Chapter 30
Reid
I’m alone. Utterly fucking alone.
The emptiness reverberates off the walls of my home, taunting me with the silence. Familiar panic, anger, fear, bubbles into my throat, and the desire to burn bridges to keep from feeling these things rages inside.
But I fight to keep it at bay as I pace around the house, going from room to room, floor to floor, then down to my gym and punching bag, hoping the physical exhaustion will lead to mental exhaustion.
The anger feels good. Familiar.
But it’s laced with acid as it burns through my body. It makes my skin itch.
It’s never felt like this before.
As annoyed as I am, there’s a desire coursing through me to fix it. To call her. Get her back here.
I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep until I do. The punching bag swings as I stalk away and grab my phone.
Me: Can we talk?
It takes her almost half an hour to respond. I beat up the bag as I wait.
Penny: No
Me: Seriously?
Penny: Not right now. I’m trying to salvage my night
Me: I don’t get why you’re so pissed. I told you the truth.
Penny: We’re not doing this right now
Penny: Especially not over text
Me: Then come back
Penny: No. I’m with my friends for the night
Me: So I’m just supposed to sit here by myself?
Penny: Hit up Nikolai and Jane again
Red clouds my vision. But despite the venomous words sitting on the tip of my tongue, I click out of our text conversation without replying. I’ll respond when I’ve cooled off a bit.
And hopefully once she does too.
Instead, I pull up Nikolai’s number and call. He picks up almost instantly.
“Didn’t get enough of me earlier?” Not even the familiar, light-hearted tone of his voice dulls my jagged edges right now.
My voice is strained as I say, “Aspen left me.”
“What?” he says incredulously. “What do you mean she left you?”
Sweat drips down into my eyes from boxing. “I mean she left. She went out with her friends and left me here.”
He pauses, and when he speaks again, his voice sounds farther away. He put me on speaker. “So she didn’t leave you leave you.”
“Well, what else do you call it?”
“Uh, she went out with her friends?” He sounds confused. “What happened after we left? You guys seemed fine.”
“I told her I slept with Jane.”
“You hadn’t told her?” Jane squeals, piercing my eardrum. I pull the phone away with a curse.
“Nice of you to pipe in, Little Walker.”
“She didn’t know about that until after we had left? After we had spent the afternoon together?”
My shoulders hitch toward my ears, creating an ache down my back. “When exactly was I supposed to tell her?”
“Not after the fact like that! As soon as you knew she’d meet us, you should’ve told her.”
“You two are the ones who dropped by unannounced!”
The two of them murmur to each other, but I catch Jane saying, “Well he probably didn’t deliver it in the most gracious way either.”
“Fuck off.”
“Watch it,” Nikolai warns. “What happened after you told her?”
I rub my jaw. “She was pissed, got dressed, and left.”
“Got dressed, as in, you guys had sex after we left?” Jane asks.
“And that’s your business…why?”
I can practically hear her eyes roll. “Because, she was probably feeling all vulnerable after that, and then you had to go and drop that bomb on her after she spent time hanging out with us. She’s young, and doesn’t seem like she’s had a lot of experience with men besides you, am I right?”
How the hell does Jane know that after spending just a few hours with her? Annoyed that she’s right, I simply say, “And?”
“And that probably made her feel insecure, and instead of reassuring her that she’s the only one you want, I’m sure you just got pissed right back. Am I right again?”
I respond by hanging up the phone.