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Hale nodded. “All right.”
He turned and Van felt the weight of guilt hit him. It wasn’t like he was telling Hale the whole story, but he didn’t want to fight. “Tell her I’m sorry I had to leave early. I would do it myself but I didn’t charge my phone last night. It’s probably dead.”
“Sure.” Hale turned and then stopped again. “Fuck. The door locked.”
“Knock on it.” He couldn’t stay out here for long.
“I don’t want to wake her up. I don’t want her morning to begin with me having to tell her you suck,” Hale admitted.
Frustration welled inside Van. “Maybe you wouldn’t have to if you’d minded your own business.”
Hale’s arms went tight around his chest. “My own business? Somehow this isn’t my own business?”
“I just… Damn it, Hale. Will you get in here? You’re going to get frost bite.” He pulled his keys out. It was obvious Hale wasn’t about to let this go. They were going to have this out and they would have to do it in the car or his best friend would get frost bite.
“Is it because of her scars?” Hale asked.
He thought they knew each other. “No.”
Hale studied him as though there was some way for him to see the truth on his face. “It is, isn’t it? They’re not that bad.”
“It’s not about the scars.” Why wouldn’t Hale give him some fucking space?
“Then what? Because I enjoyed the hell out of last night, and I think we should pursue this,” Hale insisted.
“And I want to think about it.”
Hale stared at him like he’d kicked a puppy or something.
“Do I not have the right to take some time to think about whether or not I want to get involved with a woman we barely know?” Somehow that was an easier explanation than putting the blame in the real place. He was afraid he would get close to her and he would lose both of them.
This kind of relationship had been easy when there weren’t wild emotions floating around. It struck Van that they were all at a crossroads. He and Hale and Elisa were all at a point in their lives where change was happening. “Shouldn’t we all take some time to think about this?”
“Absolutely,” a soft voice said.
That was the moment he realized they weren’t alone. Elisa stood in the doorway, her robe around her and Hale’s coat in her hand.
“Hey.” Van felt his whole body flush. “I was heading into work. I got called in.”
“Sure.” She passed Hale his coat. “You should keep it down though. I think everyone else is trying to sleep.”
Hale nearly fell over trying to get that coat on. “Elisa, he didn’t mean anything by it.”
“By what?” Elisa asked. She disappeared briefly and showed back up with Hale’s cell phone. She was careful to keep the door open so she didn’t get locked out. “He said he needed time. So you should give it to him. You shouldn’t push a person who doesn’t want to be someplace.”
“I didn’t say I didn’t want you.” He couldn’t let her think that.
Her expression had gone blank. “It was fun but it was also casual. We don’t have to repeat the experience. It’s fine. I wasn’t expecting anything but a good time, and I got it. Do I get a T-shirt? I came to Bliss and all I got was a threesome and this T-shirt. I would buy that shirt.”
Hale managed to get into his coat, shoving the phone in his pocket. “Elisa, you have misunderstood this. I don’t know what’s going on in Van’s head, but I know what I want. I’m going to take the day off and show you around town.”
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She stepped back. “Like I said, it was fun, but I think we should leave it here.”
That was not how the morning was going to go before he’d gotten out of bed. She’d cuddled with Hale all night long. She’d been so into him. She hadn’t meant to break things off with them this morning.
This was all his fault. She wouldn’t be shoving Hale away if they hadn’t been fighting in the parking lot. “Hey, Hale is not the one with the problem. It’s me. I need some time. Things got intense last night. I don’t know if I’m ready for that.”
“It’s okay.” Her expression had softened. “I appreciate that, though I wish you’d left a note or something. But I do understand.”
“Good.” Hale looked like a man who’d been told he wasn’t about to be executed. “I’ll take a shower and then we can go to Stella’s for breakfast.”
“They’re not that bad?” She asked the question on a soft sigh. “I knew it would be hard to get comfortable with my body again, but you two managed it. Now I wonder how bad it was for you.”
