Page 65 of Until August
On that note, he strode away and left me to deal with my mother. And my sex hair. And my guilty conscience.
* * *
I returned to work forty-five minutes later after a quick shower and a Come to Jesus moment on the drive back. This didn’t have to be a big deal. August and I were two consenting adults having some fun. He wasn’t looking for a relationship, and neither was I. So why not just enjoy it for what it was—sex with no strings attached.
We wouldn’t get emotionally involved. Nobody would get hurt or get in too deep. We’d stay in the shallow end, and when we were done having our fun, we could wade back to shore and call it a day.
It was the perfect solution, and I felt so good about my decision that I was smiling when I walked into the kitchen and searched for August.
I wanted to apologize for running out on him like that and reassure him that I was fine and we were good.
But he wasn’t here.
“Where’s August?” I asked Luca, who was making a pot of stock from the lobster shells.
“I don’t know. He took off.”
“What? Where is he?”
“No idea. The last I saw, he was talking to that blonde yoga instructor. But that was after I saw you sitting in your car like a freak. Haven’t seen him since.”
“The blonde…”Sasha?Why was he with Sasha? “And he left with her? Where did they go?”
Luca let out an exasperated sigh. “How the fuck should I know? Unlike you, I don’t keep tabs on August Harper’s every move.”
I ignored Luca’s comment and chewed on my lip. Should I call August and make sure he’s okay? Should I text him?
I ducked outside and scanned the spot under the palm trees where Sasha held her yoga classes. There was no sign of Sasha or August.
I pulled out my phone and wrote a text. Deleted it and wrote another one. Deleted that, too, because it sounded too clingy.
Was it any of my business where he went or why he took off with his ex?
As his employer, I had every right to ask, but my reasons for wanting to know had absolutely nothing to do with his job.
So, I pocketed my phone and tried to shove away my niggling doubts and stay focused on my prep work.
But with each hour that passed with no sign of August, the angrier I got. My jaw hurt from clenching it so tightly, and I wouldn’t be surprised if my molars ground to dust.
What an asshole. I couldn’t believe he would just take off like that.
CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR
August
“You can see her now,”the nurse said.
Thank fuck. I hated hospital waiting rooms. The smell alone conjured up memories of all those long, debilitating hours of waiting to hear news about Sage’s surgeries.
“Is she okay?” I asked as I followed the nurse down the hallway.
“Mother and baby are doing just fine.”
I let out a breath of relief and walked into Sasha’s room. She was sitting up in the bed wearing a hospital gown, her right wrist encased in a bandage, but I was happy to see that she had some color in her face again. On the drive to the hospital, she looked so pale and fragile.
“Hey. How are you feeling?”
“Much better now. Sorry about all this.”
