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I scrub a hand across my jaw, not taking my eyes off her as I answer, “About four months before I came over here,” I tell her, even though it feels like both a lifetime ago and only yesterday that it all happened.
Lu nods, biting her bottom lip as she stares back at me. Pulling my stool closer to her, I reach for her other hand, lifting them to my lips and pressing a kiss to the back of each hand.
“It was over long before that,” I tell her, knowing it’s the truth even if I didn’t know it at the time. “And it was over long before I was with you.”
She nods again but still doesn’t say anything.
“It’s nothing like this, Lu,” I say, needing her to understand how different this is, how different we are. “You and me, we…we have history and friendship and…” I pause, wondering how best to explain this without freaking her out or admitting more than I think either of us is ready for.
“We have a connection,” I say settling on that. “We’ve always had that.”
Lu smiles now, a tiny smile that tugs at the corner of her mouth. “Yeah,” she whispers, squeezing my hands.
“I love that about us,” I say, skirting dangerously close to unknown territory here. “And I don’t…”
My phone ringing cuts through the moment, interrupting my almost confession and startling us both.
“Fuck,” I say, glancing at it as it sits on the counter.
Unknown numberflashes on my screen, the shrill ring tone cutting through the silence of the kitchen. I make no move to answer it and it eventually goes to voicemail.
Turning back, I find Lu watching me, a strange look on her face that has me wondering if she hasn’t read my mind and heard all the things I can’t admit to her out loud.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Lauren
The phone rings for a third time, but Jack has now shoved it in the back pocket of his jeans, making no move to look at it.
And when the person calls for a fourth time, I ask, “Do you think you should answer that?”
Jack’s usually tanned face has turned a pale shade of white, his eyes telling me that the person on the other line is not someone he’s willing to give his time to. There’s something he’s not telling me.
He lets out a hard sigh before pulling the phone from his pocket and answering with a clipped, “Hello.”
He’s silent after that, but I watch his already pale face take on an even paler shade of white as I hear the muffled sound of the person’s voice on the other end.
Seconds after answering the call, he hangs up and looks back at me, making me question what just happened.
“Who was it?” I ask, my curiosity eating away at me, building something up in my head that’s probably far worse than the reality.
“Just one of those recordings. Something about a car warranty,” Jack replies, but he struggles to get the words out, and the color has yet to return to his face.
“You sure you’re okay?” I ask, not trying to pry, but this is the first time I’ve seen Jack react anything but casually.
“Yeah, yeah, all good.”
I don’t push the conversation any further. As much as my thoughts are swirling, and I know the phone call was more than just a telemarketer by the look on Jack’s face, I can’t bring myself to ask anything more.
I take our empty plates from the table and walk over to the sink as Jack comes up behind me and slips his arms around my waist. He presses his lips to my neck and I turn in his arms, my back now against the sink.
“So, why’d you and Nate break up?” Jack asks and the question catches me off guard.
“You jealous?” I ask, deflecting the question away.
“Me jealous of that fuckwit? Never,” Jack says pursing his lips and giving me a side eye as he tips his head and begins biting at my neck. “I just want to make sure you know you’re mine,” he growls in my ear and something about it is so fucking hot.
“Jack,” I warn, because he knows exactly what he’s doing to me.
