Page 40 of Over You
Judging by the way Spencer’s left eye twitched a little, he didn’t find that comment amusing.
“Mate,” Tom said. “I didn’t know she was married. And, we’re just friends.” His gaze swung back to me. With his palms up, he took a slow step away. “You know, I think I’m just going to go. It seems you two have a lot to talk about.” Tom stumbled down the steps in a daze.
Spencer climbed the stairs, jaw ticcing. The second he reached the landing, his arm snaked around me.
I rolled my eyes with a groan before waving at Tom, pretending none of this had happened. Bass thumped when his car engine cranked.
“Rap.” Spencer scoffed.
I turned away, unlocked my door, and walked inside. Spencer slammed it shut behind him.
“You know, you can’t go around acting like a Neanderthal. Tom’s my friend.”
“No guy isfriendswith a girl, Georgia Anne.”
“Yes, they are.”
A smartass smirk shaped his lips. “You don’t think he wants to fuck you?”
I knew he did. “I’m not discussing this with you. Do you have papers for me?”
He dropped his shopping bag to the floor. “I’m not discussingthatwith you.”
“God, you’re so mature.”
He slumped to the couch. “Are you seeing him?” His legs bounced.
“Again, none of our business.” It was hard acting cold, but indifference was my only form of protection.
“Like hell it’s not.” Huffing, he leaned over his knees.
My gaze went to the familiar, checkered Vans, up the tight leg of his jeans, and to the tattoo of Rapunzel’s tower that adorned his forearm. He reclined, dropped his head on the cushion, and then plastered both hands to his face.That’swhen I caught the black wedding band still on his finger. Regret surfaced like a buoy popping up after a tsunami.
Silence filled the space between us like an unwelcomed void. His arms dropped to his lap. “Why did you leave?” Vulnerability laced his voice.
I’d made it clear why I had left, and yet, he still seemed so shell-shocked. “Spencer, that was a year ago and—”
“I don’t care, Georgia. I want to knowwhy.”
My pulse banged like a war drum in my chest. Hard. Heavy. Preparing for battle while knowing there was a good chance I wouldn’t survive.
“You left me.” His jaw ticced. “Georgia, you just. . .left.” For the first time in years, that arrogant, walled-off façade he had worn vanished.
“I didn’tjustleave. I. . .” I stayed through an overdose. A short-lived stint in rehab. Relapse. I had managed the rumors of him with other girls, knowing in my heart they weren’t true but always wondering if maybe they were. I couldn’t save him, and I couldn’t let him destroy me. Because I loved him, and he loved himself.
Emotions clawed at my throat.
“I didn’t handle losing the baby well. I know that, but I—” That pulled my heart from my chest, and for a moment, I couldn’t catch a breath. “I can’t talk about that.”
“Georgia?” His face crumpled. “Please.”
I shook my head. I was not ready to go down that path.
“Give me something.”
“By the time I left,” I swallowed. “There was noyouto leave, Spencer.”
Denial clouded his eyes. His hands wrung in his lap. “There was plenty of me left.”
