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Pissed at fucking Garret.
This is why I’m better off alone.
This is why I stopped trying.
This bullshit feeling in my chest is why I don’t get involved with people.
Dropping the phone back in the bag, I grab my stuff. I can’t talk to her—not when I’m feeling like this. I need to cool down.
Before opening the door, I turn back and look at Claire still wrapped in a throw blanket and sleeping on the living room floor. As angry as I am, I hate leaving her like this. Her back is exposed, the blanket only covering her lower half, and she looks almost angelic as she lies on her stomach, her hair splayed out around her as she rests her head on her folded arms. As I stare at her, my sharp anger turns into a gut-wrenching ache that’s somehow more painful.
She was supposed to be different.
64
Claire
It’s dark when I wake up, and for a moment, I’m lost. That’s probably a normal reaction when you wake up on the floor. Wrapping the throw blanket around me, I get to my feet and look around the Airbnb.
“Aiden?”
Flashbacks of us naked throughout this entire place flood to the forefront of my mind, making me blush even though there’s no one around.
Why is no one around?
Aiden should be here, right? Maybe he went to the bathroom? I take a few steps in that direction, but the door is open. I check both bedrooms, and then I just stand in the front entryway, looking around at the mess we made. The open concept doesn’t exactly leave many places for him to hide, and considering all his stuff is gone, it’s fair to assume he left.
Disappointment weighs heavily in my stomach at the realization. Scanning the kitchen counter for a note of some sort seems to be a waste of time, too.
There’s no sign of him anywhere.
Still holding the blanket around my shoulders, I head into the bedroom and grab my phone out of the beach bag. There are a ton of notifications from Garret that make me roll my eyes, but none from Aiden. Scrolling past the Garret spam, I click on Aiden’s thread and type a message.
Me: I can’t believe I fell asleep. All okay?
My eyes stay locked on the screen in hopes that those three dots will appear, but after a minute I give up and set my phone down on the bed. The clock on the nightstand lets me know that it’s only 8 pm. So at least I haven’t slept too late.
Just late enough to leave me starving.
I take a shower, put on my ugly Florida t-shirt, and clean up the Airbnb. By the time I’m done, it’s almost been an hour, and still no word from him.
I can’t explain it, but I have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. Why would he just leave? I thought we had gotten past any weird back and forth between us, and this feels wrong.
Grabbing my phone, I pull up Em’s contact info.
Me: Hey, is Aiden over at your place?
Thankfully, the three dots appear right away.
Em: Yes, and he’s as grumpy as ever. You should probably get over here.
Her message confuses me. The last time I saw Aiden, he was in a great mood.
A really great mood.
I ask Em for the address, which she sends right away. It looks like they’re in Grand Central too and only about a ten-minute walk from here, so I don’t bother waiting for an Uber. I change back into the shorts and shirt I wore earlier and head out the door.
The night air feels cool on my skin after getting too much sun this afternoon. When I left to go to The Patch, I wasn’t expecting to end up on the beach with Aiden for most of the day. My cheeks and shoulders have turned pink, and I almost wish I had a light sweater to fight the constant chill.
