“Still, it wasn’t cool,” I muttered, feeling responsible.
Nick shrugged again uncaringly, but his eyes were hard. “Sinclair will get what’s coming to him, don’t worry about it.”
Okay, well, that sounded ominous.
“Anyway, I didn’t come over here to talk about that asshole, though I’d really like to know why he feels entitled to tell you who you can and can’t hang out with. I mean, I had no idea you were pretty much part of his family now. You kept that on the down-low.”
“What, you’d expect someone to go around and brag about it?”
Nick nodded. “Why not? Marrying into the Sinclair family is like winning the lottery, isn’t it?”
“Not to me.” I shoved a book onto the shelf. “Anyway, what can I do for you? You need help finding a book?”
“Nope. I’m not a model student, to be honest. But I wanted to see if we could give our date another shot. We didn’t even get to the fun part.” He smiled.
A shot of reluctance lanced through me.
I laughed awkwardly and then shrugged. “I think we had enough of a chance to see if there was something here or not.”
Nick narrowed his eyes at me. “That means… you don’t think there is?”
“I’m just not in the right mindset for dating. Winter should have told you that. I wanted to give it a shot for her sake, more than anyone else, honestly, but it’s not fair to the guy—to you. I’m not ready.”
“Not ready for anyone, or just not interested in me?” Nick paused. “I mean, are you thinking of dating anyone else?”
Brody’s smug, arrogant, entitled face flashed through my mind. God, it was a condemnation. I shoved it forcefully out.
“No one,” I quickly told him.
Nick was quiet for a beat. “Is this because of what happened last year?”
I froze for a second, trying to see where he was going with that line. Because I always imagined the worst. I always went to the worst possible scenario every time, and usually it wasn’t the case.
“What happened last year?”
“You know, everyone knows,” Nick prompted. “The reason you took a year off.”
Fuck.
I swallowed a painful lump in my throat. “No, I don’t really know, and I don’t think ‘everyone’ knows anything. Why don’t you tell me exactly what you’re talking about, because I’m not filling in any blanks for you.”
I already knew my mind was capable of making up way more hurtful things than anyone else could.
Nick paused. “You had a bereavement or something, right?”
I stared at him and then nodded slowly, painfully. Yes, my dad had died a few years ago, but that wasn’t what had prompted my flight to California. I wasn’t about to tell Nick that, though.
“I’m sorry?—”
“Don’t be. There’s no pressure. Let’s just play it by ear. We don’t need to do anything right now, except maybe get to know each other a little more. Even as friends,” Nick suggested.
It felt churlish to refuse such a good-natured suggestion, so I nodded.
Nick grinned like I’d made his day, and I wondered if I was judging him too harshly based on one random dinner. Even if I was, it didn’t change the fact that I had no interest in dating him.
I got behind my cart.
“Well, I better get a move on. At work and all that,” I told him, apologetic.
