I touch the ends of her hair and comb it behind her shoulder, needing a way to feel her against my skin. “We did what we did. I don’t regret it, but we can’t?—”
“Yeah, I know.”
Our eyes tie in a knot of thick silence, but we foolishly accept the situation.
I rub her arm once. “I’ll see you later at the brunch, okay?”
She throws me a weak smile. “Yeah, I need to go scrub and throw on clothes.”
This is normally when people in a relationship based on mutual benefits normally escape one another, but that’s not Hailey. She deserves one more kiss, and I steal that from her.
“Go away. I’ll never leave this bed if you do things like that,” she warns me with a grin.
I hold my hands up in surrender. “I’ll be on good behavior the moment that I stand.” Standing up, I half-smile.
But leaving her in bed isn’t the highlight of my morning.
Racing to the elevator,I adjust my collar. I’m already later than planned. I see Keats and Esme holding the doors open.
“Good morning, you two,” I greet them.
“Wait!”The sound of Hailey’s voice prevents us from hitting the button to close the doors.
She too joins us. She throws me a nod then gives a lopsided smile to Esme and Keats.
The doors close, and the quiet is unnerving.
I stay intent on staring forward, and in the corner of my eye, I sense that Hailey is doing the same. It also feels like we have watchers, but I refuse to glance at our friends.
“Seems we all had eventful mornings,” Keats comments and smiles wryly.
I shoot him a death stare because he is privy on the details of my road trip.
“I hope there are waffles. I’m dying of hunger,” Esme says while she no longer takes notice to the rest of us.
Hailey nervously rolls her lips in and seems to study the numbers lighting up above the door.
“I bet Oliver has worked up an appetite.” Keats smiles cheekily at me now.
“Keats,” I mutter through my teeth.
Hailey zooms her gaze to Esme. “You told him?”
“You told her?”I accuse Keats.
Esme raises her arms. “Told who what?”
We all look at one another, but most of all, I’m stuck in a stare with Hailey and our shoulders fall.
“I told Keats about the road trip,” I confess.
She winces. “I told Esme.”
Esme begins to chuckle under her breath. “Ah, classic. You think Keats and I told one another that you two might have… well… built up an appetite.”
Keats joins in with her laughter, but Hailey and I are not amused.
“Can we just not talk about this? It’s Liam’s wedding weekend, and I just want to focus on omelets.”Hailey huffs.
