Page 2 of Break My Heart

He scrambles to move.

I saunter over to reclaim my space, hoping my calm facade holds up beneath the hurt jabbing my heart every time I meet his green-eyed plea. It’s hard to reconcile the man who touched me with such reverence just a few hours ago with the one who proclaims I’d disappear once his life resumes its normal schedule.

With deliberate care, I sit down before sliding my chair beneath the desk. “I’m not apologizing for interrupting that discussion.”

“Christin—” Leo starts.

I hold up a hand to silence him. “Let me guess. What I heard wasn’t what it sounded like?”

Leo sways on his feet as I clasp my fingers together and lay them on my desk. “I didn’t⁠— ”

“What? Mean to end us? You did that rather effectively, Leo.”

“That wasn’t my intent,” he pleads.

“Really? Based on what I overheard?” I want nothing more than to throw him out of my home, but I have a few things to say first. “So, I’ll disappear? That’s your opinion about me after all this time?”

“Chris—”

I hold up a hand. “Stop with the nickname.”

Leo clamps his mouth shut.

I tilt my head. “Disappear. That’s a very specific word choice, Leo. Tell me, did you think I was somewhere else when I had your dick in my mouth this morning?”

His expression is harried. He shoves his fingers through his dark hair. “You’re taking my words out of context.”

“I’m fairly certain any ‘context’ you want to offer might make this worse.”

Leo tries to explain. “We were talking about the demands for loved ones on the circuit⁠— ”

“Ah, here it comes. The part where you defer responsibility for your own actions.”

“That’s not what I’m trying to do,” he protests.

I stare at his handsome face and wish, upon everything I hold dear, that I hadn’t fallen for him before I found out what he truly thinks of me. “Are you just looking for a woman who’s willing to fuck you to decompress?”

“No!” he shouts. “That’s not what I meant.”

“You want me to be here for you when you’re available but don’t think I can hack it in your world. You said I’d disappear.”

“But that’s not what I meant.” He paces back and forth in front of my desk, likely wishing he hadn’t had the audacity to have such a demeaning conversation in my own home. “I want…”

“What do you want?” Not that I give a shit at this point.

“I…I…,” he stammers.

“Can you even tell me that?”

His mouth opens and snaps shut, making him look like a guppy. I see him try to formulate a response but after a long silence, I prompt, “What do you see as my place in your world?”

He hesitates.

My chest aches with the kind of pain I haven’t felt in years. “Thank you. That’s the answer I needed.”

Leo exhales sharply. “No, Chris—Christin—we need to talk about this.”

“We really don’t.”