“But—”
“No.” His gaze whips to mine with a fiery intensity. “I’m going to say something I can’t take back and neither of us needs that tonight.” Running his hand over his short hair, he says, “Why don’t you go take a shower? Or a bath? I think there’s still some salts up there.”
“Lots of company?” I try, the joke falling flat as his expression remains stony.
“Never here.”
We wouldn’t be here either if I hadn’t screwed up tonight.
The words hang unspoken in the space between us, regret heavy in my bones as we face each other.
“I’m sorry. I just?—”
“I know, and honestly, Kat, I don’t care. I don’t have it in me to pretend right now.” There’s a bite to his words that has me digging my nails into the palm of my hand to keep the tears at bay.
God, I’m so stupid.
“Are you hungry?” he asks, the question sounding more like an item he should check off a to-do list rather than actual concern for me.
So I shake my head and motion toward the stairs. “I think a shower sounds good. I’ll just go.”
“Here, let me?—”
“No, it’s fine. I can figure it out.” I wave him off because somehow the idea of him being in the same space as me right now is too much. I’ve been enough of a burden.
I can figure out the shower.
I can find my own towels.
But really, I just want to disappear for a while.
TOM
It takeseverything in me to remain rooted in my spot in the kitchen as Kat climbs the stairs like she’s walking toward her execution. My fists are clenched where they grip the edge of the counter.
It’s the only reason I haven’t picked up the glass bowl on the counter and thrown it across the room.
Stalking toward the other side of the room, I grab the landline from the wall and, with more force than necessary, dial Royce’s number.
“Glad you made it safe,” he says in lieu of hello. “Also fuck you very much. I went one round with Ozzy and feel like I got run over by a Mack truck.”
“You gotta keep your hands up.”
He snorts. “Yeah, like that’s going to stop twenty tons of force from barreling into me.”
“Seems like a bit of an exaggeration.”
“Well, I’ll let you deal with Kinsley when I video chat with her later and she sees the black eye I’m sporting.”
I have my own woman problems to deal with.
The thought has me dragging my hand down my face, my whole body fucking exhausted as the weight of the day finally settles over me.
“Pass.”
“Good luck with that,” he mutters, clicking away on his keyboard. “I don’t have any good news.”Fucking perfect.“In the time between Jace leaving the house and the team returning to the house to meet the tow truck,someonegraffitied the wordsinnerin red spray paint on Kat’s garage door.”
“Tell me we havesomethingto go on.” My voice is strained as I wait for his response.
