Page 18 of The Devil and the Dancer
“Go away.”
“I want to explain.”
“Explain what?” Chloe felt the heat of anger in her cheeks. “Did she send you for take-out once delivery walked out the door?”
He clenched his jaw. “That’s not what this is about. Will you please let me in?”
Chloe’s voice was shaking with anger. “I’m pretty sure there are servers at the Bat and Barrel who get paid extra for that. Talk to them, because I’m not on the menu.”
“Will you stop?” He banged on the glass. “Vivian is my sister, and she’s a wee radge! D’ye think I want her knowing how much I care about ye? D’ye think that would end well, Chloe?”
Her stomach dropped, and the flush of anger turned to embarrassment. “Your sister?”
“Yes! My mad-as-snakes older sibling. Will youpleaselet me in?”
Chloe didn’t know what to say. Or do. She still didn’t want to talk to Gavin, but she didn’t have a good reason anymore. He’d called her multiple times. He was trying to explain. He’d flown through the rain to get there.
It was never going to work. Better to end things now.
Gavin leaned his head against the glass, water running down the window around him. “Chloe,” he said plaintively, “let me in. Please.”
She unlocked the french doors, her stomach tied in knots, and allowed him into the apartment.
He walked toward her before he paused. “Yer dry and I’m drookit and I want to hold ye, but I dinnae want to get ye wet and cold.”
She held up a hand. “It’s better… Just stay here. I’ll get you a towel.”
Chloe walked downstairs and retrieved one of the plush towels from the hall closet along with a Turkish towel from the bathroom. She walked back upstairs to find Gavin, barefoot and shirtless, still standing by the french doors.
Don’t look. You know he’s not for you.
Chloe handed him the towels, then she turned back to the living room couch and sat down, picking up her phone and setting it on the coffee table. She refused to look at Gavin while he undressed.
He is not for you.
“You cracked your screen.” Gavin rubbed a towel through his hair. He’d taken off his trousers and wrapped the peshtemal around his waist. “Was that tonight?”
She scooted down the couch and Gavin sat next to her, keeping some distance between them. “I dropped it when you called.”
“I’ll buy you a new one.”
She shook her head. “Not necessary.”
“It’s my own fault.”
“I drop my phone all the time, Gavin. I can get this one fixed.”
“It’s old. You should have a new one. Between work and rehearsal—”
“I’m not…” She took a deep breath. “I think it’s better if I don’t work at the pub anymore. I’ll come in long enough for you to find a replacement, but—”
“What?” His voice went cold. “Yer bum’s oot the windae.”
Chloe let out a breath, trying to keep herself from tearing up.
It was never going to work. He is not for you.
“Don’t make this impossible,” she whispered.
