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For now, while we’re riding in a car with my parents, I’ll just keep all my angst and my questions to myself.
But the rest of the ride turns eerily quiet. After thirty minutes of nothing from either Cap or me, my parents actually clam up too. It’s like the silence is contagious.
Eventually, though, the painfully quiet drive comes to an end.
As we pull up in front of my apartment building and Cap puts the Range Rover in park, I grab my phone from the cupholder beside me and open up to my calendar. “What time do you need me in the office tomorrow?” I ask, my voice neutral and, for all intents and purposes, professional. “I have to record in the afternoon, but I can be there in the morning.”
Cap looks between me and my parents as they gather their stuff and climb out the back doors, a tiny line marring the space between his eyebrows.
I raise mine in response. “Hello? Time?”
Cap unbuckles his seat belt and turns to face me, but his eyes go to the console as he digs around for some unnamed object. “Actually, I was thinking…”
“Yeah?”
“Liz is due back from maternity leave soon, and you’re super busy with your other job and…” He pauses, his voice growing quiet, and my heart makes a strong attempt to escape my flipping chest.
Liz isn’t due back for at least another month, and his caseload is insane right now.
He needs the extra help around the office more than ever, yet it sure seems like he’s trying to get rid of me…
“And?” I question, but when he opens his mouth to respond, no words come out.
What the fuck is going on?
“Just say it, Cap,” I prompt further, and this time, words do come out.
“I think maybe it’s time we part ways.”
Painful fucking words that have the accuracy of a sniper, taking aim at my chest and hitting the bull’s-eye that is my heart.
A manwhore tiger never loses his scumbag, player stripes, my mind taunts, and the memories of last night are instantly tainted by the way he’s treating me right now.
It’s like all he did was use my literary preferences to get me into bed, and now that he got what he wanted, he’s fucking done with a capital D.
God, I’m such a fool.
All I can manage is a nod. It’s pretty much all I’m capable of right now, but my nose stings obnoxiously. I threaten myself with cutting the damn thing off if it betrays me.
I will not cry in front of this man.
I refuse.
I push my lips into a firm line, and instantly, the bricks making up all of my defenses that he carelessly broke down over the past two months stack right back up at a record pace.
“It’s time,” I agree, somehow managing to speak past the ball that’s lodged itself into my throat. “It’s definitely time.”
And now, I will not waste any more of my fucking time on him.
I grab my shit from the floorboard, open my door, and jump out onto the street. My parents are getting their bags from the back, and they can get mine too. I’m not staying here for another fucking second.
I weave my way through the parked cars next to us and onto the sidewalk.
I’ve known better all along. Caplin Hawkins is nothing but trouble, and he will never change.
Shame on me for letting myself think he would.
Cap
I watch as Ruby climbs out of the car, slams the door behind herself, and walks away without looking back.
She didn’t even pause, didn’t even argue—not for the slightest second.
My chest feels tight as she disappears between the cars and onto the sidewalk, and with her parents still grabbing bags from the back of the car, I can’t stop myself from jumping out and following her.
She’s just opening the door to her building when I grab her by the elbow.
She whips around so fast, her hair brushes across my face. My heart stops as I get a whiff of the familiar, citrusy smell.
“What?” she yells, her eyes bloodshot and fiery.
“I just… I don’t know, Ruby. I don’t want to… I didn’t want to…” I stumble to find something—anything—to say. I imagine I should have had a plan, being that I was the one to follow her, but I didn’t—I don’t. All I knew is that I had to talk to her one more time. “I don’t like leaving it like this.”
She scoffs, a completely appalling, derisive sound, and my throat closes in around itself. “You don’t like leaving it like this? Give me a break, Cap. You’re the one doing it. You’re the one. And you know it.”
“Ruby—”
“We slept together last night!” she yells, and all activity behind me—what I imagine is her parents pulling their suitcases onto the sidewalk—stops. “And today, you’re done.” She shakes her head, and the look on her face…
