Page 39 of Art of Love
“I don’t even want to hear that word.”
“Why, dude?” Devon tossed me my drink and threw himself down on the sofa.
“Long story, let’s just say I’m not going to be drinking for a long time.” I was thinking maybe Christmas. Maybe.
Or maybe I’d think about giving up entirely. The amount I’d drunk on Monday was enough to last a lifetime.
I hadn’t told Devon about Jia yet. I’d left that part out of our talk on what was happening with me. The most he knew about Jia was that she was my competition at work. I hadn’t even told him her name.
We’d been kind of too caught up with the whole Collin and Emma story to talk about anything else.
“Don’t tell me you’re on one of those Men’s Health diet’s again to build muscle and cleanse the soul. I just ordered pizza.” He narrowed his gaze at me.
“Nope, just abstinence.”
He laughed at that. “Okay, I’ll play along.”
I turned down the TV, so we could talk. The news was playing in the background.
I snapped open my drink and took a gulp. Normally, we’d come back here on a Thursday after a game with the boys at the center and catch up.
Today was the first time in months that I didn’t go, but I planned to get back on track in hopefully two weeks and go on Mondays. That would take me to the week after the first show. By then, I would be able to gage what was going on.
“So, any news from Collin or Emma? Collin come back here again?” Devon asked, running his hand through the spikes of his jet-black faux hawk.
“No, I haven’t spoken to Collin since the other day, and Emma hasn’t contacted me.” I rested my head back against the arm chair and placed my leg over the winged arms.
“I’m still shocked, you know, and surprised at Emma.”
“Why?” He’d never liked her. He said she was too friendly with the guys at her workplace, and not friendly in a casual way either. He claimed it was flirtatious, and if it were him, he’d never be comfortable with his woman having so many guy friends. He’d always claimed it wasn’t natural. I should have listened.
“Because you guys were together for so long. Sure, I always thought she was a bitch, but no phone call, Hunter?” He straightened and looked at me.
“I know.”
“Don’t you feel any way? You kind of look like you don’t care. Or is this the start of some manic depression? Cheryl says silence is always the start.” He gritted his teeth.
Cheryl was Devon’s sister. She was a psychologist. She had some sort of analysis for everything, and it would always lead to something severe. So, my silence or lack of commentary on this recent shamble would have been construed as manic depression.
“I’m not depressed. I probably was on Monday, but I’m okay.”
“You sounded pretty bad when we spoke Tuesday. Something happen in between then and now that I don’t know?”
“Not really.” It was technically a lie, but I doubted my fascination with a woman I’d only known for a few days was something I should voice now. “I think it’s time I moved passed it.”
“I agree. I’m sorry you had to find out about them that way, and I’m sorry about Collin. I hope this doesn’t sound too immature of me, but he came by the center tonight, and I asked him to leave.”
I raised my brows. I hadn’t really thought of Collin and the center. It would have been awkward for me to go back and see him there when I didn’t want to see him.
“How did he take it?”
“Not that well, but I don’t care. He came because of you, and I won’t have that ridiculous moment when you come back and he’s there. Or if you decide that you don’t want to go back because he’s there. I waited for him to arrive, and I told him it was best for him to stop coming.”
I could imagine that Collin must have been furious, but it served him right.
“Thank you. It feels like I made you choose sides. You’re friends with him too.”
“I was your friend first, and this is the kind of thing that makes you choose sides. So, I chose, and you can rest assured that I would never do what he did to you.”
