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“Being crude and obnoxious doesn’t help,” Raine growled. “It’s just me here now, so why don’t you stop the shit?”
Raine almost never cussed, so it usually caught my attention when she did. Recognizing it didn’t even change my behavior though. When push came to shove, it was always the same for me—get the fuck out. I shoved myself off of the bed and away from her, grabbed my smokes, and went to the balcony.
Raine followed.
“You can’t just walk away from the conversation,” she informed me.
“I dunno,” I said, still in pissy-mode, “I’ve done it before.”
I knew I was being a jerk, but I also thought if I came right out and told her that I’d love to send Nick flying off this balcony, she would like that even less. I wanted to say or do something to make it all right again, but as usual, I was clueless.
I turned toward her, and the small light near the top of the balcony door shone over my face, making me squint. Raine narrowed her eyes, and she took a step closer to me. Her fingers brushed over my cheekbone, and though I tried not to, I flinched as she touched the bruise on my face. Her eyes went wide.
“What happened to you?”
“It’s nothing,” I said.
She straightened up and leaned forward to get a better look at me. With her hand on the side of my face, she tilted my head into the light and glared a bit.
“What happened?”
“Just a little tiff,” I said with a shrug. “Seriously, it’s no big deal.”
“You got in a fight? With who?”
“Just some dude,” I shrugged again. “I went riding, stopped for a bit to walk it off, and then ran into a guy who wasn’t all that pleasant. It’s all good—he got it worse than he gave.”
“Is that really all you have to say about it?”
I took a slight step back but was stopped by the balcony door. I looked off into the distance and watched the waves slipping back and forth over the beach.
“I guess I’ll take that as a yes,” Raine mumbled.
“Pretty much,” I replied. I looked back to her. “I’m fine.”
“If you say so.”
“Don’t be pissed.”
“It’s kind of late for that,” Raine sighed. “I just don’t know what to make of you sometimes.”
“I’m a dick,” I said. “You already know this.”
“Not usually.” Raine reached up and ran her fingers through her hair. I tried not to get distracted by the way the dark strands lay against her neck and shoulder. “When you are, I usually understand why, but not with this. I don’t understand why you don’t realize Nick is trying to be your friend, and I don’t understand why you react to it by going out and beating up someone else.”
“He was asking for it,” I said quietly.
“Nick or the guy you beat up?”
I wasn’t really sure myself, so I went back to the ever-present and noncommittal shrug.
“You’re really trying my patience,” she said.
I looked back at her, realizing how angry she still was. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do or say—all this relationship shit was a mystery to me. I never said the right shit, and I certainly didn’t do the right shit. I was probably the worst match for my gentle Raine as I could possibly be, and that just made me want to cling to her, so I did.
I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around her. I pulled her close to me and kissed her gently on the forehead.
“I’m sorry,” I said.
