Fucking annoyedme.
“I’m going over your schedule for tomorrow,” she said. “In Phoenix.” Like I didn’t know where the fuck we weretomorrow.
“I got that. What areyoudoinghere?”
“Um…” She looked around the bus, confused. “What do youmean?”
“Who sentyou?”
“Maggie. She told meto—”
“Yeah. Well, tell Maggie I’m gonna fire you if I see your face on my busagain.”
Her brown eyes went wide, and she just stood there inshock.
When I didn’t take it back or say another fucking word, she turned around and got the fuck off mybus.
When she was gone, I threw on some music while I smoked up. Didn’t help my mood at all. First song to play on random was Alice in Chains, “Nutshell.” Gorgeous, depressingshit.
But instead of getting depressed, I got angry. I felt agitated instead of moremellow.
Then I started pacing like a cagedanimal.
The last two days, anytime I’d messaged Maggie that I wanted to talk to her, she didn’t message back.Ever.
When I texted her about work shit, she replied. Everytime.
Or Taliadid.
I was starting to actually doubt that things were any better between us now that she’d admitted she loved me. I was realizing, fucking slowly, that maybe they were actuallyworse.
I was starting to fear another long, fucking painful freeze-out.
And it was pissing meoff.
By the time Maggie stormed onto my bus, I was livid. So was she, by the looks ofthings.
“You saidwhattoTalia?”
At least I knew where she wasnow.
“I said,” I growled right back at her, “I’ll fire her ass next time I see her on mybus.”
“You can’t fireTalia.”
“Like fuck Ican’t.”
She stared at me, her eyes raking over my bare chest and snagging on my unbuttoned jeans. “Don’t make this about her because you’re in a badmood.”
“Bad mood?” I laughed. “I’m in a great mood. Why wouldn’t I be? Two nights ago, my estranged wife told me she loves me. Good times,right?”
“Estranged?I think there has to be some sort of relationship in the first place for one to become ‘estranged,’Zane.”
“Yeah, maybe. You were always better with the semantics than I was. Had a legal wedding, but we’re not married, right? Said your vows, but they weren’t real, right? But you did say you love me. I mean, we both heard it. You gonna deny it now? Ignore me? Send Talia to do your work for you so you never have to see meagain?”
“It’s not my work. It’s Talia’s work. I’ve got my own work to do, and plenty of it, and it doesn’t include holding your hand and spoon-feeding your damn schedule to you all the time. I’m not your personal bitch,Zane.”
“And Taliais?”
