Page 99 of The Rebound
“You should,” I say. I think about Jess and how easily I almost let her go. How I definitely would have if she weren’t so stubborn. “She seems nice.”
“She is nice. She’s…” He trails off with a frown. “You thought she was my ex?”
“I…” Crap. “She’s very pretty. And the way she was smiling at you, I thought you might—”
“You’re getting flustered.”
“No.I am full of adrenaline from my interview.”
“Were you jealous?” The idea appears to cheer him up, and while I’m glad he’s in a better mood, I wish it wasn’t because he could see right through me.
“Let’s go back to you being upset,” I say.
“I wasn’t upset. I was thrown. It’s completely different.”
“You looked like you wanted to run back to Clonard if it meant getting out of there faster.”
We pass a pub, already busy with people sitting outside, enjoying the summer sunshine.
“I can’t imagine you living here,” I say, squeezing around a group of construction workers. “You’re basically Mr. Clonard.”
“Do I get a tiara with that?”
“Did you like it?”
“Dublin? Sure. I liked being away from home. I liked being around people who didn’t know who I was. Meant I could be someone new.”
“And who were you?”
“Kind of slutty, if I’m honest.”
I burst out laughing.
“It was the best coming here,” Luke continues. “Not having to worry about what people thought of me or what would get back to my parents. The clubs, the bars—”
“The STDs.”
“I was very safe, I’ll have you know. That video they showed us in school scared the life out of me.”
“Not all of it, apparently.”
“Well, what about you?”
“Me?”
He starts walking backward down the empty street, facing me. “You. Before Tyler.”
Before Tyler…
He grins when I don’t say anything. “Uh-oh.”
“Not uh-oh.”
“I can see you choosing what you want to tell me.”
I shake my head, which only makes him smile harder. “When you spend a lot of time with the same people in a charged atmosphere things get intense. Plus I was one of only a few women in my job, so it wasn’t like I was starved of attention.”
“Yeah, I’m sure that was the reason.”
