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“And then?”
“Then you’re going to sort this auction mess out somehow, since my own daughter just bid a freakishly high amount of money to go on a date with you.”
“That was Chloe bidding?”
“Yes,” Jake growls. “All part of this cluster of a lie-web you and Lauren have going on, I’m sure, but still. You are not going on a date with my eighteen-year-old.”
“Dude,” I say, downright appalled at the mere idea of it. “I’d never. I think of Chloe as one of my own.”
Jake nods. “I know that. But you’re going to have to figure out how to tell them I’m not paying $8,000 for nothing.”
“I’ll figure it out,” I assure him. “I promise. I’ll talk to Lauren tonight, and I’ll have a talk with the Cap tomorrow. Straighten everything out.”
“Good,” Jake affirms. “And now that you’re rational, we can go back outside.”
“You go ahead,” I tell him calmly. “I’ll come out in a minute. I just want to wash some of the blood off my hand.”
Jake nods, turns, and steps back outside.
I consider myself in the mirror. It’s fitting, really. Because, like it or not, it’s time to look myself in the eye and set things right.
I don’t want a short-term fling with Lauren. I want forever.
And it’s high time I started acting like it.
The headlights of Lauren’s car scroll a bright flash across me as she pulls into my driveway, so I set the beer I’ve been pretending to drink down on the front steps beside me and rise to my feet.
She climbs out of her car quickly, having noticed me sitting here.
“Are you okay?” she asks immediately, slamming the door behind herself and rushing toward me.
It’s not like me to be waiting outside for her arrival, but to be honest, today hasn’t been much like any other day in its entirety. I haven’t liked it very much at all.
“I should be asking you that,” I return easily, welcoming her body into mine as she slams me with a hug and wraps her arms around my shoulders.
“I’m fine,” she says into my neck. “I swear.”
I nod against her hair, but it’s all I can manage through the clog in my throat.
By the time I got myself cleaned up and ready to leave the bathroom earlier, Jake had been on his way back to get me. It seemed that while we’d been in there, actively working on talking me down, the Cap had called an ambulance, put Lauren in it, and taken her to the hospital without me, just to be sure she was okay.
Something inside me shut down after that, as I sat there helpless, waiting for Holley to send me updates about my own girlfriend.
“Garrett,” she says again, pulling back and taking my face in her hands while she looks me in the eye. “I’m all right. The whole thing was so dumb, honestly.”
I shake my head. “Dumb or not, Lauren, I hated it. And I can’t ever do it again.”
She nods, her throat bobbing as she swallows. “Are you…” She pulls her lips to the side, tears pooling in the corners of her eyes. “Do you… I mean, are you breaking up with me?”
“What?”
“I mean, you said you can’t do it again, and I understand if you—”
“Lauren, stop.”
“I just don’t want to—”
“Lauren, I don’t want to break up with you. I’m just done hiding. I’m going to talk to your dad tomorrow morning. Put it all out in the open and take whatever consequences come my way.”
“Garrett, no. I… You shouldn’t—”
“You seriously don’t want me to tell him?” I ask heatedly. “Even after today? You can’t be serious, Lauren!”
“No, no!” she says, her voice elevated now too. “I just… I’ll tell him. Myself. I swear.”
I shake my head. “I’m sorry, but no.”
“What?”
“You’ve given me no choice, Lauren. You said you were going to tell him. I’ve waited for you to tell him. But I’m done waiting. I’m meeting with him tomorrow morning.”
“Garrett—”
“What?”
“Garrett—”
“What, Lauren?”
She tosses out both of her hands in frustration. “You’re not even letting me finish!”
I take a deep breath in and then blow it out. She’s right. I’m being an asshole right now, and I don’t want to be.
“I’m sorry. You’re right.” I shake my head. “I’m sorry, really. Go ahead.”
She smiles then, cupping my cheek with her hand and sweeping her thumb just below my eye. It feels so damn good, and for the first time since she arrived, my adrenaline starts to slow down.
“I was just going to say…can I still spend the night, or do you need some time to get over being mad at me?”
I scoop her into my arms, eliciting a shriek, and then climb the stairs to my front door two at a time. She giggles, and I squeeze her tighter.
“You’re staying, all right,” I say, carrying her up the steps to my bedroom as quickly as I can. “Hold on to your hat because we’re about to try make-up sex.”
