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“Nothing!” he yelled at me. My eyes widened. I never would have imagined something harsh like would come out of his mouth. He was always so nice to me.
“Bullshit! Your banging around is bringing down the whole house!” I replied. His stomping echoed up the stairs.
“What do you mean?” he said. His eyes narrowed as he looked me up and down.
A pulse of arousal coursed through my system.Why do I feel that?I blinked as I tried to breathe. His pupils dilated and his eyes flashed a weird purple like a filter glitch. I stepped back. “You . . . you’re slamming stuff. I was in a good mood and . . . it’s bringing the house down.”
“Yeah. I hope your date is . . . fun.” The nice and gentle Ric wasn’t there. The Ric standing in front of me was rough and angry. I wasn’t used to this.
“Thanks. It was . . . not planned.”
His voice sounded strained. “Why did you accept it?” More anger that wasn’t mine seemed to wrap around my body. This wasn’t normal. This felt like Andy stuff. I’m not Andy though.
Oh, shit.
I blinked. “He looked nice. He asked me out. I thought little about it. You know I go on dates all the time.” Maybe I was searching for something and none of them could deliver thatitfactor. Even with Andy’s weird quirks, I don’t think she promised me anything but a ‘you’ll have fun with him.’
“You look weird,” he said. His eyes traveled to my face. How many times had he seen me put on my makeup?
“Yeah, I got to finish getting ready. Also, I forgot I was talking to Andy,” I said as I turned back to the bathroom. I lifted the phone to my ear.
“Sorry.” His stomping footsteps echoed down the stairs.
“Who is that?”
“A friend. He needed a place to crash. He’s in a bad mood.”
“Sounds like he likes you if he’s mad you are getting ready for a date.”
I laughed loudly as I picked up the blender. My feelings calmed down. There was still an edge of anger and jealousy, but it wasn’t mine. MaybeI’mthe empath now. I made a silly face in the mirror at the thought. I was attracted to Ric. Always have been, but I didn’t think he liked me. I frowned.Did I want him to want me?
“That’s a riot. He doesn’t like me.” As I patted my skin, the books he bought me rose to the surface of my thoughts. No, that was a thank you gift. I’m helping him out by letting him crash and by lying to my best friend. He owed me.
“I don’t know. From the bit I heard, he sounded ticked off that you were going on a date. Do I know him? Voice sounded familiar.”
Shit. That would be an outright lie. “No. I think he’s upset at his car or whatever. He goes off and tries to fix it when I am gone. He just came back. I know the last time we discussed this, he was trying to fix it. He seemed overwhelmed. That’s why I was telling him to chill with the door slamming.”
Andy hummed. “Yeah, I guess. Have you talked to Ricon lately? I know he used to video chat with you.”
“Has he video called me recently?” I paused to think about this.Not a lie.I smirked as I answered her with more confidence. “No, not at all. Been quiet on the video chats lately.”
“I’m just kind of worried about him,” Andy said quietly.
“One of his super secret missions?”
She answered me with an uneasy laugh. “Normally, he is not a mission guy, from what I understand. Maybe we made a mistake by sending him.”
She’s lying to me, too. Why do I feel bad about lying to her?“I am sure he can handle it. He is probably hiding out, depending on what the fuck is happening.”
“Do you have high hopes for this date?”
I stopped applying my makeup. As I picked up my phone and left my bathroom, the door squeaked in complaint. “No, not really. It’s not a love connection. What about you? Is your man your true love?”
There was an audible sigh. Ricon stilled in the living room as he looked up from the book he had in his lap. His eyes traced my body again as I placed the phone on the stand near the door. A flush of arousal pulsed through my system again. My mouth suddenly felt dry. God, I wanted him.What was going on with me?
“It’s complicated. Sometimes it’s not as simple as true love.” Sadness ebbed through her voice.
“If you are not happy, you need to leave him,” I said. A cascade of emotions crossed Ric’s face. It was like I was missing something. Something was passing through this moment and I didn’t know what it was.
