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The way his gaze searched my face had me fighting for air. He looked like he wanted to kiss me and honest to God if we hadn’t been where we were, I probably would have let him. Before I kneed him in the balls of course.
“What time? I’ll need to make arrangements for Chloe.”
There went that ache in my chest again.
“Five. Is that early enough so you won’t miss her bedtime or anything?”
His eyes turned sad. “Yeah. Yeah that works great.”
I nodded. “Fine. I’ll text you the address.”
Spinning on my boot heels, I walked toward the booth where Corina was standing. I had to concentrate on breathing, especially since I could feel Steed’s eyes on me. One glance over my shoulder proved I was right. I gave him a weak smile as my heart raced. I didn’t want to forgive him. I wanted to be angry, but my heart was beginning to win the war against my head.
When I got to the booth I felt more eyes on me. This time they were Gina’s…and they were filled with anger.
I stood in front of the mirror and groaned. “Why did I tell him to come here?”
Corina sat on the edge of my bed. “Because deep down you want something to happen.”
My mouth dropped open as I stared at her in the mirror. “I do not.”
She laughed. “Please. You two gaze at each other like you’re starving for one another.” Falling onto the bed, she covered her heart. “Oh, to have a love like that.”
I huffed. “You’re insane. I don’t look at him like that, and he certainly doesn’t look at me like that. Besides, you saw him talking to Gina.”
Corina sat up. “Puh-lease. Gina is a money grubbing S. L. U. T. Steed’s not interested in her. She keeps throwing herself at him. Trust me. I was watching.”
“Since when did you become a Steed fan?” I asked, pulling my hair up and braiding it.
“Oh, I’m not. Believe me, when he introduced himself I wanted to junk punch him. His pretty face was a bit of a distraction though.”
Corina winked, and I couldn’t help but chuckle. “He is handsome, I won’t argue with you on that.”
“Hell, they are all handsome. And bodies like gods. What in the heck did their mother drink while pregnant?”
Laughing, I dropped in one of the chairs in my bedroom. “When we were younger, oh man, the girls would go crazy for the Parker brothers. Tripp’s the oldest brother and lord did the girls throw themselves at him. It was almost kind of sad.”
“Did he ever date anyone?”
“Yeah, he had a serious girlfriend, Harley. They broke up, and he kind of started the path for the whole Parker man whore legend. I think she broke his heart and the only way he could get over it was to sleep with every girl he could.”
Corina rolled her eyes. “What about Mitchell?”
I smiled. “He’s always been the serious one. Anytime the boys wanted to do something that was borderline wrong, Mitchell tried to talk them out of it.”
“Explains the cop thing then.”
“Yeah. I think he’s probably the shyest out of all the guys.”
“Huh. Interesting.” Corina stood. “I guess I better head out before Steed gets here.”
My chest tightened as panic set in. “Maybe I should call and tell him another night.”
Corina placed her hands on my arms and pierced my eyes with hers. “Paxton, you need to talk to him. You’ve been needing to talk to him since the day he walked away. You won’t be able to move on if you guys don’t sort this out. I know you say you don’t have feelings for him, but I’m your best friend and I know that’s a lie. I see the way you look at him. Talk to him, honey. You can’t keep this inside much longer.”
A single tear slipped from my eye and made a slow trail down my face. “I know,” I whispered.
Squeezing my arms, Corina gave me a reassuring smile. “Tell him how he hurt you, Paxton. Get it out there in the open and close this chapter of your life. Then you can decide if Steed Parker is part of the next chapter or not.”
My chin trembled and all I could do was nod.
Corina kissed me on the forehead and turned to leave. A quick peek at the clock told me I had fifteen minutes until Steed would get here.
Corina stopped at the door. “Maybe you should take a shot of something.”
Jerking my head back, I asked, “Why?”
“Because you’re shaking like a leaf.” She winked.
After Corina left, I stood there for a few moments staring at the door. Taking a deep breath, I let my mind go back to the day that changed everything.
Everyone was celebrating the fact that we had graduated high school. Everyone but me. The cramps in my stomach were a constant reminder that I had lost the baby in the early morning hours. I was so tired. I’d driven myself to the hospital and sat there alone while the doctor told me what had happened.
