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Poking him in the center of his chest, I finished. “But if you can’t handle being in a relationship, then you need to stop saying things like ‘I want to touch everywhere he did and erase his memory from your skin’ because it isn’t fair to me. It makes me want more than you’re willing to give, and it goes against what you’re saying you want.”
Stepping back, I pointed to the door, hating the idea of him leaving right now, but the ache in my chest was getting to be too much with him here.
“Go, figure out your own mess, and come back when you do. Don’t take too long though because I’m not waiting forever.”
He stared for a long second, then nodded.
“I-. You’re right. This isn’t fair to you, and I’ll…” He trailed off, staring at the door. “I’ll figure it out.”
Then he walked out, leaving me in the bathroom alone. When the sound of the front door shutting came, I slumped onto the bathtub and shuddered, finally letting the tears go.
I’d written off anything between us because he always insisted he wasn’t interested. I’d never considered what I would do if he was. Now hope burned in my chest and I just wanted it to stop. Knowing William, he wouldn’t risk his relationship with both Alice and Devin, which meant I already knew his answer.
Now I had hope though, and it hurt like needles poking into my heart.
Things were better when I thought he wasn’t interested in me.
A wet nose nudged my hand and I jerked, blinking the tears away enough to see Fig. His snout nudged me again, a low whine building in his throat as he inched closer.
I didn’t hesitate, sliding my arms around him and holding on tight. He didn’t seem to mind, and I took the moment to soak in not being alone.
I’d deal with my issues tomorrow, right now I needed this.
Chapter 8
The house seemed to echo eerily around me despite the soft click of Fig’s nails on the hardwood. Rain softly hit the window, adding its own background noise, and the longer I listened to the nothingness, the more my nerves stretched. It was my day off, and Devin had gone out with his friends or something, so I was trying to relax, but that didn’t seem to be working.
It’d been weeks since I sent William away, and I hadn’t heard a single word from him. The first few days I’d expected him to be unreachable; after the first week I’d been a bit nervous.
Now as we passed the month mark, I’d flown right past that into full-on worry mode.
If he decided he didn’t want anything he would tell me, right? Will wasn’t the sort to ghost someone…
At least, I didn’t think he was.
Rubbing both palms over my eyes, I groaned long and loud into the empty apartment. “Why did I have to go and fall for him?”
I’d been hooked on William for so long now and the crush never seemed to fade. Of course it’d had to be for the emotionally unavailable man too, not the perfectly nice ones that’d tried to date me before.
Plopping onto the couch, I stroked a hand over Fig’s head and sighed. “I wish he’d just rip the bandaid off and get it over with.”
Fig curled as much of himself into my lap as he could, content with his pets.
At least one of us was happy. He was almost completely healthy now and settling into being a house dog. It seemed to be the only thing that is going my way currently.
Alice and Devin both noticed how on edge I’d been over the past few days. Worried looks were shot my way by the dozen, and I wasn’t at all sure what to tell them.
I would bring it to her if it were anyone but Alice’s brother, but this situation was delicate. For obvious reasons, I couldn’t talk to Devin about it either.
I hated this.
Fig tensed, snapping me out of my spiraling thoughts as the hair along his back rose. His head jerked toward the door and I froze, listening as a low growl rumbled out of him.
What in the world?
He’d never so much as huffed at something the wrong way before…
Looking where he was, I stared at the front door, the creeping feeling that something was desperately wrong making me grip his collar like a lifeline.
