“Are you done yet?”
I barely had the energy to glare. “If you’re about to lecture me, don’t.”
Ryan let out a humorless chuckle. “Oh, I’m way past that. You wanna drink yourself into oblivion? Fine. You wanna turn your house into a landfill? Go ahead. But this?” He gestured to my busted knuckles, the dried blood on my sleeve. “Starting bar fights like some reckless asshole? That’s not you. That’s not the man I work for.”
I scoffed, turning away, but he wasn’t finished.
“Actually, maybe that’s the problem,” he mused, voice quieter now, but no less sharp. “Because the man I work for? The Nathan Edge I know? He fights for what he wants. He doesn’t shut the world out and let some lowlife asshole get the best of him. And he sure as hell doesn’t sit here wallowing while the best damn thing that ever happened to him gets away.”
A muscle ticked in my jaw. “Ryan—”
“No. You’re gonna hear this,” he interrupted, stepping closer, voice dropping to something lethal. “Because I’m risking my damn job saying it.”
I met his stare, bracing myself.
“She loved you, man.” His voice wasn’t harsh now. It was raw. “Hell, maybe she still does. But she walked away because you gave her no reason to stay.” Ryan scoffed, shaking his head. “I’ve seen men lose good women for not realizing what they had before it was too late. Are you going to be one of them?”
He didn’t wait for a response. Didn’t give me the chance to argue, to lash out, or to pretend like what he said hadn’t just ripped me open.
He just turned and walked away, his footsteps echoing through the empty house before the elevator dinged closed behind him.
The silence that followed was deafening. My knuckles throbbed, the raw skin split open from the force of my punches. But that pain was nothing compared to the hollow ache in my chest.
Ryan was right.
And I fucking hated him for it.
I sank onto the couch, elbows on my knees, and my head in my hands. The weight of everything pressed down on me. The empty house, the silence, the mess I’d made of myself, of me and Elise.
I pushed myself to climb the stairs, the movement acquiring much more effort than it should. My head throbbed with an incessant pounding, like there was a jackhammer embedded inside my brain.
I stumbled into my bedroom for the first time in weeks. I hadn’t been able to muster enough strength to come before. Everywhere in the house was a memory of Elise, but none as strong as the bedroom.
Here her laughter bounced off the walls. Here her scent lingered on the sheets. Here was where I saw her face as if she was still here with me right where she belonged.
“Just one.” Elise tried again as she sat behind me on her knees. Her hands rubbed my bare shoulders, massaging the aches and knots after a stressful day at work.
“No.” I closed my eyes as she applied a more subtle pressure. We were both freshly showered and dressed for bed. Elise wore a lace teddy that left very little to the imagination, which inspired thoughts of doing anything but sleeping.
The two of us just finished watching the first episode of a series where the male lead had a snake tattoo on his back and ever since, Elise has been trying to encourage me to get one.
I had nothing against tattoos. I just never wanted anything bad enough to want it permanently etched onto my skin.
“Come on. Do you know how much hotter you’d be if you got a tattoo?”
“Not happening, Cupcake.” I turned my head so I could see her face. She was close enough that if I leaned in just an inch I’d be able to brush my lips against hers.
“Fine,” Elise dropped her hands from my shoulders. “I’ll just ask Rhett to send me a picture of his. I think I still have his num-ahh!”
Elise didn’t get a chance to finish her statement before I rolled over on her and pushed her onto her back.
“You were saying?”
“Nothing.” Elise pressed her lips together, holding back her laughter.
My eyes narrowed. “You still have his number?”
She gave me an innocent look. “I mean…maybe. Somewhere in my phone. I haven’t thought about it since that horrible date Kelsey set me up on.”
