Page 100 of Slow Burn

What?

Georgia sank into her seat.

There was no way she was ready to meet someone else.

Anna took her turn for a sip of wine. “She needs to talk to him.”

“Why, so he can re-tell her how he isn’t ready to commit?” Sophie wasn’t backing down.

Anna rolled her eyes. “He never said he couldn’t commit. There is obviously something deeper going on, and they need to talk about it.”

Georgia clapped her hands together to get their attention. Well, that and to get them to stop bickering about her breakup.

“Ladies, I appreciate you being here. You two are the best friends a girl could ask for. When it comes to Elijah, the ball is in his court. We always said we’d only chase ice cream trucks or book sales, not men. I’m sticking to our mantra.” When Georgia reminded them of their high school pact, it only reinvigorated her.

“Hell yeah!” Sophie high-fived her while Anna saluted with the bottle of wine.

“Listen, do I love him? Yes. Without any doubt. But he needs to decide whether he actually wants a relationship. If he does, then what does being with me look like? I’ve decided no matter how much my heart aches, I need to keep living my life. I’m not waiting for him because Elijah was right. I do deserve better.”

Anna and Sophie exchanged a look.

“We support you,” Anna assured her.

Sophie hugged Georgia close again. “Now let’s watch some trashy reality television.”

Another smile, bigger than the one before, came from Georgia.

Heartbreak was awful, but her best friends were the greatest.

THREE FUCKING WEEKS.

Elijah was living a nightmare.

His peach broke up with him. Nash was barely speaking to him. Anna only responded to him at the station, and it was with one-word responses. His office reminded him of Georgia, and how things ended, so he hated being at work.

And he only had himself to blame.

These were his last few hours before he was off shift for three days, and he didn’t have a single plan outside of sleep and working on his house. That was all he had done since Georgia left him, dragging all the light and happiness with her.

He had to get away from his desk and the lingering memory of the last time he saw Georgia in his office. Going to the break room, Sloane and Anna immediately hushed, which was one clue he was the subject of their conversation.

“Great, there he is.” Anna crossed her arms.

That summed it up. They were talking about him.

Sloane angled her head to the side. “Maybe we should just ask him ourselves.”

Anna only lifted a shoulder, but it wasn’t a no, so he took the opportunity to join them. Perhaps there was an off chance she would slip up and mention Georgia. He hoped she was doing better than him. Elijah took a seat in the empty chair.

“How are you?” Sloane was kind with her words.

Anna scooted her chair from him. Solidarity and all for Georgia, he figured.

He stretched his legs. “I’m fucking miserable, and everything, I mean everything, reminds me of Georgia. My house, work, the bar, hell even my books. She breathed something like magic into my life, and now it’s gone. A piece of me knows I did the right thing, but then the selfish part of me wants to make sure she never has a chance to leave me again. But doesn’t she deserve to play the field a bit, be with someone who has a reliable career, someone safer?”

Sloane gently nodded as she listened, while Anna whipped out her phone and started texting someone.

“I love her, and I’m a fucking mess without her.” He gulped while admitting this. “But I don’t deserve her.”