It’s a silver heart-shaped pendant.
Irritation licks up my spine. “What is this?”
“A pendant.”
“No, I meanwhatis this, Brett? We broke up, remember?”
He sighs, like I’m the one being unreasonable. “Blake, don’t be like this. It’s been like four months since… Well, you know. Don’t you think it’s time for us to move past it?”
Brett has this annoying habit of minimizing what happened. If you listen to him, you’d think I’m holding something inconsequential over his head, like not taking the garbage out one night.
“Let me remind you,” I grind out. “You cheated on me. Right here in this bar. In your office. With Melissa.”
I liked Melissa. Sure, she’s a bit flighty and harebrained, but she’d always been nice to me. We’d worked together for two years, and I thought she was someone I could trust.
Clearly, my judgment of people’s character is seriously impaired.
Just thinking about how the two of them played me for a fool sends a hot wave of rage through me.
Something resembling a pout appears on his face. “I miss you.”
I stare at him blankly. Did he hear anything I just said?
When I stay silent, he changes tactics. He rakes his fingers through his flowing, thoroughly conditioned blond hair, and says, “All day and night, I think about you. About how I’d screwed up.”
Does he really? I doubt it.
What was he thinking about when he was having sex with Melissa? It sure as hell wasn’t me. I walked in on them two months after my mom died. He knew exactly how much I was struggling with grief, and he obviously didn’t care enough about me to keep his dick in his pants.
What he did is unforgivable. He lost my trust, and I don’t hand out second chances.
I snap the jewelry box closed and hand it back to him. He shakes his head, refusing to take it, so I place it on the counter. There’s no way I’m taking it home.
“I’ve got things to do before we open.”
When I move to brush past him, he grabs me by the forearm.
“C’mon. You’ve punished me enough.” His eyes are a perfect shade of baby blue. I used to love those eyes. I’d look inside them and see our future together, all painted in vivid color.
Now all I see is his guilty expression when I caught him with his pants down and Melissa’s legs wrapped around his waist.
“Brett, I’m not punishing you. I’m just done with you.”
This makes his eyes darken the way they always used to whenever I talked about opening my own bookstore one day. It’s like I wasn’t allowed to dream. He wanted me to act like all of my dreams had already come true because I was with him.
That should have pissed me off way more than it had while we were together.
“We’re over.” My voice is steady, but my heart is pounding hard. With Brett still my boss, I have to be careful. I can’t risk losing this job before I sell my house, no matter how badly I want to get away from him.
His hand tightens around my arm. “I know I fucked up, but we’re endgame, baby. Blake and Brett. I’m not going to lose you.”
I try to pull away from him, but he tugs me closer, his grip on the edge of being painful.
“I’ll do whatever it takes to get you back.”
“Let go of me, please.”
His jaw firms, his expression flashing with displeasure. I’ve managed to annoy him. He’s used to me being an easier mark.
