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“Is something wrong?” I say, taking another step toward him with a lump in my throat.
Wes’s shoulders stiffen, and he finally turns around, anger in his eyes. “Do you care?”
I flinch at his comment and my chest aches. “Always,” I croak, my voice clogged with emotion. It’s not a lie. I care. I cried for days after walking away from him, and only half of it was because I was pregnant. The other half—him.
Wes huffs out a laugh and departs without another glance my way. I consider leaving him be. I do. But I’ve never been a hold back kind of girl.
“Wait!” I call again as I run after him.
He pushes through the glass doors to the parking lot before I’ve reached him and continues to ignore me as he approaches his truck. The same truck I remember.
“Wes, stop, please.”
Pausing with his hand on the door handle, he peers over his shoulder with a scowl. “What, Lucy?”
“You look worried. Can I help somehow?”
I’m not sure what I’m asking. Or why. But I can’t walk away without offering something.
He spins then and stares at me blankly, stepping into my personal space. “No, Lucy. You can’t help. This is a personal matter and we’re practically strangers.”
Ouch! My chest burns from the lack of emotion in his expression, and I almost believe his words until he blinks and his eyes remain closed a beat too long.
“I’m sorry. I’ll leave you be,” I say as he jumps in his truck and slams the door before pulling out of the lot. It’s not until he’s out of sight that I release a held breath. Can I blame him for being angry at me? No. But pretending we’re strangers isn’t going to work. Not when I still have his touch, his taste, his smell etched into my mind. I’ve never regretted walking away that day; I did what was best for both of us. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t wished things could have worked out differently. I’m just not sure where to go from here.
I’m about to head back inside when someone calls my name. My stupid heart jumps, thinking Wes has come back, but it’s not even his voice.
When I turn around, Greg’s best friend is jogging toward me. My heart thuds again but for a different reason entirely. I’ve had nothing to do with Greg since the day he sent me the article about Wes. I changed my number. I moved, for God’s sake. Seeing his friendnowmakes my spine curl.
“Bry, how are you?” I play nice, even though I want to throw up.
“Lucy, it’s been so long. Are you back working here?” Brighton asks and I internally cringe. Do I lie? And why the hell is he here? He lives an hour away.
“Potentially, we’ll see. I’m just putting the feelers out.” That would have been the truth if he’d seen me last week so we’ll go with that.
Brighton smiles. “Nice one. My brother’s kid is on the cheer team. I’m picking her up from practice.”Guess that answers my question.
“Oh, perfect. It’s a great college.”
Brighton smiles but doesn’t say anything back. He blinks a few times like he doesn’t believe I’m actually standing in front of him, and that’s unnerving.
“Well, it was good to see you. I’ve gotta run or I’ll be late,” I say awkwardly, pointing toward the doorway, making Bry snap out of whatever weird mood he’s in.
“Yeah, yeah. Me too. Good seeing you, Luce.”
My lips pull into a forced smile before I walk away from our awkward conversation. When he’s out of sight, my skin covers in goose bumps, and an uncomfortable feeling swirls inside me. I’m not sure if anything will come of that interaction, but if it does, it won’t be good.
Within ten minutes of finishing work, I arrive at my local gym. The need to work out and physically hit something is strong. The negative energy flowing through me needs to go. As soon as I’m changed, I head over to the punching bags and find Joel and Delilah stretching beside them. Joel’s hands are taped, and there’s a pair of gloves at his feet, making me eye them both suspiciously.
“Summer thought you might need company since she can’t be here. Del’s here to work out, and I’m here to box.”
Summer and I completed a self-defense course together just before I got pregnant. Actually, it was after I became pregnant but just before I knew it. From there I developed a love of boxing and now spend most of my time honing those skills. Summer often joins me when she wants a sweat session, but hasn’t been coming all month.
“It’s been weeks since she last came, Joel. I’m okay.”
“Maybe we want to get fit.” He shrugs. Raising an eyebrow, my eyes trail over his ripped arms busting out of his tight tee, before moving to Delilah’s equally fit body.
“Yeah, I’m sure that’s it.”
