Somehow her chilled skin managed to frost over at the sweet, concerned voice calling her name. The urge to run pulled at her to turn around. The feeling of embarrassment overwhelmed her.
“Matty? It’s me, Reese.”
She knew who it was. Her eyes closed as her mind sent up a silent plea to just disappear into the concrete below her feet. Just open up and swallow her whole. Too many emotions were fighting inside her.
With no choice but to acknowledge her, Matty turned to the side. Reese’s sweet, concerned face came into view. It made her uncomfortable. Like she was being seen so openly, it made her want to cover herself.
“Hey, get in,” Reese gently demanded with the click of the locks disengaging.
Her feet didn’t move. If she got in that car, then there would be questions, and her heart couldn’t take much more. What would Reese think? The counselor in her would probably chastise Matty for going over there in the first place. There had been more than enough instances where it wasn’t a safe place for her, but her heart led her there. The smallest piece still held out hope that things would change. She felt like such a fool.
She grabbed the handle and got in without a word. What could she say? Hey, Reese, I fucked up again?
“Are you okay? Why are you in the rain?” The concern was a guilt punch to the gut.
She winced at the rawness in her voice. “Can you take me home?”
“Yeah, I can, but what’s going on?”
“Can you just take me home? Please?” She didn’t mean for there to be an edge to it.
“Oh, um, yeah, I can.”
Her already worn heart broke. Reese didn’t deserve this. It was Matty’s fault she was in this position. What if she thought Matty was sliding into bad scenarios? She had seen Matty in the carefully controlled environments so far. Would it make her look less stable?
The drive to her place was stiff and awkward. She could feel Reese’s eyes turning to her several times, but she just stared straight ahead with her fists clenched so hard in the pocket of her hoodie that it hurt.
When they pulled up to the back of the house to let her out, the awkwardness was almost painful. She needed it to end. Her emotions and the hurt and anger from earlier were too raw. The need to seek solitude and recoup was strong. No outside distractions. No temptations. The safety of her apartment called to her.
So the only thing she could think to do was lean over and quickly kiss Reese’s cheek. “Thanks for the ride.”
And without any hesitation, she jumped out of the car and shut the door. She didn’t breathe again until she was safely within her apartment.
Chapter twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-seven
Irritation crawled all over Reese. It was either be irritated or cry, and she most definitely wasn’t going to do that. She’d done enough of that in private.
Instead, she did the only rational thing she could think of and kicked the hell out of the copy machine that wasn’t working. “Damn thing. Useless, old damn thing,” she hissed.
“You okay?”
She gritted her teeth. No, she wasn’t, but she needed to be professional. “I’m fine.”
“Bullshit.”
Her mouth dropped open. She left the abused machine behind to stomp into Kerrie’s office. “Excuse me?”
“I wish I had a dollar for every time a woman came into my office with that look,” Kerrie smirked, leaning back in her chair.
“I don’t have a look.” She folded her arms, then realized that would only further Kerrie’s point.
“Yes, you do. Bette used to come in here like that when she worked here, and I said something she didn’t like.”
“So what I’m hearing is, the problem is you.”
She just smiled, clearly not bothered by the attitude directed at her. It made Reese even more irritated. “Do you need to yell at me to feel a little better? I won’t mind, I promise. You seem like you could stand to let off some steam.”
