I approached in time to hear her say, “I’m at work. Just give me time.”
At work.
Because that’s all this is to her.
AllIam to her.
I knew that. Easton had even reminded me of that fact after the papers had been signed. But fuck, hearing her say it so plainly cut.
She hung up but made no moves to return to the party. She didn’t even turn around as she continued staring at the wall.
“Everything okay?” I asked, wondering about the jilted man who was likely pissed about her running out on him.
I knew I would be if the roles were reversed.
Greer jolted before spinning to face me. I expected the glare she shot at me. What I didn’t expect was the shimmer of tears in that annoyed glare. Quickly swiping at the few that had escaped, she muttered, “Of course you didn’t wait inside.”
“Youokay?” I amended.
I assumed she would wave off my question, but she didn’t. The tears she’d just blinked away returned to stream down her flushed cheeks. “No. No, I’m not. I have a shit-ton of schoolworkpiling up, including a final paper that is a massive portion of my grade that I haven’t even started. Wait, that’s a lie. I’ve started a dozen times and deleted them all because they were shit. Now I’m not sure I’ll have anything to submit, much less a subpar paper, because every time I try to write it, I freeze up. All I can think about is that if I bomb this assignment, my entire future is going to implode more than it already has. And that future ismuchcloser than I am ready for because the semester is nearly finished, and I only have one left.One. I’ve spent the last seventeen years of my life in school, and it’s nearly over. Yet I have no freaking clue what I want to do after that. Not even an inkling. And if that existential crisis wasn’t enough”—she shook her phone—“my father has decided to start spam calling me like he’s trying to reach me about my car’s extended warranty. And you—” Her words cut off abruptly as she sharply inhaled.
I filled them in for her. “And I’m a narcissistic prick who dragged you out tonight.”
Her expression softened, and I braced for pity that never came. “You’re not.”
“I am.”
“Maybe a little,” she relented with a teasing smile and a small shrug. Both were forced, and I could practically see her adding bricks as she built her walls back up. “Anyway, that sounded worse than?—”
“Is your dad okay?” I asked since I knew from experience how fucked parental relationships could be.
“Yes. My parents are getting a divorce. It’s messy. I don’t want to think about it, much less talk about it.”
I really got that. “Were you doing the assignment tonight?”
“Doingmight be too strong of a word.”
It was my turn to glare, and Greer tried to avert her gaze.
I didn’t let her.
Gripping her chin, I forced her eyes to me. “I said from the beginning that your school comes first, and that we’d work around it. Why didn’t you tell me that’s what you were doing?”
“You already pay me way too much for a job I feel like I’m barely doing. And when I am doing it, it doesn’t seem like I’m doing much. And Iwantto do a good job for you. So badly.”
‘For you.’
Not just in general.
But forme.
If I was a better man, those words wouldn’t have hardened my cock. And the streaks of those tears I was working to ignore wouldn’t have pushed that arousal until I was worried one wrong move would set me off.
But I wasn’t a better man.
As we’d established, I was a narcissistic prick.
Which was part of the reason why I used my hold on her chin to tug her closer. “Come here.”
