A minute later, something cold replaces where the cat was on my chest. “Get up and drink this,” Luke commands in that bossy tone of his.
I grab the bottle and slowly sit up, my head throbbing a little less this time as I sit up to take a couple of pills to help with the hangover.
“I’m going into the restaurant for a few hours, and then I’ll be back. I think Rachelle and Dominic can handle everything tonight.”
As I swallow the last of the water, Luke sits in front of me on the table.
“Gabe, you need to give him a day or two before calling him.”
The details of last night come back to me in little pieces at a time. “Did he tell you guys what happened? Why he ran off?”
“No, I don’t think so. Well, at least Kaden hasn’t said anything to me about it.” Sympathy pours from his eyes like rapids, crashing into me.
The heels of my hands cause me to see stars as my head drops onto the back of the couch with a painful groan—both my head and heart affected.
“Just hang out here, and I’ll be back later.” With a slap to my knee before standing to leave, he says, “Don’t call him, Gabe.”
Not a minute passes before I pick up my phone.
I’m sorry if I hurt you
Luke said no calls—so I feel better when I put down the phone, knowing that I technically didn’t break his rules.
Chapter Fifteen
We'll Work This Out Somehow
Ender
“I’m sorryifI hurt you.”
No matter how many times I’ve read that text in the past twenty-four hours, it still doesn’t make sense to me.Ifhe hurt me? How could he think hedidn’thurt me? How did he think I’dfeel watching him hitting on someone else right after he fucked me for the first time? The only people who know I saw him with that guy are Kaden and Connor, unless Kaden told Luke—and that seems highly likely at this point.
“Ender, will you please come tonight? You know it’s not the same without you.” Connor is so persistent. “Maybe he won’t be there. Even if he is, it doesn’t mean you have to talk to him.”
“I’m not going.”
“You can’t get stuck in a depression hole, babe. You’ll have to rejoin the living at some point—might as well start now.” He knows how I get when someone disappoints me. It’s the reason I never let anyone get too close.
I know he means well, but it’s been less than forty-eight hours since…whatever the hell that was.
“Fair warning, I won’t take no for an answer next time.” He hits me with his ‘I mean it’ face, which means there’s no way I’m getting out of it.
With a huff, I give him the answer he’s looking for. “Fine, you win. Next time.”
We've been meeting at The Garden every week since Lanie's birthday. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t be going ever again, but I know Connor won’t let that happen. At least I can pretend Gabe doesn’t exist for tonight— yeah, right.
Gabe
He didn’t come tonight.
I thought Connor would be able to convince him, but he said Ender wouldn’t budge. Now everyone is walking on eggshells around me, afraid to mention him.
“Going for a beer, be back in a minute.” The only way I’ll be able to tolerate this night is by getting blind drunk.
I can feel someone on my heels as I walk to the bar. I flag the bartender down and see Kaden out of the corner of my eye standing right next to me—Luke has rubbed off on him.
“You don’t have to hide from us, Gabe. We can see you care about him.”
