AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I did something stupid,” I repeat. “I hooked up with Callie in the gym.”
“Woah. Nice.” Jason’s eyes narrow. “Not nice? Why do you look so pissed? Is it the employee thing?”
“It was a bad idea,” I say shortly and knock the whiskey back. “We fought after.” I sputter the words around the burn in my throat. The warmth from the liquor settles in my chest.
“Fought? You fought? About what?” Miles’s brows are drawn low.
I sigh. “I told her it could never happen again, that we hate each other, that I don’t trust her. We shouldn’t have hooked up. I shouldn’t have gone near her.”
“Who cares?” Miles exclaims. “Live a little. She’s not an employee. Hate sex can be fun. And you don’t need trust to have hot sex with her at the office. You overthink everything.”
I tense, but Jason chimes in with, “I agree. Let go, man.”
“I wanted to kiss her,” I say quietly.
“Ah.” Jason gives Miles a knowing look.
“What?” Miles asks.
“It’s his rule,” Jason explains. “No feelings. No kissing. A different version of the rule I had for years. He’ll see the same woman a few times, but he’ll never get emotionally involved.”
“It’s better this way.”
“Okay, well that’s fucking stupid,” says Miles. “But let’s go back to the fight.” He narrows his eyes. “How pissed was she?”
“How do you know she was pissed?”
Jason and Miles laugh. “Oh, she was definitely pissed. I saw her stomping around all day. But even without seeing that, I would have guessed it. You hooked up and then immediately told her it could never happen again.” This from Miles. Know it all.
“How do you even know she wants to do it again?” A woman’s voice comes from behind me, and I turn to see Lane. She’s speaking to me but smiling at Miles.
“You invited her?” My eyes are shooting daggers at my friend, but he has eyes only for his girlfriend.
“Backup. I figured I’d need it.” He shrugs and makes space for Lane on the seat.
“You think she doesn’t want to sleep with me again?” I never considered the possibility, and now I feel like a fool. Lane shrugs and nibbles on some of the chips the bartender left us. Her nose ring glints in the light as she considers me. I trust Lane. I’ve known her for years. She’s perceptive and thoughtful.
“I think,” she says slowly, “that if I were in her position, I’d be hurt. Both by the assumption that I’m going to catch feelings, and by the accusation that you don’t trust her.”
“But I don’t trust her.” I frown. “She knows that. We’ve been pretty open about it. Although—” Shit. She thought we were making progress toward being friends. Or something. “She may have thought we were becoming friends. That she was atoning for the article.” I grimace. “I’ve been using her for her connection to Dylan.”
“I don’t really know who Dylan is, but it sounds like she thinks you’re on your way to being friends, and you just want to use her. That’s shitty.” Lane wrinkles her nose at me. “You’re better than that, Jonah.”
Her words lance through me. “Why do you say that?”
“I’ve known you for a long time, Jonah Crown. You’re a good man. To some people.”
“To your family. To us,” Jason interjects, nodding.
“It doesn’t matter.” I shake my head. “I’m not getting involved with a reporter. Not Callie.” It’s my fault my family got hurt by Annalise. I’m not bringing another woman back to meet them. “It’s better this way. If Callie doesn’t want me, then good. We’re on the same page. I don’t want anything with her.”
They’re brave words that make an ache start near my heart. Her hurt expression from earlier is stamped behind my lids. Every time I blink, I see those blue eyes filled with anger.
Lane shrugs and grabs another chip. “She probably feels the same. Maybe it was just a onetime fling for her, too.”
And that, more than anything, is what unsettles me for the rest of the night.
29
