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I tried to dissect what he was saying, surprised when I found some sincerity in it. But having him here just felt so at odds with the new environment I was in, and I wasn’t prepared for it yet.
“Brett…”
“Soph, I’m serious. Every word.”
This time, there was a hint of insistence in his pleading and it ticked something inside me. Suspicion rose. I didn’t leave behind any information about my whereabouts, true, but I hadn’t been extra sneaky about my movements, either, and even called my old workplace’s HR to get some documents for my next official job hunting. All he needed was a little digging to find out where I was, so why did it take him months to find me?
Beyond that, something rang hard and firmly inside me. I wasn’t overcome with joy over the reunion. In fact, I wasn’t in any type of pain, either, the sight of him doing nothing to my insides as it once did.
It was crazy. It stupefied me when it dawned that I had moved on without me even realizing it until that moment. But I took it in stride and calmly met his gaze.
“I’m sorry, Brett. I don’t want you back.”
Brett blinked, not quite prepared for how easy my answer was.
“What?”
“You heard me.” When he kept looking at me in confusion, a thrum of pity came. I cleared my throat. “Listen, we had a good run, but—”
“But you can’t do this!”
The switch from soft-spoken to a full-blown shout had me blinking in turn. “What?”
“You can’t do this, Sophie.”
“Why not?”
“My family misses you.”
There was a second click of realization, harder than the last.
“You mean your family thinks you made a mistake and are pressuring you to get back together with me,” I guessed. “Because Sam’s family isn’t wealthy and she doesn’t come from old money. She doesn’t fit into high society and therefore, they don’t approve of her.”
A hard look crossed his features before frustration settled. He shook his head.
“It wasn’t even that serious for us to try. She didn’t mean anything to me. I was just stressed with work and we didn’t have time for each other. She was the one available and she relieved my stress.”
Was the asshole subtly blaming me for his affair? I scoffed.
“Yeah, well, you ruined our relationship for something not serious, so forgive me if I’m not that eager about this. Who knows when you’ll bestressedagain and fuck the next available woman?”
“I won’t. That was the last one and it won’t happen again.”
“No, Brett.”
“You just need time to think about it. I’ll give you time. We can move past this and have a great future together.”
I tried not to be angry, I really did. But it was slowly taking over. I knew I needed to end this conversation before I gave in to that emotion.
“I don’t need time. I’m not getting back together with you, Brett, and that’s final. You and I can have a great future, sure. Apart. Separately.”
My voice was as firm as it could go without snapping at him. Before he could get another word in, I sidestepped him, intent on getting inside the restaurant and putting this exchange in the past, where it belonged. But a hand wrapped around my wrist before I could leave. When I yanked it off, Brett switched from my wrist to my arm and squeezed it hard.
“Hey,” I cried out, pain streaking downward. “Let go. You’re hurting me—”
“You’re being unreasonable. If you would just listen to me—”
Just as I was about to yank a second time, his grip was no longer on me and a body was in between us. There was a whirl of commotion before it registered that Brett was stumbling a step back and Sebastian was blocking him from reaching out to me. Tension coiled in Sebastian’s muscles and his expression spoke of a building storm.
