Page 44 of Maximus

“’Night, Eva.”

Eva. Not babe or honey.

Just Eva—reminding me I was nothing.

The loneliness crept in and filled me with ice.

Then I turned and left.

Chapter 14

I’d been lying awake in this goddamned bed tossing and turning for hours, therefore I heard the soft creaking of the door, and quiet footsteps down the hall.

Eva was still awake. That was the second time I’d heard her get up.

The first time, I should’ve gone to her and made sure she was okay. But after the way I’d treated her, I didn’t think she’d be happy to see me. So I’d stayed in bed, the bed that smelled like apples and sex. Even after my shower, I couldn’t get her sweet smell off my skin. Not that I’d wanted to wash her away, but my stomach had been covered with come. Never had I been so caught up in a woman I forgot to use a condom.

At least that’s what I was telling myself instead of admitting I’d wanted to feel Eva bare. And that was the fuck of it, I’d purposely taken her, without protection.

Now I was behaving like a spineless dick because I knew I’d been wrong. From start to finish, I’d been a prick, but especially the way I’d let her leave. But when my first thought had been to keep her in my bed, because I didn’t want to let her go, I knew I had to get a lock on my emotions.

Fucking hell, I hadn’t even kissed her goodbye. But worse than that, I let her walk out of the bedroom knowing she wasn’t all right.

Fuck! I scrubbed my hands over my face and sucked in a breath.

It was time to face what I’d done. I couldn’t continue to hide in this damn room knowing Eva was awake and upset.

I tossed the covers off and found my discarded jeans, yanked them up, and went for the door hoping like hell I didn’t find Eva crying.

I made my way down the hall and into the living room and there she was, ass to the kitchen counter, glass of what looked like apple juice aloft. But she wasn’t drinking it, she was staring into nothing.

Goddamn, I’d done that to her.

I cleared my throat, not wanting to scare her as I started to make my way across the room. Her head turned to the side, her eyes locked onto mine, and she frowned.

“I hope I didn’t wake you. I was trying to be quiet.”

I could’ve lied, which is what I should’ve done instead of admitting the truth.

“You didn’t, I was awake.”

She nodded like she fully understood my restlessness, which by the weary look she wasn’t hiding, I suppose she did.

“Well, since we’re both awake at…” Eva glanced over at the microwave. “Three-thirty in the morning, we should probably get this over with now.”

“Get what over with?”

Please don’t fucking say it.

“That was a mistake.”

Goddamn, she said it, and instead of relief, her words were a knife to the gut.

“Which part?”

Her eyes widened before they narrowed and her lips thinned into two slivers.

Yep, I was being a dick—on purpose, too. All because I hated that she said what happened was a mistake. Which I agreed with, but not for the reasons she did.