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Then, my boy, who never let anyone tell him what to do, proceeded to rinse his plate clean and stack it in the dishwasher. He even went so far as to wipe out the sink.
Utterly domesticated.
Zadie blew him a kiss on his way out. He winked back at her.
“Don’t give him my kisses,” I grumbled.
She gave me the barest smile. “Would you mind taking me back to my dorm? I really could use a long nap, and I think I’ll sleep better there.”
“You’re leaving tomorrow.”
Everything in me did not want to let her go. She’d be gone for five days as it was. Things between us needed to be settled before that happened. I had to know without a shadow of a doubt she was coming back to me before I allowed her to step on that plane.
“I know, but I’m tired and my brain is fuzzy. I just need to be in my room for a while.”
“All right. I’ll take you and come back at noon to pick you up.” Taking her mug, I placed it on the island and drew her from her stool into my arms. She buried her face in my chest, hugging me tight. That made it easier to give her a few hours. Not easy. Zadie leaving me was never easy.
“I just need some sleep,” she murmured into my chest.
She wore my shorts and T-shirt on the ride back to her dorm, looking adorably disheveled. Looking like a girl who just rolled out of my bed and I wanted to toss her back in it.
I stopped at the curb. She unbuckled and leaned her body across the console, crushing her mouth to mine. Before I could say “fuck it” and drive her back to my house, she tore her mouth away and darted out the door, waving as she ran up the steps to her dorm.
We weren’t right. We weren’t fucking right at all. My girl wasn’t getting on a plane and flying away from me until we got back to where we were last night.
It was three hours later, still an hour before I was to head back to pick up Zadie. Julien and I were kicked back in the living room, both too spent from the night before to do much other than watch a movie on TV. Meanwhile, Marco was killing it at the gym. He was the most laid back of the three of us, but the kid did not take a day off from working out, even when he was running on a couple hours of sleep.
Fuck him and his eight-pack.
My head was beginning to throb. I needed to get up, swallow back some painkillers and guzzle water so it didn’t develop into the kind of headache that had me locking myself in my dark bedroom, unable to do much except ride it out. Of course, the last one of those I’d had, Zadie had helped me ride it out, and it hadn’t been even half as bad as they normally were.
My phone vibrated. I flipped it over on my leg to check the screen. A text from Zadie.
Zadie:I decided to change my ticket and fly back to Oregon today. I should have told you I was going today, and I’m really sorry I didn’t, but I thought you would force a conversation on me I am not ready to have. I need space and time to reconcile my mind with what happened last night. I know I’m not okay with it, but I can’t see beyond that and what that means for us. I’m sorry I couldn’t say this to your face. The plane is about to take off, so I have to turn my phone off. I’ll text when I land, but I really need space, so I’m asking you not to call. Xoxo
I read it, reread it, and reread it again. I couldn’t believe she’d snuck out on me. My Zadie, my sweet little Zadie, had lied to my face and snuck out like a fucking thief in the night. She wasn’t wrong, I would have forced a conversation, but god-fucking-dammit, we were adults. Weneededto have a conversation.
My forehead pulsed.Shit.
“You look ready to murder your phone.” Julien craned his head to read the screen. “Who sent you a paragraph? Princess Z?”
“She’s gone.”
“Gone where?”
“On a flight to Oregon.”
He shook his head. “Nah, she’s leaving tomorrow. What’d she say?”
“She changed her ticket. Needs to get her head on straight.”
Julien sank back against the cushions, rubbing a hand over his mouth. “Pussy move to leave without telling you first.”
There was no thought before I made my next move, whipping around and gripping him around the throat. I pressed him deep into the couch, hovering over him.
“Don’t ever disrespect my girl like that again. You hear me? That’smyfucking girl.”
His hands went up in surrender, and I let him go, falling back to my seat. The throbbing vein in my temple was more like a rope, lassoing my head as tight as it could get.
