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“What are you selling?” Alys’s tone was as neutral as her face.
A billion answers raced through my head in a single clump, and vanished just as quickly. It was time to stop hiding this. “The record store.”
A frown whispered across her brow. “Why?”
“I’m moving out of state, to take over a different shop.” That was harder to say than I expected. Then again, I’d put it off for a year for a reason.
The creases in her forehead were deep now, and there was no mistaking her scowl. “You started your remodel months ago. You said it was because the place needed an update. You’ve known for at least that long.”
“I’m surprised you noticed.” The retort slipped out without my permission. This was where I should stop, but the words weren’t done. “You don’t spend any time out here. You work. You have another life. It’s not like you’re going to miss me, and this is a huge opportunity for me. There’s more for me there than here.”
The hurt that splashed across Alys’s face ripped me in two.
What did I just say? Why did I say it?
14
Alys
It was happening again.
I’d started to fall. To believe I could let my guard down, and maybe, possibly, see Onyx as more than a friend. To feel more for Maddox.
There’s more for me there than here.
Onyx might as well have slapped me and told me to fuck off. It wasn’t just that he was going, or chose a less than delicate way to say so, it was that he’d lied about it—kept it a secret—for the last year.
Because the one thing my mind was doing for me was filling in the blanks. All the remodeling. Selling the building next door. Making sure certain things were modernized. He lied about why. Looked me in the eye over and over and said the extra work was just because.
And I refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing how much this hurt. I wiped the shock away, and gave him a tight smile. “Okay. Good luck with that.”
Nope, this was harder than I thought. Why did it hurt so much? I turned away and ran smack dab into Maddox’s chest.
“Hey. What’s going on?” he asked.
I glanced back at Onyx, who gave the slightest shake of his head.
“Fuck you,” I said to Onyx. I looked at Maddox again. “Onyx is leaving. He’s been planning it for months, but didn’t think we were important enough to tell.” How I said any of that without my voice cracking was beyond me.
“What?” Maddox’s mouth dropped open. “Why would you…? Leaving? You lied?”
Onyx clenched his jaw. “I didn’t—” He cut himself off with a low growl. “Yes.”
There it was.
I couldn’t think, and most certainly wouldn’t lose my shit. “I’m going.” Looking at Maddox should’ve been easier, but his disbelief mirrored my hurt. “I—” I’m sorry.
I most definitely wasn’t going to say that. The number of times I apologized to my ex, though he was the one who cheated. He was the one who told me again and again that fucking me was a mistake. That I’d destroyed our friendship that way.
I hadn’t owed him the billions of apologies I’d cried out, just to hold onto him, and I wouldn’t apologize now for Onyx’s decisions.
“Alys.” Onyx’s call hit my back as I walked toward the door. “Listen to me.”
The time for talking and listening was apparently a year ago.
Maddox was with me. Uncharacteristically quiet, with an impossible to read expression.
I was two stores down in the alley when I had to stop, because I didn’t know where I was going.
