Page 13 of Love or Leave

He turned toward her and one of his dark, angled eyebrows cocked.

She ignored the heat taking over her face and pressed on. "I have tickets to this concert on Sunday and I'm meeting this guy there, but I don't want to go alone."

His head pulled back, and she realized how out of the blue her question had been.

He broke eye contact with her and uneasily glanced at the door Max had left through, then back to her. "Okay…"

"Will you go with me? I already asked Jer, but he can't."

Antonio stared into her eyes for a moment before blinking away. "I don't think we should go to things together," he said.

She raised an eyebrow at him.

"You and I… We're more… group friends."

"Group friends?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said, as he tapped his beer glass and shifted in his seat.

Gone were his relaxed shoulders and calm smile.

"Were friends only in a group. We probably shouldn't hang out alone."

"Oh," Cara said, surprised—and a little offended—by his response. Not only did he not want to go to the concert with her, he never wanted to hang out with her.Ever?She wanted to ask why but decided it would be better to shake off the insult so she gave him a single jerky nod.

Antonio seemed to notice her offence. "I just don't think Max would approve."

Cara fought off a fresh wave of annoyance, but it clearly showed on her face.

"I didn't mean it like you need his approval, or anything," Antonio said, backtracking. He reached his hand behind his head and rubbed the back of his neck.

"He doesn't trust me," he said, then added, "And he shouldn't," under his breath before lifting his glass and taking a drink.

Cara stared at him for a moment. It was both relieving and concerning thatshewasn’t the reason he was saying no. Max was.

But why?

She was about to ask why when Max and Willow stepped through the door, forcing all her questions to dry up in her throat.

Antonio quickly recovered, steering the conversation toward Willow's new ale. Cara nodded along with a smile, adding appropriate interjections as needed, but her thoughts were light years away.

The concert had slipped from the forefront of her worries, eclipsed by her growing curiosity around Antonio.

Why did Max think he was so untrustworthy?

And was he right?

four

Antonio finished up his rounds and headed out of the emergency unit toward the elevators. His morning had been hellish; a lunch break was exactly what he needed. He stepped into the elevator and pressed the button for the third-floor cafeteria.

It took no time for his thoughts to run away from him. Before he knew it, he was in a zombie-like state, ruminating over what he'd dealt with all morning.

The elevator stopped on the next floor. He pulled his phone from his pocket and opened the browser. He typed in a few letters and Google knew exactly what he wanted—to play online Scrabble. Nothing took his mind off other people's troubles like kicking a computer's ass in Scrabble.

He waited for the game to load as the elevator continued its climb up. When it reached the third floor, Antonio stepped off and entered the cafeteria when he heard his name.

"Tonio!" Maria waved from her window table, catching his eye.

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