Page 187 of Force Play
“Did Matt reach out to you again?” I ask, anger seeping through my tone.
“No,” she answers. “Matt’s blocked. I haven’t heard from him since you answered his call the other day.”
“Then what is it?” This time, my voice is laced with concern. Something feels off here.
“I just… got a text from somebody that I went out with once last spring,” she shrugs. “That’s all.”
“Who?”
“A guy named John. We went out for drinks once, but nothing moved beyond that. I was still reeling after Matt, and I didn’t want anything at the time.”
“Do you now?”
“Do I what now?”
“Want a relationship?” My voice is soft, almost weak.
“I’m open to a relationship with the right person.”
I swallow past the lump in my throat. “Did John ask you on a date?”
“Yes.” Her voice is so quiet it’s almost inaudible, but I hear it.
A man she’d gone on a date with before just asked her out on another.
My heart beats erratically.
I don’t even know what I’m feeling right now.
Possessive but why?
I have no claim to her.
She’s not mine, and I don’t know if she’d even want to be.
So, I say the only thing I can think of at that moment.
“You should go.”
fifty-five
Lucia
“I…should?”
It’s not what I expected him to say, and it’s sure as hell the last thing I wanted to hear.
“Yeah.” Ari stares at the ground, refusing to make eye contact with me.
He doesn’t want me to go, but he’s not going to admit that.
He refuses to believe that it’s okay to have feelings for someone.
That he’s not going to turn into his dad if he lets somebody in.
Ari Morgan is going to let me go because his head is so far stuck up his own ass he can’t see that I’m right in front of him, pleading with him to tell me to stay.
My heart falls as the reality sinks in.
