Page 27 of Omega's Refuge

“Ahhh, I see.” Vance smiled politely. “Anyway, just let me know if you need anything else.” He wandered away to help another customer at the bar.

I said gruffly, “If you don’t mind, Rex, I’d rather everyone in town didn’t know about what’s happening with me.”

He looked sheepish. “I didn’t actually tell him anything.”

“No, but you told him more than I’d have liked. I don’t like looking pathetic. I don’t need strangers feeling sorry for me.”

“Sorry.” He reached across the table and touched my hand that rested near my pint. “I was trying to circumvent him asking any more questions. Vance can be pretty nosy.”

I held his apologetic gaze as my skin tingled where he’d touched me. Even in the midst of my pain, it was hard to ignore how attractive I found Rex. I jumped when my cell suddenly rang. I tugged my phone out of my back pocket, and my mouth went dry. “It’s him. It’s… Steve.”

Rex grimaced. “Well, you should probably answer it.”

“Yeah.” I accepted the call, heart racing, and rasped, “Where are you? Where’s my car, Steve?”

There was a thick silence, then Steve said gruffly, “I’m almost to Billings. I’ll drop your car off at your apartment.”

My stomach churned. “So you actually did leave me behind.”

“Look, Tanner—”

“Am I supposed to walk home?” I interrupted.

“Rent a car, I’ll pay for it,” he mumbled over the line.

“What the hell is going on, Steve?” I hated that my voice broke on his name, but I couldn’t help it. I was in so much pain. “Why’d you just leave like that?” I was aware of Rex’s intent gaze. I should have gone outside to take the call, but my legs were too weak to get up and leave the bar.

“Come on, man, you know why. We’ve both been miserable. It’s just that neither one of us wanted to be the one to end things.” Steve’s voice was hushed.

I gripped my phone. “Maybe things were rough, but I wasn’t ready to just give up on us yet.”

After an uneasy silence, he said, “You always were stronger than me, T.”

His use of my nickname sent a stabbing pain through my heart. “You said you loved me. You said you wanted to be with me. Was that all just lies?”

“No. I do love you, but we just aren’t happy. Can you really see us together the way we’ve been? I feel like we want different things, T. You want to settle down, and I don’t think I’m ready for that.”

“You said you were.”

He exhaled. “Well, I didn’t want to lose you.”

“So you lied?”

“I just didn’t want to lose you, so I said what I had to say,” he muttered.

“But now it’s fine to lose me?” I felt sick to my stomach. “Why’d you just sneak off? Why didn’t youtalkto me about what you were feeling?”

“Talk to you?” He sounded incredulous. “I tried. You weren’t listening. You were too busy flirting with that cowboy.”

“Bullshit.”

“No it’s not. You weren’t giving me the attention I need. I tried talking to you over and over. I told you I was miserable at that damn ranch, but you ignored me. You didn’t carebecause you were having fun getting all that attention from Rex.”

“That iscompletebullshit,” I growled. “You were my focus. I was trying my darndest to make you happy.”

“That’s just not true. If you’d been trying to make me happy, you would have left with me yesterday. You made me do this, T. You forced my hand.”

Anger rolled through me. “You’re full of it. I didn’t make you do shit, Steve. You’re weak and you took the easy way out.”

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