Page 68 of Crystal Iris
“He can’t know. He’s trying to bait you.”
“I’m not hungry anymore,” I say as we sit down atFisherman’s Cove.
“Get an appetizer,” she suggests.
“Do you think Aaron is just being… jealous?” I ask her.
“For sure. How could he know?”
I sip my iced tea and nibble on the artichoke dip when my phone lights up.
Tell me Iris, do you think about me when you lick Locklear’s dick?
“Thanks, but you didn’t have to come back. We could’ve taken a cab,” Akira tells Hoyt when he arrives to pick us up.
“Of course not,” he says, opening the door for me.
We drive in silence.
I’m almost done packing when Hoyt knocks on my door. I quickly wipe away my tears.
“Iris, please tell me what happened.”
I sit down on the bed. “Aaron knows.”
“Knows what?”
“About us.”
“About us?”
“That I’m here, with you.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.” I’m trying to control my emotions, but I’m failing.
“Nothing happened, Iris, between us.”
“I don’t think he’s going to believe that.”
“That’s his problem.”
“No, it’s mine. Ours. I shouldn’t have come.”
“I thought you were breaking up with him anyway.”
“I was, I am... still, this is wrong. It’s all wrong.” My tears fall freely now. I’m angry, sad, but mostly ashamed.
“I can’t bear to see you cry because of him,” he says, taking a step back after taking two forward.
“And I can’t bear hurting him.”
Hoyt drops us off at the airport, and I barely glance at him when I say goodbye. The flight home is as painful as Aaron’s last words.
I drop my bags at my place and head straight to Aaron’s apartment. Akira calms me down on the flight, but everything rushes back when I open his door with my keys. I’m not even sure if he’s home.The door feels heavy as I push against something to open it all the way.
“Aaron?” I call as I lift a fallen chair.
