I continue to tell them how I left the guys standing there and stayed in my van the last few days. How I decided to come back because I needed a plan and money. I tell them about everything, but…
Saylor.
I could excuse it by telling myself that I don’t want her to get upset about it or that it’s not the right time or place. But let’s be honest. Some tiny little flicker inside me is a selfish prick and doesn’t want her to know that he’s here.
It’s possessive and shitty behavior, petty even.
But he’s mine.
And she said she had a crush on him once.
It’s not that I think she still does. It’s obvious there is no one else but Tim for her.
But still…
“Fuck, that’s a lot. I’m sorry you had to go through that alone. But I tried to be there. I left you like a million voice messages. Don’t come at me if I cussed you out in a few of them,” Tally accuses, pointing a finger at me.
I chuckle and pull my phone out of the back pocket of my jeans, turning it on. “I need to see that,” I mumble as the screen comes up, and I have to silence the phone when the messages that come in overlap themselves, a wild beeping starting up. I look at her with my eyebrows at my hairline, eyes wide.
“Told you.” She just shrugs, making Tim laugh into her hair as he kisses the top of her head.
When I look back down at the phone, I also see numerous messages and calls from Hunter, making my stomach drop.
I hadn’t even thought he would try to reach me.
A pang of hurt pierces my chest, and I feel like I’m going to puke.
Messages and missed calls from two other numbers I don’t have saved in my contacts are also coming in. I already guessed who they belonged to when Saylor announces from over my shoulder, “Nash and North. Seems like Nash texted you like thirty times. North stuck to calls, though.”
He’s barely finished speaking when another text from seemingly Nash comes in, and we both read it.
Nash
I’ve lost the two things I used to search for you. My heart and my ever-loving mind.
“We’re not at one of your damn poetry slams, dickhead. Just fucking tell her you’re sorry,” Saylor drones behind me while I read the message another time.
And another time.
My stomach feels even sicker.
He lost his heart? Is he saying?—
The ping from the door announcing a customer pulls me out of my thoughts.
“Let’s go, guys. We can talk later,” Tally announces as she stands, the rest of us following suit. She pulls me into a hug. “So happy to have you back. I’m going to make sure you get your paycheck later.”
“Thank you,” I whisper when she lets go of me.
A hand on my shoulder turns and pulls me into a fierce hug. “Don’t do shit like that again, you hear me? Tally can’t handle losing you without a word, and if I’m honest, I can’t either,” Tim mumbles.
I want to tell him I’m sorry, but he just lets go of me and walks after his wife.
“He’s a little too touchy-feely for my taste,” Saylor accuses, arms crossed over his chest as he watches Tim go.
“Good to know I’m not the only irrational possessive one here,” I whisper to myself, but Saylor hears me and cocks an eyebrow at me, a grin forming.
“You’re possessive of me?”
