And a hand gets my suitcase before I do.
“Oh, hey, I—” Looking up, I expect to see a stranger who’s made a mistake.
Instead, I see Rob.
“W-what?” I blink at him as if he’s a bad dream.
“Maisie,” he whispers. “My God, you look beautiful.”
My body revolts at his words, but I tamp down the reaction. I still need to be friendly with him. Quinn’s party istomorrow.
“Rob.” I take him in, seeing that he’s in his finest suit with a bright blue bear tucked under one arm.
Behind him, there’s a sign that says, “I’mbear-ysorry. Will you forgive me?”
No.No.Why is he here?
I look to Nate, who’s still in the spot I left him. His entire body is rigid, his mouth pressed into a thin line. When my eyes meet his, he shakes himself out of his thoughts and strides over to us.
“What are you doing here?” Nate asks. His voice is flat, but it contains a barely there anger that I’ve never heard from him before.
“I wanted to apologize in person,” Rob says to me. Then helooks at Nate. “And thank you for taking care of her while I was an idiot. I owe you one, man.”
My teeth grit. When he was drunk, Rob was saying how much he didn’t want us around each other.
“I—” Nate shakes his head. “Maisie, I need to talk to you.” He pulls me away before I can say anything else. “Fuck your luggage,” he blows out. “You have your purse, which is good enough. We need togo.”
I can see his logic, and Iwantto say yes.
But I shake my head anyway.
“No, I can’t do that.”
“What, why not? Quinn could get your bag. Hell, we could just replace the shit in there. Let’s just go before he comes and tries to apologize again.”
“Nate, stop.” I rub my forehead. “I need to talk to him.”
“What?” he asks, his voice suddenly deeper.
“I knew it was possible he would try something else. I didn’t think it would be this, but still ...”
“You knew this could happen and you didn’t tell me? When did this happen?”
“Quinn warned me it wasn’t over.”
“Dammit, Maisie.”
Nate huffs out a breath, and dimly, I realize this might be the first time I’ve ever seen him this angry. His jaw is tight, and he glares at Rob with a ferocity I didn’t know he had.
“Nate,” I say. “Don’t?—”
“Don’twhat? Be pissed that you’re saying you’re willing to talk to him after what he said? Maisie, be smart.”
“I am,” I say. “I can’t just turn my back on what he is.”
Nate jerks back like I’ve hit him, but I’m not sure why. “What heis? Seriously?”
His defensiveness is so unlike him that I take a step back.
