“Zep—”
“Leave, Chanel. Go and don’t look back.”
“What if I’m looking for you?”
Clenching my fists at my side, I keep my voice in check. The last thing I need is Misty coming down here to see Chanel standing in my entryway when I’m trying to win her back.
“I won’t be there.”
“You’ve always been there, Zep. You’re just abandoning me?”
“I’m choosing someone who treats me better than you. Who cares about me. And I care about her.”
“But you don’t love her.”
Grinding my teeth, I choose my words carefully. “What I feel about her doesn’t concern you.”
“It does if it means we have a chance together.”
“We have no chance!” I shout and wince. “We are not together. We are not going to be together. Go. The. Fuck. Home.”
Her phone rings, and she pulls it from her purse and silences it before tossing it back. “I want to come home, Zep.”
“This isn’t your home anymore.”
Tears well up in her eyes again, and I study her. They’re strategic. Made to look like she’s going to cry, but they never fall. Even when she blinks.
Seriously, how the hell does she do that?
“Don’t say that.”
“It’s the truth.”
“No, it’s not.”
Chanel steps forward and cups my face, pulling me down to meet hers, but I push her away and step back. “Stop it.”
“You’ve never denied me before. And you’re throwing away twelve years forher?”
“Twelve years of what? Random fucking when you decided you needed a better ride than you get at home? Calling when your mouth gets your ass in trouble that you can’t get out of on your own? Yeah, that’s not really a loss on my part.”
Six months ago, she called me up because she’d mouthed off to her boss. She figured he’d back down when she threatened to go to HR, but he threatened to fire her. The claims she made were unfounded—something I didn’t learn until afterwards—and she called me to help her.
I made her boss give into whatever her demand was. At the time, I thought it would prove how much better I was for her than Dorian. Now, I see it was just another way she strung me along. Knowing I have to feel needed.
“You really want that life, Zeppelin? The insta-family with a kid that’s not yours? Are you serious?” Chanel asks.
“I love that kid,” I say. “I’d give anything to be part of that family. It’s what I’m working on fixing after you fucked it all up for me.”
Laughing, she crosses her arms and leans against the wall. “You wanted that kiss as much as I did.”
“I wanted closure.”
“When you’re with her, I know you think of me.”
I lick my lips and lean against the back of the recliner. “You know, you used to be all I thought about. When you left in the mornings, I’d feel completely shattered. All I wanted was you. When I thought of my future, it was always you.”
“It can be us together, Zep.”
