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“Wilder,” he said again, and my eyes jerked up to meet his.
“I saiddon’t. I’m not a fucking idiot. I know my goddamn place at the bottom of the trash heap. Let it go, Damian.”
“I’m sorry.”
While I was shocked as hell to hear an apology come from his mouth, I didn’t give a damn right then. The last bit of my buzz vanished in a puff of smoke as the pain in my chest grew. How the hell had I let this happen?
Him calling me baby in that way, in that tone of voice, with that much feeling, it snapped something in meeven though I knewit was a bad fucking idea. It surprised the shit out of me for him to call me by that pet name, but that wasn’t what made me gasp. It was the stunning realization that I’dwantedhim to call me that. That I’dwantedit to be meant for me—but I was smart enough to know it wasn’t.
Something that wouldneverbe because I was lower than scum to him.
“Don’t lie. We both know better,” I said in response to his apology.
Something resembling hurt crossed his face, but I didn’t care. Mostly because I was damn near certain it was impossible to hurt his feelings—especially over me. I had nothing and no one, and I was no one to anyone. Justin and Luna were it, and it was clearer now than ever before that Icould notrisk my friendship with Justin. I needed to talk to him soon. What happened between us couldneverhappen again, which only broke my heart even more.
I walked over to the middle of the pallet on the floor and flopped down, pulling the blankets back and shoving my legs underneath.
As Damian turned and headed to the kitchen, I couldn’t help but wonder how awkward the rest of the night would be. I couldn’t drive. That meant I had to stay with them. Damian had mentioned getting a room ready for me, but from the looks of it, they’d planned for us to spend the night down here together.
I pulled my phone from my pocket and quickly downloaded the Uber app.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
TEMPERANCE
Isnuck outside and made my way to my car. Damian had told me to take my shoes off in the car when we’d first arrived, and that’s what I’d done. Made it super convenient for me because I slipped them on and pulled my car key off the key ring and left it in the driver’s seat. I trusted Asher to drive it back to school.
I checked the Uber app, and it said the driver would arrive in ten minutes. I hoped that wasn’t too long. The last thing I wanted was for either of them to come out and talk to me.
“Fuck,” I mumbled to myself. “What the fuck were you thinking?”
Somehow, Damian had gotten under my skin. Asher had, too. It was bad enough I had feelings for Justin. He was one of my two best fucking friends, so that came with its own set of drawbacks. But these two fuckheads were my enemies. Damian more so than Asher, but Asher had done a good enough job the last few weeks of being a colossal dick, so he was just as bad as far as I was concerned.
How thefuckdid I manage to let them in?
“Temperance,” Asher said.
“God-fucking-damn it,” I growled.
“Whoa. Unexpected. Also uncalled for. You okay?” he asked.
“Fine.”
“Yep, you seem fine.”
“Good.”
I could hear him sigh from wherever he was. “Temperance, talk to me.”
“Don’t need to. Don’t care to. I know Damian already told you what happened, so there’s no need to discuss it further. Have a good night. See ya Monday.” I headed down the blacktop drive, and I remembered this wasn’t a fucking road. It was one hell of a long ass driveway. I could have been waiting at the end of it—where Ineeded to be—and avoided him altogether.
Idiot.
“Hey! Wait,” he said, running up behind me. He touched my arm, and I rounded on him. “Whoa, sorry.”
“Don’t, okay?” I stared at him for several moments. I saw movement out of my peripheral, and it was then that I realized Damian had come with him, materializing out of the shadows as usual. “Oh, great. You, too.” I rolled my eyes and turned to walk away.
“Goddamn it, Tempe,stop,” Asher ordered, and I kept walking.
