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"It makes sense," Tanner promised. "You got screwed. Things sucked. You also rode all three, which is still better than most of these boys."
But we didn't talk about Ty until we were in the truck and headed back to the hotel. I was dreading the confrontation I knew was coming, so I asked J.D. if he'd get my stuff from that side for me. But at the same time, I knew I needed to talk to Ty, so I changed my mind, saying I could do it myself. The third time I flip-flopped, Tanner couldn't take it anymore.
"I'll get your stuff," he announced. "Then you can talk without anything else in the way. Or not talk if you aren't into it. It's ok, Cody. Believe it or not, we get it."
"We do?" J.D. asked.
"Haven't you ever had a bad breakup?" Tanner asked.
"Nope," J.D. said. "Ain't never had a someone to breakup with like that."
"And now you have Cody," Tanner told him.
J.D. glanced over at me, and the corner of his mouth twitched. "Yeah. I got you too, Tanner. Figure there's a first time for everything, even me not screwing up. I'm gonna let Cody show me how it's done."
"Bad news," I grumbled. "Right now, I feel like I've screwed up this entire weekend."
Chapter44
Together,the three of us made our way through the hotel lobby, heading for the elevator. My eyes were jumping around, expecting to see Ty everywhere, but I didn't. On our way up, I felt my heart start to race, knowing I was getting ever closer to a thing I couldn't take back. The long walk down the hall to the last door felt like it took forever.
But when J.D. opened it, there was nothing but silence inside. No TV from the next room. No open door between our side and the other. I tried to ignore it, claiming the bed closest to the bathroom as my own, but J.D. went straight for the dividing door.
He didn't knock, didn't call out. He simply opened it and stormed through. Then there was nothing.
"Cody?" J.D. called back, after a pause that lasted far too long.
I rushed to the door and across to the other side. What I saw before me was not at all what I'd expected. The beds had been made by housekeeping. My bags were carefully lined up on the table where Ty had fucked me so hard the night before. My dirty clothes were beside them. The stuff I'd put in the bathroom was on the counter beside the TV.
Everything else was gone.
Every hint that Ty had been here had been removed. That was what he'd been doing instead of standing around at the awards ceremony! He'd come back here and cleared out so he didn't have to talk about it? So he didn't have to face me?
The sight of so much nothing hit me in the gut like a fist.
I gasped. It wasn't a sob, but it wanted to be. I also wouldn't let it. In order to keep my balance, I had to grab the back of the chair next to me. Even worse, the longer I looked, the more I realized how meticulous he'd been. A few things I'd left in his truck had been brought up and put beside my bags. My date clothes bag, as an example.
Everything of mine was right here, in perfect condition, and all alone. Ty had just removed himself from my life with an almost surgical precision. The pain, the frustration, and the rage from my entire day all began to boil up. Leading them all was the pain. The one that came from the center of my chest and felt a lot like heartache.
Before my brain even kicked in, I spun and headed back to the other side. I didn't want to see the proof that Ty was gone. I didn't want to feel like this. I certainly didn't like the way my eyes were stinging over a guy who'd treated me the way Ty had.
My feet were moving. I wasn't watching where I was going, so I bounced off the door frame, likely bruising my arm in the process, but I didn't care. I just needed to be back on the other side. On J.D.'s side. On the side where Tanner had been so sweet so many times. I liked it better over there, not this. Not the vacancy of the room that had once been Ty's and mine.
"Cody..." J.D. tried, his voice trailing behind me.
"Hey..." Tanner breathed as I passed him. "You ok?"
"Not even close," I growled. "He's gone, Tanner."
"You dumped him," J.D. reminded me as he stepped through the doorway after me.
So I spun back to face him. "Yeah, I did. After he kept trying to mark me as his territory all weekend long, I told him to stop. Instead, he doubled down, so Ididdump him. He also asked me to."
"What?" Tanner asked, clearly confused.
"Well, he brought it up," I clarified, aware that I wasn't making much sense. "And we were out at that stupid fan bullshit where we couldn't talk about it. All day long, I've been bracing myself for explaining why I was mad, and now this? He's not even going to have aconversationabout this?"
"Cody, it wasn't even three weeks," J.D. reminded me.
