Page 83 of Until We Meet Again

"I'm okay. Are you?"

"I've been better." I'm glad he's miserable, and I won't apologize for it. I want him to experience some kind of emotion,anything at all. I don't even mind what it is at this point. "I'm actually in the place where I took you on our second date."

"I know. I'm at the bar across the street."

He's out the door so fast. However, he abruptly slows when he sees me, frozen in place, with his phone pressed to his ear. I hear a faint breath escape his lips, and as my eyes wander over him, I feel that craving begin to slither through my veins, seizing control of all my senses and eliminating all logic from my Zane Calloway-infested mind.

"God, you look so fucking beautiful." He steps forward as he speaks, and I quickly raise my hand.

"Stop, Zane. There are too many eyes."

"I hate this, Tessa. I hate how this feels between us."

"I know, and that's my fault."

"Talk to me. What can I do?"

"Nothing."

"Come on, Tessa."

"I'm jealous, Zane. It's as simple as that."

"Of what?"

"You openly sat with another woman in our place, and yet I have to talk to you with all this distance between us."

I know my admission isn't exactly appealing. No one wants to be that jealous girlfriend—not that I'm even his girlfriend—who acts out and reacts unreasonably in situations where drama isn't needed. I knew what I was getting into with him. I was so confident I'd be okay with it, but here I am, acting like such a girl, and he's probably regretting ever getting involved with someone like me, someone my age, not to mention my lack of experience with men and relationships.

"I understand why it has to be this way, but the longer this goes on with you, the harder it's getting to deal with."

"What do you need, sweetheart?"

"Time, I guess." I watch him gently caress his jaw as his gaze penetrates mine. "I'm feeling things I've never felt before, and I can't even embrace them because I have to hide them."

"You don't have to hide them from me."

"I do. You know I do."

"There are things I want to say to you, Tessa, but not here, not like this."

"There you are, Blondie." When Tobias's voice echoes in my ears, a chill races down my spine, not from the cold but from the surge of adrenaline that comes over me. Turning my attention toward him, I notice the gentle curve of his lips as he smiles at me. I lower my phone beside me, not ending the call but hiding the fact that I've been on the phone.

Tobias glides around me with ease, stopping right in front of me. However, he positions himself so that Zane remains within my line of sight. The powerful pull between us increases, making it nearly impossible to focus on Tobias, and I can see from the corner of my eye that he hasn't moved an inch, and the phone still rests against his ear.

"I just needed a moment to breathe."

"Because of Ashlee?"

"Mostly."

"Do you want to go for a walk?"

My eyes meet Zane's, knowing that he'll be listening to every word Tobias says. And in that fleeting second, as our eyes meet, he shakes his head subtly at me—a silent yet powerful warning that speaks a thousand words.

"Maybe later. I could do with a drink." I can only imagine how hard Zane's eyes are burning into me as Tobias wraps a protective arm around my bare shoulders and kisses my head.

I'm a fucking hypocrite.

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