“He’s just someone I used to know—an old friend,” Tyler said, skimming over the five years of intimacy they’d shared. She hated how much she’d let him get away with, how easily she’d forgiven. It was hard to accept how naive she’d been.
“I’m not old,” Dave said while staring at Cary, trying to get a rise out of him.
“I mean, we used to be friends,” she clarified, ignoring the insinuation that her boyfriend was older than him.
“With benefits,” Dave added for good measure.
When you weren’t too drunk, that is.
“What are you doing here?” she asked. “In Austin?” She could have cared less about his answer, but she needed to change the subject before he started to talk about the past.
“We’re touring before South by . . . Chris needs the practice. You know, it was kind of a train wreck.” It was always someone else’s fault—not a shocker. “What areyoudoing here?” he asked.
She gulped down a swig of beer. “Cary’s show . . . I mean, his show got canceled, so we’re hanging out down here.”
“That’s right, you work at SDM.” Dave faked a laugh as if he’d forgotten.
She balled her hand into a fist under the table. Just because she didn’t believe in violence didn’t mean she wasn’t fantasizing about it.
“She’s not here on business.” Cary grabbed her hand and put it on the table. “She’s here with me.”
“What?” Dave threw his head back and laughed maniacally. “Are you guys together or something?”
“It’s none of your business.” She owed him nothing—less than nothing, actually.
“She’s my girlfriend.” Cary interlaced his fingers with hers and squeezed them. “I don’t cheat on her either, in case you were wondering.”
Nice one.She stretched out her hand to loosen his grip while Cary’s eyes turned dark and cold behind his glasses. He guzzled his beer with his free hand and slammed the bottle on the table, causing a racket.
Was he jealous of this piece of shit?
Towering over her, Dave rested his hand on the back of her chair. “I guess you won’t be having that baby, after all. Them’s the breaks, Tyler.”
Dave had thought of the meanest thing to say and said it. He knew how much she wanted a baby. Relationships had an ethical duty of confidentiality, and he’d broken it.
She glared into his olive-green eyes. “Fuck off, Dave.”
Cary chose that moment to weigh in. “We’re waiting until my tour’s over, but believe me, buddy, we’re practicing. And not for nothing, the problem with your band isn’t the drummer. Your songs are shit.”
A short while later, Tyler and Cary left the bar and walked in silence down San Jacinto Boulevard toward the Four Seasons. Was he upset about Dave? She didn’t know he’d be there—if she had, she would’ve stayed home.
“Are you mad at me?” she asked as the hotel elevator doors closed.
“Wait until we’re in our room, please.” His gaze locked onto the call buttons and didn’t move an inch.
This silent treatment is bullshit.Then again, she’d ignored him for two weeks straight when she was mad at him.
Cary beeped them into their room, closed the door, and removed his glasses. “Have a seat.”
“I swear, I didn’t know he was here!” she said. The last thing she wanted was for them to meet.
“Why didn’t you say something?” he asked, sitting on the desk chair and kicking off his shoes. “I looked like an idiot.”
“Helooked like an idiot.” She grabbed a beer from the minibar and sat on the couch. “I don’t know why I didn’t tell you when I saw him. I kind of freaked out.”
He stood from the desk chair, opened a bottle of red wine, and poured a hefty glass before sitting back down. “Would you have told me?”
She shrugged, not sure of the answer. “I’d like to think yes, but I’d just as soon forget it—and him. Are you seriously mad at me right now? Because I can stay with Kim.”
