Page 70 of Love.V2
I’m sorry.
I still love you.
Fuck you.
I shouldn’t have given up on us.
I didn’t mean it.
You’re worth fighting for.
Am I?
“I think you should go.”
As I spoke, his phone buzzed in his pocket. A muscle in his jaw clenched.
“Yeah, I think I should, too.” He looked at me, the vibrations the only sound in the room. “I’ll sleep at the hotel tonight.”
He turned and left without waiting for my response, already answering his phone. Back to work.
Chapter 20
Tess
Jasmine took one look at my face when I walked into R3and handed baby Xander to Connor, who didn’t miss a beat strapping him into a carrier across his chest.
My protests were weak, and she was strong, leading me by my elbow into Molido, the coffee shop that shared a parking lot with R3. She sat me at a table before I could catch my bearings. My brain spun, heart splintering. Snippets and accusations from today swarmed around me like a cloud of bees, stinging every time they settled.
If you really had it handled, she’d have been gone a long time ago.
I bent over backwards to build that life for us, and you threw it away, anyway.
You’re the one who left.
It must have shown on my face. Molido’s owner, Santiago, stopped by the table, tapping the shining wood to get my attention. “Caffeine or booze?”
“It’s not even three in the afternoon,” I responded, woodenly, hunching forward in my chair until my shoulders touched the table.
Tiago and Jas exchanged a look.
“That’s chocolate. Maybe a beer,” Jordan, Santiago’s partner, grunted, kneeling to place a huge, meaty hand on my shoulder. His touch was light. Warm. “You good, Tess?”
He, Jas, and Santiago peered at me. Their attention made tears well up in my eyes. The café bustled around us, but the two owners had stopped everything to check in on me. I must have looked as miserable and confused as I felt.
“I’m okay.” I did not sound okay. Jas reached her hand across the table.
“Is it Superman? The guy?”
“Yeah,” I croaked. “We fought, and it was bad. I think we said a lot of things we had been holding back for a really long time, and now I’m not sure where that leaves us. And this woman who hates me…we had to fire her today. Well, Dylan did, but I should have done it and I’m probably not cut out for my job.” As I spoke, my voice dragged, lurching and tightening until it was a mere squeak.
They exchanged looks.
“All of it?” Santiago asked.
“Three alarm heartbreak,” Jordan agreed.
“We’ll need backup.”
