Page 52 of Mateo & Nicole

“Yeah,” she rasped. “Just peachy.” Today wasn’t a good day. Other than her little walk with Paxton, she didn’t have anything good to show for it.

Trusting Caroline would be a mistake, but Nikki believed what she’d said. Caroline was interested in getting back together with her ex, and she was willing to do whatever it took to do so. Was Mateo on the same page?

That one was harder to tell.

“Well, if you need anything…” Jason mumbled.

She smiled and lifted her head, hoping she could reassure him enough that he didn’t spread any rumors as to what might be happening. “Thanks. I appreciate it.” Now she just had to deal with whatever it was Sophia wanted to discuss before she could hide away behind her bedroom door and finally get some peace.

24

Mateo

“Idon’t know what to tell you, Mateo. She says she’s fine.”

“She’s not,” Mateo said, rubbing at his eyes. “Something is wrong, and it started on Friday last week.” He hadn’t gotten much sleep over the last week. Between Caroline attempting to reach out to him again and Nikki avoiding him like the plague, he couldn’t seem to keep his head on straight.

Now, his work was suffering. He knew it was bad because Sophia had finally cornered him to ask him what was going on.

“If you don’t believe me, go talk to her yourself,” Sophia snapped.

He glanced over to her, finding her hands on her hips and that look of frustration on her face that said she meant business. The fact that she hadn’t taken him by the ear and dragged him to Nikki herself was a surprise, to say the least. Mateo scowled at her. “You know I can’t do that.”

“Why not? She’syourgirlfriend.”

“Because she won’t talk to me. Any time I try to get her alone, she’s either busy or she takes off. I’m telling you, something happened.”

Sophia glanced at the building where Nikki worked as if that would give her the answer they were both looking for. “Maybe she’s scared.”

“Scared of what?” he practically shouted with exasperation. “I haven’t done anything to scare her off. I got her flowers. That was it.”

Sophia chewed on her lower lip. “I don’t know.”

Mateo was a bundle of nerves. The more he thought about it, the more he knew he was failing. The last time he’d been in a serious relationship, he’d been upfront and communicative, and that didn’t work out well, either. Nikki wasn’t Caroline. He really shouldn’t be comparing the two of them to each other. If he were honest with himself, he would say that he cared for Nikki more than he had ever cared for Caroline. And perhaps that was the problem.

He was terrified of chasing her away. If she wasn’t ready to talk to him about something, he needed to give her space.

But the voice in his head insisted that he was wrong. This wasn’t a simple matter of miscommunication. He was trying. And she wanted space. He stifled a groan, prepared to finally ask Sophia for advice—something he’d told himself he would never do.

But her sharp tone cut him off.

“You have got to be kidding me. What is she doing here?”

His eyes snapped to a woman who had just climbed out of a sportscar.

No.

This couldn’t be happening! What was she doing here?

Immediately, he looked toward the cafeteria. If Nikki saw her, it was over. He knew there was nothing going on with Caroline; they were no longer friends. But he also knew that Nikki had some severe self-confidence issues when it came to this vile woman. Without answering his sister’s question, he darted forward, praying he would be able to get her to leave before his whole world officially imploded.

“Caroline,” he gritted out when he was close enough. “What are you doing here?”

She smiled at him, her bright red lipstick stretching thinly across her face. A matching fingernail traced down his sternum. “I came to see you, silly.”

He snatched her wrist and held it firmly. “You need to leave.”

Caroline pouted. “You don’t really mean that, do you?”

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