Tangled Up In You (Rogue #1)

Chapter 38

38

GAVIN

G avin watched Sophie until she was inside and out of view before turning back to Julia. “Look, I don’t know what else you want from me here. All this is doing is making Sophie uncomfortable.”

Julia closed her eyes briefly and shook her head. “And we wouldn’t want that,” she said.

“I don’t see the point?—”

“You never could be alone. When we were just friends I could see that easy enough with the constant stream of girls you’d go through. I knew that and that’s why I said to go on and do whatever while you’re on tour. But I didn’t think you’d get so desperate you’d get engaged.”

Jesus, he had really fucked up. Not purposely, of course. But here it was. His fiancée was inside while his ex was out here haranguing him on relationship etiquette. The thing was, he didn’t really think he had done anything wrong.

“Jules, you don’t understand. I just never thought we were serious. You were on tour yourself and I had no expectations of anything once we were both back.”

“This revisionist depiction of things is rather convenient for you, isn’t it?”

Tears shimmered in her eyes once more and it felt like manipulation. He was weary of it. “Cut the crap. You didn’t once reach out to me in all these months. Why the drama now?” He saw her indignation waver under this truth. But then she dug deep to reveal the real source of her anger with him.

“You said you loved me,” she told him.

“I didn’t?—”

“What? You didn’t say you loved me, or you didn’t love me?”

Gavin looked at her for a long moment before deciding that being brutally honest was the way to end this conversation. “Both.”

Her eyes widened and the hurt shimmered beneath tears she quickly blinked back when she found her anger. “Then I guess the word had a different meaning when you were fucking me, didn’t it?”

There was no reply he could make that would help matters so he kept silent.

“You’re a selfish bastard,” she said, and swiftly moved past him.

He waited until he heard the front door slamming before going inside. The house was still and he wondered if Sophie had gone out again. He went upstairs and found her in the bedroom admiring several scarves laid out on the bed.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey. What do you think? Aren’t they cool?”

He went to her and wrapped his arm around her waist. He was acutely aware of the fact that she did not put her arm around him in return.

“Yeah, lovely.”

They stood there for a moment, staring at the bright colors of the scarves.

“Is she okay? She seemed upset. Again,” Sophie finally said.

“Ah, she’ll be fine. Did I tell you she’s a singer? We all met her a few years ago. Her first album was put out on a small label and she just got back from a European tour. Anyway, you know how singers can be, what with the mood swings and reckless emotions,” he said with a laugh.

She turned to him, slipping from his arm, and he saw a struggle work its way over her face. It was clear she was concerned about what this all meant. Her doubts were the last thing he wanted. But he thought going into the details of things with Julia would do more harm than good.

A change in direction seemed the best course of action. “Were you running away from me today, Sophie?”

“What?”

“You left without waking me. You stayed away all day.”

“No, not at all, baby. I went to shop and the time flew. And, I figured we probably need to ease into all of this, that you need your space.”

“I don’t want space. I want you ,” he told her urgently, needing her to understand what he really meant was that she was the only one he wanted.

There was a moment before she smiled in return, her face and body relaxing. “You got me,” she said, and kissed him.