Page 113 of Bleeding Hearts Duet

I stood up and shook his hand. “Thanks, David. Thank you so much.”

***

That night I texted Matt to tell him how grateful I was.

And then, as I curled into bed, I performed my evening ritual of reading through the texts Ryland sent me throughout the day. I still hadn’t found the courage to change my phone number. It was the last connection I had to him, and there was still a piece of me that just couldn’t let that go. But I would only ever allow myself to look at his texts once, and it was always at night before I went to sleep.

I scrolled through the screen and tried to keep my emotional armor on while I read his usual messages.

Baby girl.

Please talk to me.

I’m thinking of you right now.

I won’t tell you what, but just know

that if you were here,

You’d be sore as hell tomorrow.

I love you, Brighton.

I’m not giving up on us.

I closed my eyes and released a shaky breath. Every day, it was the same version of texts. He told me how much he missed me. Begged me to talk to him. And then, professed how much he loved me. He wasn’t shy about saying that at all now. But we still hadn’t really spoken about what happened.

He swore he was done with his revenge. That he fucked up, and he didn’t want to lose me. I wanted so badly to believe him. But he’d lied to me before, and I didn’t just have myself to think about anymore.

So I resorted to my heartbreaking ritual of typing out the same words I did every night. The message that I could never actually send.

I love you, Ryland.

***

I glanced over my shoulder as I walked out of the doctor’s office and frowned. The same guy I’d seen earlier was still there, leaning against the brick wall. He was smoking a cigarette, his eyes scanning up and down the street. It was probably just a coincidence, but I could have sworn I saw him the week before too. And that was on the other side of the city.

“What’s the matter?” Nicole whispered.

“It’s just that guy,” I answered. “I don’t know, I thought I saw him last week at Misha’s place. And he’s been out here the whole time I was in my appointment. Am I being crazy paranoid?”

He looked at us, and I could have sworn guilt flickered across his face. There was something familiar about him. A hazy image of the man who cut the airbag in the car popped into my head, but I couldn’t place him now. Was this the same guy? He was huge. Like body builder type huge. Dark hair and dark appraising eyes. Nothing in particular about him stood out, apart from the fact that he was dressed in a nice suit. It was odd for this neighborhood.

“I don’t know.” Nicole tugged on my arm. “But let’s not stick around to find out.”

We walked down the street, and when I glanced back over my shoulder, he was gone. Matt met us at a café around the corner, buying us both a hot chocolate and a muffin for lunch.

“So?” he raised his brows. “How did it go?”

“Good.” I nodded. “I’m not scheduled to have an ultrasound for a while, but I just wanted to get established with the doctor.”

“Gotcha.” Matt looked confused. This was definitely not his department.

“Sooo….” He swung his gaze to Nicole. “Misha said you were moving out?”

Nicole and I both looked at each other. We hadn’t really planned on how we were going to break the news to Matt.

“What is it?” he asked.

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