Page 50 of Deeper

This didn’tfeellike a rebound thing—I didn’t even see myself using him to get over Rod. My feelings were real, and I had never felt so vulnerable.

Zander was right, that time after our bath had changed the tempo.

We fucked without consequences, and then we made love slow.

And now here we were in the aftermath.

“Hey.”

Zander came into the room with Nazanin begrudgingly behind him.

“Are you okay?” he asked as he assessed where I sat cross-legged on the sofa.

I managed a nod.

Zander opened his mouth, but Nazanin spoke up. “I’m starving. Could we go out to dinner,alone. I mean, it has been months since I’ve seen you.”

Zander fixed his sister with a steel look that made her swallow and take a step back. “If you want to go out for dinner, Bianka will come too.”

Nazanin pursed her lips and remained quiet.

While I liked him for taking up for me, I didn’t believe in going where I wasn’t wanted. “I’ll stay.”

Zander turned to me. “Bianka.”

“Go, be with your family. I’ll just find something here. I’m good, honest.”

I could tell Zander was annoyed I backed off, but he didn’t pursue the matter before leaving the room to get properly dressed to accompany Nazanin to dinner.

With a victory in her possession, Nazanin smiled wickedly before settling into the chair across from me.

We didn’t speak. We just let the movie play as we both pretended to watch it. When Zander returned, dressed in a gray suit and a white unbuttoned dress shirt, Nazanin stood to go.

“I made reservations somewhere nice and simple. You don’t deserve five-star right now,” Zander said to his sister.

Nazanin scoffed before dramatically leaving the room, the echoes of her heels announcing her departure for the front door.

Zander came and pressed a kiss to my temple before reeling back and examining me. “I’ll be back.”

“Okay,” I said.

It wasn’t until after he left that I decided to just leave. What was I thinking? There was no way we could make this work. Da Vinci couldn’t paint us a masterpiece.

Up in his bedroom I called Victoria as I started folding my clothes. It was then another dilemma hit me. I didn’t have any luggage to take my things in.

“Hey.” The sound of Victoria’s voice both lifted my spirits and broke me down.

“Hey.”

“What’s up? You sound upset.”

I couldn’t do this over the phone. I owed her a face-to-face confrontation. “I need to talk to you tomorrow before I go in to work,” I said.

“We can talk now if you want. You sound off, Bia.” My best friend’s concern was undeserving.

“I can’t do this over the phone, Tori.”

Her end was silent as she issued out a sigh. I imagined her shaking her head, coming to her own conclusion on what could possibly be wrong. “Why couldn’t you just tell me you were going away with Rod?”

---