo from here.
Clearly, Noah didn’t have that issue. “Why were you with him anyway?” There was an accusatory edge to his question, as if I had actually been in the wrong somehow.
I didn’t want to be defensive, but who the hell was he to make me feel like I was in the wrong? “He asked me,” I answered simply, but curtly.
“Probably behind what’s his name’s back,” he grumbled around the rim of hiscoffee mug, before adding to the ever-growing load in the dishwasher. “Are you going to see him again?”
Shaking my head, I thought about not answering him. But since I wanted to see where this would go, I knew I had to be honest, even if he was being an ass. “No. I already told him I wouldn’t see him again.”
Feeling absolutely no desire to defend myself any further and whatever choices I’d madein the road that lead me here, I moved past him without saying another word. I grabbed my keys, the clanging noise a sharp reminder that I had no way of getting home. But I wasn’t about to tell him that.
“I gotta get going.” It was a complete lie and we both knew it. “Talk to you later.”
He met me at the door, something glaring and arrogant in his eyes made his sculpted chest far less appealing.Pausing for the briefest of moments, I let my eyes roam over his body. It was only then that I realized pretty much nothing would make him look that bad. And if he hadn’t opened his mouth, I might have forgiven him. But once again, luck wasn’t on my side. So when he said, “Probably just wanted to get in your pants just to get back at me,” I had no choice but to walk away and not look back.
Cursingmyself for all but begging to be with him in the first place, I shook my head. Fuck it. At least the sex was good. All the rest of the shit—staying over, making him breakfast, letting his words affect me like they did—not so good. After punching out a quick text to Gavin, asking him to pick me up, I figured I was done with the good doctor.
That was until he came running up behind me. I had onlymade it about a block away, but honestly, the thought of him coming after me was one that hadn’t crossed my mind at all. He scared the shit out of me when he touched my shoulder. “What the hell?” I cursed, spinning around to see his face staring at mine.
“I was out of line,” he admitted, keeping his eyes glued to mine. I wasn’t about to disagree, but I wasn’t going to offer an apology in thesilent space following his words. Taking my silence as his cue, he continued, saying, “I got way ahead of myself and let my anger at him fuck everything up.”
“I’ll say.” Trying my best to keep any emotion out of it, I nodded, focusing my eyes on the black asphalt beneath my feet. “You know he didn’t even know we knew each other. I’m not saying he didn’t want to get in my pants, but you mightwant to get out of your own head, thinking he was doing it all to get back at you.”
“Hey,” he said, reaching out to tip my chin up so he could look at me again. “I’m sorry. I was wrong. Please don’t be mad.” The arrogance that was in his eyes just moments ago had vanished, leaving behind a shining brightness that told me he was truly sorry, more than any words ever could.
“Sure, yeah.” I wasn’tabout to jump into his arms and kiss the life out of him. I was pissed, and a heartfelt apology wasn’t about to fix it all. Approaching from behind, I saw Gavin’s car in the distance. As it slowed, I ran my hand through my hair, feeling tense and uneasy about how to leave things.
But Noah spoke before I could get a word out. “When can I see you again?” He noticed Gavin pulling up next to us.His face fell, twisted in an emotion I couldn’t quite put my finger on right away. This man was like a light switch, on and off without much warning. It was impossible to keep up with.
“I have work tonight, and then I’m free during the day on Sunday,” I answered, ignoring his mercurial reaction to Gavin waiting for me. As I spoke, I noticed him looking at Gavin. “He’s my ride,” I told him, eventhough he hadn’t asked. Clearly an introduction was not in the works for right now.
“And let me guess, you’re busy with this one in the meantime,” he spat, angling his head to Gavin’s car parked next to him.
Pushing past him, I made sure to bump my shoulder into his. “I’m not even going to dignify that with an answer. See you around, Noah.” If he said anything in response, I didn’t bother tryingto hear it.
As soon as I slid into Gavin’s car, I let out a frustrated deep breath. “Fucking asshole,” I cursed, hating myself for letting him get to me so much.
“Fun night?” Gavin made zero attempt to stifle his laughter.
As I punched him in the arm, I told him to “Shut the fuck up.” Feigning injury, he rubbed over the spot I just punched. “Oh, quit your bitching.” I cut him off before heeven said a word. “Just drive.”
“Sure thing, Miss Daisy.” And with that, we spent the next ten minutes driving to the gym in complete silence. I already had a change of clothes and workout gear in my locker, and I was thankful for that. The last thing I needed was to be in the car with Gavin silently laughing at me. And an extra ten minutes of running me home and then back to the gym would givehim far too much free time.
Before the car even came to a complete stop, I was unclicking my seat belt and opening the door. “Dude, what the hell? At least let me park before you jump out.”
