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Davis:You just broke up with me via text. Never thought of you as a coward, but I guess people surprise me all the damn time. Have a nice life, Rae.
* * *
The bellover the entrance clanged cheerily as I sat with my back to the door so I didn’t have to see what sorry soul was wandering in. I didn’t like being in here. I didn’t like being around people, not for any specific reason other than they pissed me off. Always talking, being loud, coughing and sneezing. Just fucking noisy.
But I found myself wandering in here every day for the past two weeks, plopping down and ordering an obscene amount of food, only to have it all boxed up and then dropped off with Saul, one of the homeless guys that held a cardboard sign down on Maple Street. He had the balls to post up in one of the nicest neighborhoods in all of Macon. Unfortunately, he’d likely be better off going over to Salmon and Fir—they’re poor, but generous. Pricks with money clogged the whole damn world up, but I was one of those pricks, so I did what I could to give back. Which was why I didn’t want Roger or Millie to suffer just because I wasn’t putting any more delivery orders in.
I hadn’t put one in since Rae explained that some new kid now had the job. It wasn’t that I stopped ordering because she’d stopped doing it. I decided to come in person just to piss her off. To rattle her, I guess, even though it was more of a punishment to me on the rare occasion that I did see her. Sometimes, I’d come in, but she wouldn’t be here. On those days, I ended up walking around town, down by the coffee shop, and eventually into Rae’s neighborhood. I wasn’t stalking her…just stretching my legs.
“Oh!” I heard someone gasp to my left. I already knew it was Rae without looking. Sure enough, she had pushed through the kitchen doors, holding a plastic tub between her fingers. I didn’t even bother saying anything to her. This was a part of the new dance we did with one another. She’d unexpectedly see me and then scurry away, like her ass was on fire. I must have done a number on her, fucked her in the head or something, because she couldn’t even talk to me.
Each time I heard her gasp, or saw the way she blushed when she saw me, made the stone in my chest rattle against my bones. Reminding me that I tried to make it beat, and I fucked it up.
I was a lost cause.
“Can I get you something? We need to clear the table,” Carl grumbled from the other side of me, breaking the odd silence between Rae and I. Turning, I surveyed the older man, trying to understand his shitty attitude toward me. What I’d done to him, I had no fucking clue, but just like the rest of Macon—he hated me. I just couldn’t figure out why.
Reaching for my wallet, I pulled out a wad of cash, tossed it on the table and barked back, “Get me a few boxes and I’ll go.”
He grunted but moved to the kitchen. Three agonizing minutes later, Rae came out holding two boxes and headed straight for me, making my chest grow tense.
“Here you go.” She gently put the boxes on the table in front of me then stepped back.
“Um…” Tucking a few pieces of hair behind her ear, she hesitated.
I waited.
“Um, I know why you’re coming in every day…and I feel bad about that, seeing as you’re trying to take care of my parents financially, but I know you hate it. So, I just wanted to remind you that you can place orders online and still have them delivered.”
I scoffed, shaking my head. I needed to go, get the fuck away from her before I did something stupid, like drag her to my truck and kiss her. Just to piss her off. Or to get the truth from her lips. I knew she was hiding something; I just couldn’t figure out what.
“Whatever you say, Rae.”
“You should know…” She paused, her lip wobbling just the smallest bit. “I’m not the one who decided to hire Todd.”
I watched her toy with the edge of her apron, chewing on her luscious lip. I thought of how they’d wrapped around my cock when she was in the hen house. I thought of how she kissed the top of my dogs’ heads, and how easily those lips were always spread in a smile while she was with me that weekend.
“Right…just like you didn’t just decide that we weren’t a thing anymore, out of the blue?”
Suddenly she lifted her head and snapped. “Are you saying I did it on purpose?”
“Don’t treat me, or this”—I waved my hand between us—“like we’re idiots, Rae. It’s exhausting.” I angled closer, which took us almost to the far wall.
Her blue eyes darkened as they tipped up to meet mine. Her pink lips parted; her throat bobbed as she straightened her spine.
“We were just a weekend fling, nothing serious. Nothing to get upset over…no reason to have an attitude or get offended.”
I stepped back. The pull to touch her was too strong.
“If that were true then why are you worried about the deliveries?” Reaching out, I skimmed her cheek with my knuckle. “And why are you barely holding back tears right now?”
She wet her lips, her eyes searching mine frantically. I knew I had her. She couldn’t answer without admitting that she had deeper feelings for me.
“For the record, it was never casual to me. It meant something. I wanted to build on that weekend. I—”
“What are you doing?” Carl’s gruff voice broke me out of my thoughts.
Keeping my eyes on her, I stepped back, putting distance between us.
