I can’t tell you this. You’ll lose your fucking mind and call thisoff before I’m ready to. Fake or not, you’re the best company I’ve had in a long time, and I’m not ready to give you up. I’m not ready for any situation where there is even the slightest risk of losing you.
“When it’s your business.”
She drops her hands, letting out a scoff. She shakes her head a bit before she tears her purse off the sink. “It’s not my business?”
I don’t like that look on her face.
“No.”
She runs a hand through her hair, eyes burning a hole straight through my bullshit. “So, you’re not in here ready to blow a gasket because EJ was flirting with me out there?”
I blink. Nearly fucking sputter like a fish right there.
Women. So fucking perceptive.
“No,” I say weakly.
Ididn’t even buy that.
She crosses her arms in front of her chest and takes a step forward. “You don’t want to hit him right now because he told me I looked beautiful? Because he suggested taking me out while he’s in town?”
That rage surges up in me again. My palms are back to itching. Badly. I ball my fists by my sides and she doesn’t even look down to check if I’m about to snap. She knows.
“So, what are you so angry at, Carter?” she asks, tilting her head. The fucking attitude is a perplexing thing. I’m pissed that she can read me so easily, but her putting me in my place is affecting my dick. “Please, tell me.”
I wet my lips with my tongue. Resist the urge to look at her mouth, because it’s pouty and scowly and exactly how I love it. I don’t shy away from her, I stay close and in her face, right where she put me.
Then I say the stupidest thing known to man. “Not everything is about you.”
She blinks a bit. Like that hurt her. She steps back, putting distance between us, and I hate myself more than I did five minutes ago. I can’t smell that cinnamon perfume or that cherry lip gloss when she gets too far. I just screwed up.Again.
“Great.”
I clear my throat, not knowing what else to say.Great.
She nods, over and over, backing away with each one. “That’s fine, Carter.”
When she spins on her heel, a blast of panic rocks through me. “Where are you going?”
“I’m going to ask EJ to dance!” she announces, spinning around. She throws her hands up, a tired look on that perfect face. “Then, I’m going to ask him to take me home.”
My heart sinks. My dinner churns in my stomach.No.No, that’s the last thing I want her to do.
“Arden.”
She unlocks the door and throws it open. When she whirls around, that fiery hair falls in her face. “Don’t talk to me unless you’re ready to find your balls and be honest.”
She slams that door so hard that my tie slides off the counter. It lands someplace beside my heart and my ego, lying cracked and racing on the bathroom floor.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
carter
I knockfor the thirtieth time before the door flies open. Green dress still on, tall shoes still wrapped around her ankles. Good. She glowers at me, but beneath the anger, I know she’s upset. I glance behind her before I say anything, even though it will piss her off, but I need to make sure Dalton isn’t here.
I think I might kill him if he is.
I couldn’t find him when I was leaving. That made me panic a bit. That itch in my hands turned into a burn. My heart was slamming against my ribs. She was gone and then he was gone, and within seconds, I was gone, too.
