She laughed sarcastically and adjusted her body before lowering her feet to the floor. I watched as she yanked the blanket to cover her body as if it wasn’t mine to see. That made me heated.
“We needed to talk two weeks ago. Since we didn’t, I don’t have anything to say.”
“Then just listen,” I said calmly, trying not to focus on the hate I heard in her tone. She was well within her rights, but that didn’t mean I was cool with it.
Women didn’t talk to me that way. Hell, no one did without consequences. But right now, I had to dial it back because I was the one who’d messed up.
“Why? There’s nothing you can say now. You made your position on my situation very clear. I don’t need an explanation, Trooper. I’m good.”
My hand moved down my face and I lifted my hat and placed it on my knee.
“Position on your situation? This isn’t a business deal. You need to relax all that.”
“I don’t need to?—”
I cut her off to avoid making things worse. I didn’t want an argument. I wanted to apologize and fix things.
“You might not need an explanation, but you deserve one. I owe you that much.”
With a heavy eye roll and wave of her hand, she stared at me, waiting. As annoyed as I was, she was still cute as hell. The messy ponytail she wore with her hair falling out and her oversized T-shirt and sweats didn’t take away from that.
“If you’re going to just sit there and stare at me you can leave. You wanted me to listen. Well… I’m listening,” she snapped, making me clench my fists.
“Ay, chill with that. I know you’re pissed and hurt, but bring all that down a few.”
“You don’t get to tell me how to react, Trooper. I’m tired of people telling me how I should feel. You included. I don’t need that shit. What I need is for you to be the one thing in my life that just works. Everything else doesn’t right now, yet you’re too much of a pussy to be a man,” she yelled without even flinching.
Sophie was always so poised, like there was always someone watching, so hearing her go in on me like this was funny as hell. It didn’t fit, so I felt myself smile, which she didn’t appreciate.
“Trooper, leave. Since this is funny to you, just leave. I’m not in the mood.” She jumped up and pointed to the elevator, but I got it together and grabbed her hand, which she snatched away from me.
“Ay, sit down, man. I’m sorry, and it’s not funny. I’m just not used to you talking like that.”
She glared at me for a minute before she finally sat down again.
“Look, I should have done this when you told me, but it caught me off guard. I needed time for things to sink in.”
“And you think I didn’t? That’s not an explanation. It’s an excuse, Trooper.”
“True, but it is what it is. I’m not big on lies, so I can only tell you how it really went down. I needed time to process.”
“Well, I needed you.”
I lifted my hand and gripped the back of my neck before I continued. “I know and I apologize.”
“I’m not going to make you do something you don’t want to do. There’s no point in that. Don’t worry about me. I’ll figure it out.”
“Wewill figure it out, Sophie,” I said, getting annoyed.
She just stared at me, not responding.
“Ay, let me explain something to you.”
She gave me a look that said continue.
“I think I’m falling in love with you and that scares the shit out of me. I’m not afraid of anything, Sophie, but this thing with you got me questioning everything about myself. It may not mean much to you, but that’s a big deal for somebody like me.”
“Think?” I saw the disappointment in her eyes, but little did she know, me even considering that was a big ass deal.
