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Looking more pained than she had ever seen him, he got up and walked to the door.
He ran his hand over his face and said, “I’m fucked up. I’m sorry.”
Then he opened the door and left. She moved to put the chain in place and leaned back against the door. Sliding down to the ground, she sobbed uncontrollably.
Chapter 24
Over the next two weeks, Chris moved through his life on autopilot. He’d tried to call Chloe several times, left messages, but she’d yet to return his call. He still had the key to her place, but he figured that would be crossing a line to use it.
As he reread the same line of the contract he was working on for the fifth time, he heard a knock on his office door. Deacon stuck his head in and asked, “Have you got a minute?”
Chris had been waiting for this. He was pretty sure Deacon was about to kick his ass. He probably deserved it, too.
“Yeah, man. What’s up?” he asked, dreading the response.
Deacon grimaced and said, “Look, I don’t know what happened between you and my sister, but whatever it is, fix it. You’re both a mess. She says whatever it was was her fault and that I’m not supposed to give you shit about it, but enough is enough.”
“That was nice of her, but it’s pretty much my fault. I’m an idiot. Instead of trying to get over my personal shit, I just basically fucked things up with her.”
Looking at him expectantly, Deacon asked, “And how do you intend to fix it?”
“I don’t know if I can, Deak. She wants more than I know how to give. Hell. She won’t even talk to me right now anyway. I’ve been calling her and leaving messages. She’s not returning my calls,” he said.
Chris laid his forehead against the desk for a second and sighed. Raising his head, he relayed the entire story of their last day together from start to finish.
Shaking his head in disgust, Deacon said, “You stupid, stupid man.”
Nodding, he said, “Yeah. Pretty much.”
“How do you not realize that you’re in love with her, is what I don’t get here,” Deacon said.
Chris blinked at him.
“You’re walking around here like you lost your best friend, because you actually did. That’s the major distinction between her being the girl you’re frequently fucking and the girl you’re in love with. Hell, you guys were all but shacked up.”
Deacon paused as something occurred to him.
“You weren’t seeing anyone else, were you?” he asked.
“No! Of course not,” Chris said.
“Mighty indignant about that question for a man who isn’t involved with someone,” Deacon said.
“It’s common courtesy to not fuck multiple people. I extend that courtesy to all of my partners,” Chris said.
“It started out as courtesy, but when you guys continued seeing each other and started fucking vacationing together, it stopped being about courtesy and started being a choice you consciously made. Stop being a pussy and go talk to her,” Deacon said.
“As much as I appreciate this little pep talk, I really do need to work,” Chris said.
Shaking his head, Deacon said, “You can f
ix this whole situation by being honest with yourself. You’ve been in love with her for a while now. It’s all over your face any time anybody even speaks her name. Stop fucking around before you lose her for good.”
Before Chris could say anything, Deacon left his office.
Setting his forehead on the desk again, he realized that Deacon was right. The pain in his gut every time he thought of her hadn’t eased. If anything, it was more acute. He’d go to her after work. At this point, he wasn’t above begging.
At 5:00 p.m. on the dot, he was out the door. Heading to his car, he went over what he was going to say in his mind. The traffic on the 101 was moving at a crawl, so that gave him plenty of time to think.
