An asshole. That’s who.
Pix didn’t rummage through my stuff. I’d bet my left nut on it. But her douchebag ex definitely did.
Add it to my growing list of reasons to hate the guy. Right under her relationship with him being complicated. Whatever the hell that means.
The thought of him touching my stuff has my fist tightening until my knuckles crack.
The thought of him touching her has me mentally clearing my schedule to pick out headstones.
I force a breath. She said she hasn’t had sex in over a year. Which tells me somewhere along the way, that waste of oxygen lost his brain, his balls, and dick.
And yet, you’re the one walking away?
Shut up.
The elevator doors open, and I can’t get away fast enough.
The doorman nods. “Need a car, Mr. Evans?”
I’m about to wave him off and order a Lyft when I realize my phone is dead. I nod once. “Thanks.”
A black sedan pulls up a few minutes later, and I duck inside.
Travis scans my clothes. The same ones he picked me up in yesterday.
He smirks.
I give him the one-word-and-you’re-dead look.
He clears his throat. “Where to, sir?”
“Home.”
The ride is just short enough that I can’t sleep. And long enough that I can’t stop thinking about Pix.
Why the fuck did I leave?
Because if I hadn’t, I’d still be there. Losing entire hours of my existence to worshiping that woman’s body. Forgetting time. Forgetting myself.
She’s exactly the kind of distraction that leaves me satiated and spent, softening all my hard edges. And making me pretty much useless for anything else.
I’ve spent years sharpening those edges. They’re the difference between life and death.
I need focus.
I need to protect the people I love.
And I need to keep my carefully constructed life ironclad and impenetrable.
If not for me, then for my kids.
And Pix isn’t a once-and-done.
The last thing I need is to be distracted. And staying even a second longer would’ve sent things spiraling straight into distraction territory at breakneck speed.
And stringing her along would be worse. A revolving door of earth-shattering one-night stands would turn me into exactly the kind of man I despise.
She deserves a pedestal.
