I stared at the colorful arrangement for a long moment before I picked up my phone. Unlocking the screen, I hesitated before I tapped on his name in my messages. I stared for too long, but as much as my brain argued I shouldn’t, I messaged him.
Micah: I don’t forgive you.
But I want to....
I left that last bit out of the text. I hit Send.
A few moments later, when I was pulling out my burger from the paper bag, he responded. I held my breath as I opened the message.
Yukio: Tell me what to do.
Nothing.
Everything.
Tears tickled the corners of my eyes, and I dropped the phone onto the island, leaving him on Read. If he was truly sorry, then it would take more than flowers. And I needed time to heal from not only the pain but the embarrassment.
I chewed on my thumbnail as I eyed the phone, telling myselfnoevery time I thought about replying to him. He didn’t deserve a thing, and if he wanted my forgiveness, he would have to work a lot harder than that. And if he didn’t try, then he never wanted me in the first place.
The phone vibrated, and I inhaled sharply, excitement stirring in my stomach as I picked up the phone again. As soon as I saw the name on it, disappointment flooded me instead.
Flynn.
Sighing, I forced myself to sound happy as I answered. “Hello?”
“Hey, Micah. Listen, I know you and Yukio aren’t together anymore, but would you like to come over for dinner and drinks tomorrow night? You can meet Judge, and I might have some friends you’d like.”
The words were the worst I could hear right now, but I didn’t say that, as much as I wanted to. Flynn had seen what happened at the police station, and he’d messaged me the next day to see if I was okay. We’d become friends, and I liked him.
“Sure.” I tried to smile, even though he couldn’t see me.
I don’t want another man. I want Yukio.
15
YUKIO
Milo leaned forwardalong the mirror-topped bar at the Zin, which was a place we’d never been to before in our lives, but he was apparently fully prepared to pretend he knew everything about wine, along with Brisco, Jones, Davis, Cohen, and two guys who normally hung around with Alexander—Kahn and Ward. The dudes from the team were spread out on stools to my right along the bar, and between each guy sat a girl with a pink sorority pin on the collar of her little black dress.
Tori played with the end of her blonde ponytail and kept giving me smiles, and maybe she remembered me from when she was talking to Micah and trying to get a grade changedtemporarily. I smiled at her because I wasn’t rude, but I wasn’t interested, either, so I made sure to stay right next to Milo and only talk to him.
There wasn’t a chance in hell I wanted to give anyone the impression that I was available.
“How long do I have to stay out?” I asked, rolling my eyes at Milo when he glanced at me. I had to repeat myself because the jazz music playing from speakers hidden in the corners of the room was too loud.
His shoulders shot back, and he did his impression of glaring—which wasn’t very good. “You’re staying out as long as we do because we both know you’re not going to study, and if you try to go hole up in your room again, you’ll just be stinky and sad.”
Chuckling, I nodded.
The bartender brought me a draft and slid it in front of me, and I settled in on my stool. He was cute with short brown hair and curvy pink lips, but even if I’d been interested, I didn’t think he would be, based on the way his gaze kept getting stuck on Tori’s tits. Ah, well, I could drink away my boredom.
Everyone else was talking and having a good time, so I checked my phone, restlessly tapping Micah’s name. No reply since yesterday, and that message hadn’t exactly been helpful, but at least he’d talked to me.
“I’m going to take your phone if you keep staring at it that way,” Brisco leaned forward to say. His shoulder-length blond hair fell in front of his face, and then he brushed it behind his ears with a grin.
Tori turned toward him. “Oh, what happened?” She pouted in my direction. “You look worried.”
“He’s fighting with his boyfriend,” Brisco said, ever so fucking helpfully.
