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“The source of your trauma,” he inserts. “He said you were his secret whore, Han. Don’t let sparkly new behavior distract you. The mask fell. Don’t hand it over and invite him to put it back on.”
My stomach rolls, while two lines form between Axel’s brows.
He can’t hear Raul’s side of the call. But he sees my face. And scowls when I gently extricate my hand from his.
“I’m gonna go,” Raul says before I can formulate a response. “I’ll call Gina and patch that up.” He brushes his fingers across his stubbled jaw. “I definitely didn’t intend to hurt her feelings. I just know how you’ve been the last seven months. I saw you at your lowest, Han. And the fact you mentioned bad headspace in the same week as his return…” I can practically hear his shrug. “I thought I was doing the right thing by my friend.”
Guilt eats me up and burns me where I sit. Setting my elbow on the table, and my chin in my hand, I exhale a sad sigh. “I didn’t mean to snap at you. I was just empathizing with the girl who might’ve felt rejected by the guy she likes. It’s a sucky feeling, so…”
“I get it. I’ll call her and fix it now.” The sound of his engine idling rumbles through the call. “I hope you have a nice evening. I just…” he trails off for a beat. “I just want you to be sure about this. Make good choices. Because when it’s all said and done, and he’s finished with his plaything, I want my friend to be alright. Call me tomorrow, okay?”
I drag my bottom lip between my teeth, and nibble as anxiety swirls in my blood. “Okay.”
“Or I’ll see you at the shop. I wanna see you smile, okay? So I know you’re fine.”
Hanging up the call and leaving me with my phone pressed to my ear and a million thoughts racing through my mind, Raul takes that negative headspace I thought I’d kicked to the curb, and plants it firmly back inside my mind.
Is he wrong for worrying?
No.
Does he have a point?
Yes.
Does Axel have a track record fornotbreaking my heart?
Not so far.
“Hey?” The moment I lower my phone and look down at my barely touched plate, Axel leans across the table and places his fingers beneath my chin to bring my gaze up. “What the hell happened? You were happy. Your eyes were smiling, babe. Now you look like someone killed your puppy.”
Or I look like the girl who cried in a cemetery, while the man she loved broke her heart and cut it into shreds.
“Talk to me.” He pinches my chin between his finger and thumb until I’m forced to look into a pair of scared silver-gray eyes. “What the hell did he say? He stole the light right out of you, Sully. I’m gonna kick his fuckin’ a—”
“He didn’t say anything that wasn’t true.” I pull my face from his grasp, and swallow when his expression darkens with temper. When his hands ball, his head tilts, and his shoulders grow with adrenaline. “He was just checking in on me.”
“He’s not good for you, ba—”
“Why did you lie about the fire alarms at Pinocchio’s?”
His head snaps straight. “What?”
“The sprinklers. It’s one thing that you did it; I get it. We have a long history, and you have a short fuse. But you’ve never been huge on lying.”
“I’m not lying!”
His barked words have the table of teens peering up curiously.
Oh good, an audience to my pain.
“I’ve only ever told you one lie in my life, Hannah Sullivan. And it was that Ididn’tlove you.”
Tears burn the backs of my eyes and make them itch. “I need you to own up to it. Admit it, so we can move forward.”
“Admit I set off the alarms?” he snarls quietly. “I didn’t.”
“You were there, Axel! I saw you. You were mad, you get possessive. It’s what you do. Just acknowledge it so we can go back to having a nice evening.”
