“Oh. Maybe you should pretend no one’s home.” She suggests. Even my mom knows how crazy Cat can be sometimes.
“Something tells me she knows I’m here. Otherwise, why would she be knocking when Penn’s truck isn’t here?”
“Good point. Call me if you need backup.”
“Will do. Thanks, Mom.”
“Love you.”
“Love you, too.” I quickly end the call, scouring the floor for my panties, which I locate at the foot of the bed. After slipping them on, I tiptoe through the house, still not entirely sure if answering the door is the right move.
On one hand, it would be a way to stake my claim, so to speak. On the other, it could cause unnecessary issues that I really don’t need right now.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
I stop just shy of the door.
“I know you’re here, London. Answer the door.” This time when she knocks, it sounds more like she’s closed-fist pounding.
“Crap,” I mutter, closing the distance between me and the door. When I jerk it open, she has her hand raised like she’s about to knock again.
She takes one look at me and her expression shifts, the mask of anger slipping just long enough for me to see the hurt behind it. Though I don’t know why she’d be hurt. She was the one sleeping withmyex. If anything, I should be the one upset.
I no more than blink and that look of irritated indifference is back.
“Can I help you?” I try to keep the sneer off my face.
I don’t like Cat. It’s hard to pretend otherwise when I’m standing in Penn’s house in my underwear.
“You just couldn’t help yourself, could you? You’ve been back what? A month? And already you’re sleeping with my boyfriend.”
“He’s not your boyfriend. Last time I checked, he never was,” I retort, holding onto my composure with a death grip.
With the way I’m feeling right now, this is not the time for Cat to start something with me. I think she’ll find I won’t be as friendly as I usually force myself to be.
“Six months. That’s how long we were seeing each other. And you know what, things were really good. That is, until you crawled back into town like the pathetic wretch that you are and ruined everything.”
Okay, so clearly the gloves are off. She wants to take cheap shots. I can throw them right back at her.
“I took an Uber. I didn’t crawl.” I let my pettiness get the better of me. “And you were sleeping together, not seeing each other. Very different.”
“He told me he loved me.”
“Yeah, the day before he ended things with you, if memory serves. You weren’t exactly subtle at the restaurant.” I smirk to drive my point home.
“That’s just because he was scared of his feelings for me.”
“Is that so? Then why am I here, exactly?” I gesture around at nothing in particular.
“To try and make me jealous.”
“If he was trying to make you jealous, he would have flaunted me in your face. This isn’t about you or jealousy. Penn and I love each other. We always have.”
“Until you leave him again.”
“A mistake I won’t make a second time.”
“So you say. I wonder how long it’ll take you to run away when you see Penn and me happy, raising our family together.”
