She frowned. “Why?”
I couldn’t stop a rogue tear from sliding down my cheek as I stared at one of the porch logs. “I need to go.”
Before she could say anything else, I stalked down the porch steps and waited for Aero to unlock the car doors so I could climb in.
He drove me home in silence, although, I noticed he waited until I was safely inside my building before driving away.
I forced a smile as I passed Gio, then rushed into my condo, locking myself in before I slid down the door to my butt and burst into tears.
* * *
Sundance
I took a couple hits off the joint I’d just rolled then made my way to the great room right as Raquel walked in and headed my way instead of Orion’s.
“What’s going on?” she demanded.
“Baby,” Orion warned as he reached us.
She pulled away from his touch. “Don’t you ‘baby’ me, Smoky. What’s wrong with Wyatt? She was crying.”
She’d given Orion his additional nickname when he’d run into the burning warehouse to save her and ended up smelling like a chimney. She thought it was cute. I thought it was stark reminder of everything we almost lost.
“That bitch’s name needs to be stricken from your mouth,” I snapped, trying to ignore the pain in my chest. If I’d actually seen Wyatt crying, it would have fuckin’ messed with my head.
Orion frowned. “Pops, watch your tone.”
“Oh my god,” Raquel breathed out. “What happened?”
“Jesus Christ, you fuckin’ women are a pain in the ass.”
“Don’t you dare talk to me like that,” she snapped.
She was little, but she was fierce, something I admired about her.
Most of the time.
But not tonight.
“Deal with this shit,” I ordered Orion, then turned to walk away, but a small but firm hand grabbed my arm.
“Um, nope, you don’t get to get all grunty on me,” Raquel countered.
Orion groaned. “Razzle—”
“Both of you, in the back. Now!” she screeched.
I faced her, leaning down to meet her eye-to-eye. “You are seriously messin’ with my high, Raquel, and I’m not in the mood, so I’m gonna fuckin’ walk away now before I say something I might regret.”
She leaned back like I’d hit her, and it broke my heart, but I forced myself not to care as I walked away.
I needed to smoke away the memory of Wyatt and everything she’d meant to me.
Wyatt
THREE WEEKS LATER, I slipped into work thirty minutes late, which was totally unlike me, but it was apparently what happened when one didn’t sleep the night before. Or the twenty nights before that.
I had never been so sad in all my life. No, that wasn’t true. I’d been this sad when my mom died, but the fact my heart was shattered by a man I’d known for less than a year, pissed me off to no end. The problem was, I couldn’t seem to talk myself out of it.
