There’s no way I can still meet up with Seb. Not when Ethan’s cum is still inside me. I quiver at the reminder of him taking me raw, filling me. If it weren’t for my IUD… God, I hope he’s clean! I bet he chases skirts like a puppy chases bicycles.
The thought of him with another woman, maybe several other women, shouldn’t make my chest feel tight. I should be mad that he did something so risky, but instead… Instead, I keep replaying it in my head, growing wetter each time.
I groan and hit the heel of my hand against my forehead. “Stop, stop, stop,” I admonish myself.
Stop thinking of freaking Ethan Kane, and start thinking of how you’re going to tell Seb you can’t see him tonight.
I’m tempted to just ghost him. I don’t owe him anything, right?
You’re more mature than that, Barbara.
“Shut up, conscience,” I snarl. “Where were you last night when our panties were being torn to shreds?”
Before I can answer myself, cementing my descent into psychosis, the doorbell rings.
Who the hell is here? Emily’s off on her honeymoon. Morgan and Damien are probably still in bed, fulfilling all the promises their mutual glances made last night. And Basia doesn’t know me well enough to just drop by.
I glance down at my holey sweatpants and ragged T-shirt.Fuck it. It’s probably just Mrs. Hines down the hallway, wondering if I can babysit her vicious poodle while she runs to the bodega.
Resigned, I grab my phone so I’m not bored at her place, then pull the door open. My words of greeting die on my lips.
Ethan Kane. Still wearing the suit pants and button-down from last night, though his jacket is MIA. His hair looks like he ran a hand through it four or five dozen times. My throat grows tight at how… innocent he looks.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, my voice sounding desperate and broken. Can he let me wallow in my mistakes in peace?
“I needed to know you’re alright,” he says quietly, looking up at me with bloodshot eyes. He better not have driven here from wherever he holes up when he’s not being a menace to my peace of mind. And ovaries.
I shake my head. “I can’t talk to you right now.” I need to deal with Seb first, then sort out the mess in my head. Looking at him now only makes me feel the phantom imprint of his cock stretching me, filling me so completely I couldn’t breathe.
“Just listen?—”
“No, you listen to me and hear what I’m telling you. Not now, Ethan.”
I hate that my eyes well up with tears. I hate that my lower lip trembles. I hate that he’s seeing me like this.
“Why not?”
Most of all, I hate how his voice sounds right now. Like his well-being hinges on me being okay.
I run a hand through my hair, stopping with frustration when I hit snags and get stuck.
“Look,” I begin. “There’s… someone. And yesterday was just a one-off thing. I’m not interested in you that way.”Liar. “And really, Ethan, you hardly even know me, we never really talked, and I don’t know why you’d be worried about me or why you’d…” Why you’d tell me you love me.
In typical Ethan fashion, he ignores everything I said, including the other guy.
“I was worried because you didn’t pick up the phone. Youalwayspick up the phone,” he says with a serious expression.
Great. He’s having a breakdown.
“We never talked on the phone, Ethan. You don’t even have my number,” I start closing the door. “You need to leave now.”
His hand shoots out, grabbing hold of the edge of the door and preventing me from closing it.
“It’s me, Barb,” he says like that’s supposed to mean anything.
I open my mouth to tell him he’s lost the plot, when my phone goes off in my hand.
Seb calling.
