Page 3 of Tell Me No

He smiles again. “Normal people hours?”

“You know what I mean.” I wave my hand at him and take the drink as the bartender is setting it on the bar.

He settles back into his seat and grabs his bottle of beer by the neck before taking a swig. “I don’t know, Mia. I don’t really know what I’m feeling but I know when I’m with you I always feel good.”

“Good? I think a better word is comfortable.”

“Same thing. The point is, I know I always got you. And right now, I just need you.”

I sigh. “Well, you got me for approximately another hour or so. I have work tomorrow.”

He takes another drink and shakes his head drastically. “Skip work with me tomorrow.”

I take a sip of my drink and almost choke with his words. “What?” I gasp, wiping the corner of my mouth.

“Say fuck work for the day. Let’s go do something we like. You know, like when we were kids.”

I squint my eyes then lay my drink down. Reaching across, I lay my palm across his head. “Are you sick? You never skip work. What is wrong with you?”

He grabs my wrist and lowers my hand. “I’m fine. I just want to spend time with you.”

Jerking my hand from his hold, I pick my drink up again, only this time I hand it to him. “Drink that then tell me what’s really going on.”

This is so unlike him. Happy and bubbly after a breakup, wanting to say fuck work, and being almost… flirty with me. I mean, he’s always been this way in a sense, I guess, but something about this exact moment just feels different. I’m not sure where Anthony has gone, but this definitely isn’t him.

His smile falls then he takes a sip of my drink and sets it down along with his beer. “Fine. I’ll talk.”

I sit silently waiting, but he doesn’t mumble anything else.

I cross my arms over my chest and let out a breath. “Anthony, talking actually involves, you know, talking.”

He levels his eyes with mine and doesn’t even smile at my pathetic excuse of a joke. “Isabella and I have been having issues for a few months. I guess the reason I’m so okay is because I knew it was coming.”

“A few months? Why didn’t you tell me? I could have helped.”

He shakes his head. “Not this time, Mia.”

I raise a brow, completely clueless as to what he means. I’ve always been his best wing man and helped him through most of his relationships. I don’t see why this would be any different.

Of course, he can see the puzzled look on my face and decides to answer the questions running through my head before I could voice them. “She didn’t like you.”

I feel almost wounded for a moment because I genuinely did like Isabella even if I didn’t think she and Tony would last. She was a great woman who had amazing morals and drive. I really felt she and I could be just as close as Tony and me one day.

“I–Why? I never did anything to her, did I? I respected her so much and always tried to find common interests–”

He cuts me off before I can get any further. “Let me rephrase. It isn’t that she didn’t like you, she didn’t like my relationship with you.”

“That’s…” I trail off.

This isn’t the first time someone he’s dated has had an issue with me and him being friends, but it never actually ruined a relationship. At least not that I know. And it all suddenly makes sense as to why I’ve been seeing and hearing from him less and less over the last few months.

“Valid.” He finishes for me. “She said she always felt like a third wheel when you were around because she didn’t know as much about me as you. She was envious of the fact another woman knew me better than I even know myself. The engagement was just my attempt to win her back. Clearly, it didn’t work.”

“I mean, I get that, but over time she would have learned all the things I know and more.”

“Yeah, and she knew that, but she thought that…” Now he trails off, leaving me hanging to try and put together context clues that aren’t there.

“She thought what?” I ask.

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