Page 78 of Love.V2
My blood froze. “What?”
“I’m sorry, Tess, but I know you’ll knock it out of the park.”
I sucked in a breath. Why was he talking about the Botto presentation like it mattered? Didn’t he realize there were so many other things to talk about right at this moment? Namely, why he was walking out the door in a frenzy at four a.m.?
“Is everything okay?” What more could I ask? That seemed like the first thing to get out of the way before I grabbed onto his leg and held on so he couldn’t leave.
“It’s…I…” His eyes darted over my face, then back to his phone. I curled into myself, acutely aware of the fact that I was completely naked.
He rubbed at his brow. “I can’t get into it right now.” He paused, conflicted. “Trust me when I tell you, Tess, I wouldn’t be leaving if I didn’t absolutely have to. Do you believe me?”
Would I believe the Dylan from eight months ago? Absolutely not.
Now, though? I thought about our lists. His obsession with crafting me the perfect latte. His promise last night.
I’m not going anywhere.
“I believe you.” The words rasped out of me, and I could only hope I actually meant them.
Dylan sagged, as if his knees had literally weakened for a moment. “Thank you,” he whispered, leaning forward to press a kiss into my forehead. “Stay in the room for as long as you want. There’s a key on the entry table. I’ll…I’ll call you. If I can. Just…Tess, please…trust me.”
His plea traveled all the way across the room. He was already opening the door, rolling his suitcase through.
“Okay,” I whispered to no one as the door swung shut with a soft snick.
I crossed my arms over my chest in the cold room, glancing around and wondering what the hell had just happened.
And why did it feel like two hundred steps backwards?
Chapter 23
Tess
The walk of shame didn’t sting as much before the sun came up, but making my way home, still feeling cold despite cranking up the heat in my car, did.
At my apartment, I texted Dylan, asking him to call me when he got the chance. By nine a.m., I’d showered and made my way to the office, and I still hadn’t heard from him.
My stomach was a ball of snakes, lurching and curling and making me so nauseous I would have thrown up all over the elevator floor if I’d had anything to eat today.
I blew out a breath, staring at my strained expression in the mirrored doors. I had promised Dylan I would trust him. And I would. This was surely some sort of post-traumatic reaction to him flying out the door without an explanation, like I’d seen him do so many times before. Not some gut-twisting premonition that just as we’d been about to settle into our future together, I’d lost him to the siren song of his mistress, Worther.
This wasn’t that at all.
At all.
I was so focused on reassuring myself, I nearly plowed headfirst into Danny as he hurried out of the break room, holding two paper cups full of coffee.
“Ah!”
“Crap!” I squeaked, watching the hot liquid slosh onto his hands. I lunged towards him as if I could do anything to help. “I’m sorry!”
“It’s okay. Probably my fault. Had a rough night.” The dark smudges under his eyes stood out against his skin. He looked a little gray.
“Yeah…” I trailed off. If something was going on at Worther, Danny would know too, right? “Dylan got a crazy call a few hours ago.”
Danny snorted. “I bet. They had my ass on a plane in the middle of the night. I’m just laying over here to talk some stuff over with Eric before I head to Nashville.” He nodded for me to follow him as he walked down the hall to Eric’s office. I just about keeled over when I saw the CEO, himself, walk out of the door.
I assumed he was here yesterday for the emergency “Dylan’s going to be CEO” meeting, but I hadn’t seen Eric in weeks. He’d taken the off-boarding thing pretty seriously.
