Page 89 of Hungry Hearts

I rub the heels of my hands into my eye sockets. “We met at Red when I was bartending. We hooked up that night and a few times the following week. Ran into her having coffee with a fucker from her past. And present. Her husband’s best friend, and hers apparently.”

It must be the tequila that has my tongue loosened up. I tell them everything about Maia, her perfect dead husband, her fucker friend who wants more than friendship, and the fucking text to keep me away from the house when I found them fucking in the shower.

“Here.” Avery picks up a tequila from her flight and hands it to me. “That’s...a lot.”

“Yeah.” I swallow back the tequila, which gets stuck around the lump in my throat.

“What did she say when you caught them?” Ella asks.

“Nothing.”

“How could she not—”

“They didn’t see me. The bathroom door was open. I saw and heard enough. So I walked away.”

“Has she contacted you since? Apologized?” Avery turns her body sideways on the couch, and I don’t like the pitying stare she gives me.

I shrug. “I only read the first two texts and have ignored the rest. She was worried and then upset that I supposedly stood her and Ruby up for dinner. Haven’t listened to any of her messages.” Not since she said she planned on camping outside my apartment.

“Wait, so she didn’t beg for forgiveness?” Ella leans forward, resting her elbows on her thighs.

“Maybe in the later messages. I’m not reading them.”

“Why?” Avery asks.

“Why bother? There is not one validreasonwhy she should have another man’s hands on her, much less his fucking dick in her.”

“Agreed.” Nora adjusts her body and tries to reach for her water. I pick up her glass and hand it to her. “Which is why you need to read her messages and talk to her.”

I tilt my head at her and scowl. “Did you not just hear that she was fucking her fuckingfriendafter I warned her he wanted more than an innocent friendship?”

“I did. What about her daughter?”

“Ruby? What about her?” I skipped over a lot of the Ruby stories. Our connection, how she runs up to me and smashes her little body into my legs, how she calls me her prince.

“You said Maia was coming from dance class. So where was Ruby while her mother was in the shower with another man? Unless she’s the type of woman to have sex in front of her six-year-old kid. Which is sick, by the way. If that’s the case, good riddance.”

“Maia’s a good mom,” I say in her defense.So where was Ruby?

“You said the only car in the driveway was the fucker’s.” I like that Ella refers to him by my chosen name for him.

“Yeah.”

“Where was Maia’s?”

“She was having car trouble.”

“So she left it at the dance studio along with her daughter? And left her front door open, as well as the bathroom, knowing you were coming by?” Avery taps her finger over her bottom lip. “Nora is right. You need to talk to her, if only to have closure.”

“I have closure. I walked away. I’m done with her. Moved on. I’m calling an easy fuck tonight, in fact.”

“Why are men so stubborn?” Ella leans back and sips on her tequila.

“I’m not stubborn.”

“You don’t even sound like yourself. You’ve lost your charm, you’re cynical, hiding out in the penthouse, barely eating, and have been a total grouch. I call bullshit on you moving on.”

I narrow my eyes at Ella. For growing up in a sheltered and abusive house in northern Vermont, she’s learned a lot of the ways of the world.

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