Page 30 of Hard to Love

He grunts in response, and I grit my teeth.

“How was your day?” I ask.

Nothing.

“I’m tired. That was a lot for one person to handle in a day,” I try again.

“If you wanted to share the responsibility, then you either shouldn’t have fucked off for the past month or chosen to play a team sport so you could blame others when you fail.”

His words slap at me. “Wow. Okay. Let’s try not to be a dick every waking moment of every day, shall we?”

“Noted.” He glances over his shoulder at me and nods.

“What’s your problem?” I ask, crossing the room and stepping in front of the desk so that he’s forced to look at me.

“No problem at all. Why? Can I help you with something? Did you get yourself in trouble in the short jaunt from the training center to the hotel that I need to be aware of?” Everything about him—his posture, his expression, his tone—tells me he’d rather be anywhere else than here.

“I—no.” I stand there until his fingers stop typing and he peers at me from over the lid of his laptop. “Why are you being this way?” I hate that my voice isn’t stronger, that the tinge of hurt is woven through my tone, but it’s out there and I can’t take it back.

“Being what way?” he asks, completely tone deaf, when I know he sees my confusion.

“Nothing. Never mind,” I say. “I’m going to take a shower.”

I start to walk away when his voice at my back says, “I learned a long time ago not to get personal with clients.”

My feet falter. Honesty. Finn’s actually being honest. But that shouldn’t make me . . . invisible. “Being decent and getting personal are two different things, Finn. I thought maybe we were starting to get along. That maybe we could make the best of this bad situation.”

“And the other night in the casino was what?” he asks, voice still unemotional.

“You mean when you were willing to sleep with me or when you walked away from me? Because a few days doesn’t change the situation all that much.”

“If you don’t like it, you can find another agent. I’m more than sure your phone is blowing up about it like mine is. I believe the clause in your contract with Carson is that you give him a written ninety-day notice. So even if you were wanting to change agents, you’re still stuck with me for three months.”

“Good to know you already looked at the clause on how to take the easy out.” I swallow over the lump in my throat at what feels like more rejection.

“You’re the one who seems unhappy.” He shrugs as if I’m dismissed but his eyes hold mine, looking for what? I don’t know.

“I’m not unhappy . . . I just . . . they all seem to think I need to be coddled.”

“Do you?”

“Do I what?”

“Need to be coddled?” He lifts his brows and stares.

“No. Of course not.”

He nods but his eyes tell me he doesn’t believe a word I say. Screw him.

“Good. Welcome to the club, then.” There’s a self-deprecating chuckle that follows his words that I don’t quite understand but when he turns his back to me this time, I know for a fact I’m dismissed.

FINN

“THIS IS STUPID.”

A nod from Kellen that’s neither in agreement nor disagreement but acknowledges that he hears her.

“I should have backed out.”