“Skyler, you have nothing to be humiliated about,” I assure him. “Nothing has changed—that’s what I’m trying to tell you.”
He lets out a heavy breath, shaking his head. “I think I need to get out of here for a bit.”
Sudden dread spikes through me at the idea of him leaving while he’s upset like this. “And go where?”
“I don’t know. Just…somewhere. Somewhere else.”Somewhere I’m not.
Pain twists in my heart as I watch Skyler cross the living room to the door of our apartment, pausing only briefly to collect Deacon’s crocodile from the sofa.
“Do you want me to save your breakfast for later?”
He pauses with his hand on the doorknob, keeping his back to me when he lays the next blow. “You have it. I’m not sure when I’ll be back.” And then he’s gone.
Rocket ambles up to perch by my foot, issuing me with a disgruntled look.
“Don’t look at me like that, cat,” I grumble. “I didn’t want him to go either.”
ChapterFifteen
Jackson
“Jackson,what the hell?”Drew demands, rushing over to me in a wild panic. “Step away from the Lambo before you kill it!”
What the fuck? My whole face screws up in confusion, because I seriously have no idea what he’s talking about. I’ve just spent an hour removing the Lamborghini’s engine and am about to install the new one.
“Get that disgusting thing away from this beautiful creature,” Drew growls, inserting himself protectively between me and the car, glaring daggers at the engine I’ve just secured to the hoist.
Figuring he’s gone crazy, I continue securing the mounts. And that’s when I realize why he’s freaking out. I was about to install—or, at least,tryto install—one of our stock engines into a hundred thousand dollar Lamborghini instead of the one we had specially sent over from Italy.
For the record, there is absolutely nothing wrong with our engines. But they’re not going to fit in this car, and trying is likely to cause more damage, than the Lambo came in with. I feel queasy at the thought of how much time and money Drew just saved our business with that intervention. Got to love foreign luxury cars…
“Fuck,”I groan, rubbing a hand over my head. “Shit, I’m sorry.”
“What the hell’s with you today?” he asks, the panic in his eyes now turning to concern. “You’ve been quiet as a mouse all day. You didn’t want lunch. Now this…”
“Skyler left yesterday and never came home last night,” I say miserably, my heart twisting as I hear the words out loud. Narrowing my eyes at Drew, I add, “And don’t give me the “what else is new?” shit—this is different.”
Drew holds his palms up in a gesture of innocence. “I wasn’t going to. But what happened? You seemed…well, not exactlyfinewhen you left Deacon’s,” he says with a frown, “but it looked as though itwouldbe fine.”
“Itwas,” I say in frustration. “Or at least I thought it was. I don’t know what happened. I don’t know what I did. We were just having a normal Sunday—you know, with pancakes and a movie. But it was different. He didn’t decorate my pancakes properly…they didn’t taste the same.”
Drew arches an eyebrow at me, mild amusement flickering in his eyes. “You need dicks that bad?”
I send him an irritable look. “It’s not about the dicks. It’s about Skyler not acting like himself.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry,” Drew says, offering a contrite nod. “Then what? Why did he leave?”
“I don’t know,” I all but moan. “He said he needed….space,” I choke out the word, still finding it impossible to fathom a world where Skyler could want space from me. It just doesn’t make sense.
Clearly agreeing, Drew’s eyes widen in surprise. “Fromyou?”
I nod miserably. “He didn’t even want to cuddle when we put the movie on. And he kept flinching away when I touched him. It was horrible.”
“He’s dealing with a lot right now,” Drew says reasonably, his forehead creased in concern. “Maybe he just needs time?”
I let out a heavy sigh, nodding as I reluctantly acknowledge his point. “Yeah, I know. But we should be working it out together,” I insist. “I didn’t sleep at all last night, and this morning was just all wrong and weird. The coffee I made myself was gross, and my shower was so lonely and quiet…I hated it.”
Drew’s expression turns mildly uncomfortable. “I have sympathy for you, but that whole shower thing is still weird to me. I don’t even do that with Sully.”
