Chapter 17 Here
Here
Thursday morning, Daire greeted me with nothing more than a smile and a friendly squeeze of my shoulder.
No flirtation.
No suggestive banter.
No sexual innuendos.
And no conversation before he left.
Was he angry with me?
I threw my hair up into a messy bun and pulled my clothes on as fast as I could in order to catch up with him.
But the sound of Natalia and Brittany laughing stopped me in my tracks.
Natalia crowed, “Did you see how he ignored her this morning?”
“She looked like a lost puppy,” Brittany snickered.
“I gotta give her credit. She still slices through the water like a shark.”
“Which is surprising; she’s not exactly aerodynamic.”
I closed my eyes.
Mean girls didn’t grow up. And they said whatever made them feel better about themselves, no matter if it tore someone else to shreds.
I knew better than to let them get to me.
The thing is, they only reinforced what I already believed.
Backtracking to my office, I closed the door quietly and sat down behind my desk. Getting involved with Daire would invite all kinds of comments from people like them. Logically, those people didn’t matter, but their words were weapons from which I had little defense.
Over the next couple of days, I didn’t reach out to Daire.
He didn’t contact me either.
On my way to Max’s on Saturday evening, my mind spun. Half of me wanted to jump in with him. I missed him on Thursday, missed him, missed his sweet attention.
The other half stood on the sidelines, nodding sagely, applauding my sensible decision to back away.
But why shouldn’t I have somebody to love? Somebody to love me?
Love?
I was getting ahead of myself.
As soon as I walked into Max’s place, Max demanded answers. “Is something going on between you and Daire?”
His tone was casual, but I knew Max, and Max was anything but. There was little point in lying to him.
At least not outright.
“Why? Has he said something?”
Max grinned slyly. “That’s a yes?”
“No,” I protested. “Did you ask him?”
“I did.” He tilted his head back and looked down at me. “He declined to comment.”
“What does that mean?”
He laughed. “You’re asking me?”
I laughed awkwardly. “I guess that’s your answer.”
“Hm,” he hummed.
“Right now, we’re just friends,” I explained slowly, feeling my way as I went, unsure myself of where things stood.
Had he lost interest?
Decided I was too much trouble?
I know I admitted to running scared, but good god, Daire didn’t waste any time running in the opposite direction. Backing off was one thing, ignoring me, quite another.
Tonight, hopefully, I’d get some clarity.
Get a feel for where his head was at.
“He’s a good person, Harley. You could do worse.”
“He’s a really good person, Max.”
“Did he find you on that day?”
God, did we all refer to it as that day?
“He did. He was wonderful to me. Thank you for telling him where I’d be.”
“Well, fuck,” he breathed a sigh of relief. “I knew this would come up at some point, but I really wasn’t sure which way it would go.”
I laughed. “Am I that scary?”
“No.” He cupped the back of my head and pulled me into his chest. “You’re just that special.”
“Oh, come on,” I scoffed.
He gave me a little squeeze. “Harley, you deserve the world. Of all of us, you deserve every good thing.”
“Don’t say that Max.” I turned away, irritated.
“Harley, I don’t know what happened—”
“No, Max. No.” I looked at him over my shoulder. “There are lines you can’t cross, and this is one of them.”
He held his palms up. “Okay, Harley. The offer stands if you ever want to talk.”
“I’m good,” I replied shortly, guilt spreading and burning like tear gas in my chest.
By the time Hawk and Noelle showed up with baby Hunter, I still wasn’t feeling any better.
And when Daire showed up, he treated me no differently than he did Max, Hawk, or Noelle.
More than once I caught Max assessing the situation.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t the only one.
By the end of the night, I couldn’t wait to go home.
“Can I drive you home, Harley?” Daire asked.
“I’ve got her,” Hawk interjected.
Daire’s eyes flitted to me momentarily before he simply raised his hand in goodbye and walked out the door.
Sunday I walked the beach.
And when he showed up, I said nothing.
When he linked his fingers with mine, I squeezed him back.
An hour later, bringing the back of my hand to his lips, he murmured, “I’ll leave you here.”
The problem was, I still wasn’t any clearer exactly where ‘here’ was.