“No. What the hell are you doing here, Nox?” Jae countered, shoving Enoch back to remove his hands from his body. “I toldyou to leave it alone. You agreed that you weren’t going to come looking for her.”
“Well, I changed my mind.”
Jae shook his head, running a hand through his hair roughly. “Seriously?” he muttered to himself, walking in a small circle in front of us.
He abruptly stopped, arms spread out with frustration.
“You’re fucking selfish, you know that? You’re so fucking selfish. You could’ve told us the truth, you didn’t have to leave those fucking voicemails, didn’t have to leave us like that, make us think that you actually gave a damn about us, make us grieve for you—”
“Stop it!” Enoch shouted, glaring at Jae. “You’re so quick to assume the worst of her without even knowing any of the fucking facts.”
I dug my nails into my palms, the itch to cut nearly overwhelming. I contemplated knocking myself unconscious with the sharp rock on the ground behind Enoch. At least then I’d get out of this fucking conversation.
My heart was breaking in two.
No, this is good. This is fine. Just apologize and end this now.
“I’m sorry,” Jae said mockingly, “some of us aren’t still hung-up on manipulative liars that we ‘knew’ five freaking years ago.”
I shook out my hands, my palms sweating and burning from the half-moon indents I’d left behind. I glanced between them both.
“Shut up!” They froze, meeting my gaze. “Both of you. Just shut up. Jae’s right. I was selfish. But I’m not going to be selfish anymore. I promise that I’m not going to try and contact you or be involved in your life—”
I stopped mid-sentence. Watching Sean round the corner.
“There you are,” he said with relief, eyeing Jae and Enoch warily. “What’s going on? You okay?”
I sighed, turning my attention to the boys for just a moment.
“Yeah. They were just leaving.”
Enoch shook his head, “Wait, no. I came to see you.”
Jae slapped a hand over his eyes with frustration. “Fucking hell.”
I eyed the both of them, aware of the fact that Sean was listening to the conversation. “I’m busy with work right now."
Enoch’s shoulders sagged with obvious disappointment and my mind struggled to understand why.
“Right,” Enoch said with a slow head nod. “Can I get your phone number? To call you after work?”
I stared in stupor for a moment, as he smiled at me. My stomach flipped. I missed that smile.
“Sure. Um…give me your phone.”
“Nox,” Jae said with disapproval.
Enoch ignored him, pulling his phone out and stepping forward to hand it to me.
My palms were sweaty as I clutched the phone and input my phone number, saving the contact as Emory. I handed it back to him.
“I’m off work at four. Um, so you can call me then?”
Enoch seemed to shake himself from his stupor and nodded. “Right. Yeah. I’ll call you tonight.”
He grabbed a protesting Jae by the collar and shoved him towards the parking lot. Sean raised a brow, and I followed him inside, locking myself inside my office.
My knees gave out, and I braced myself against the wall.
