“Is it about that tiny white lie I told you about Isla?”
I spun around, my eyebrow raised at Ellie’s shamefaced expression. “Yeah. I just found out about that.”
Ellie glanced at Adam who was frowning, clearly confused. “I did a bad thing.”
He nodded. “I’m getting that. What happened?”
“I told Joss that you and I had lunch with Isla and Braden and they were all over each other.”
Her boyfriend reared back just like Braden had. In fact I noticed the two of them had quite a lot of similar mannerisms. They spent far too much time together. “We never had lunch with them. We stopped in for two seconds at the club.”
“Okay this game isn’t fun anymore,” I snapped, forgetting I was snapping at a patient. “Why would you lie to me?”
Ellie’s eyes were all wide and pitiful. Girl could get herself out of murder she was so damn cute. “Braden told me that since getting in your face all the time wasn’t working, he’d come up with this stupid plan to back off and make you miss him so much you came back to him. I told him you were too stubborn to fall for it.”
Actually, I had been missing him. Bastard knew me too well. “Mmm,” I answered non-committedly.
“You were being really obstinate, Joss. I thought if I provoked your jealousy you’d get scared and go running off to get him back.” Her face was pale as she looked into Adam’s eyes. “It really backfired.”
“I can see that,” he murmured, trying not smile.
This was not funny!
“You are so lucky you just had brain surgery.”
Ellie winced. “Sorry, Joss.” Then her eyes turned hopeful. “I meant to tell you before the surgery but I was so scared that day I forgot. Now you know the truth though. You can just stop fighting and go get him back.”
It was my turn to sigh. “He’s mad at me now.”
“For not trusting him?”
“Something like that,” I mumbled, wondering what the hell I was going to do next.
“Am I forgiven?” Ellie asked quietly.
I rolled my eyes at the question. “Of course. Just… quit the matchmaking business. You suck at it.” I gave them a little forlorn wave and left the room, closing the door quietly behind them.
I sat down at my typewriter, staring at the latest page, trying to figure out what this meant to me now. Dr. Pritchard said I’d regret not being honest with Braden. And the truth is, all the things that I’d worried about – me not being good enough, Braden being so intense, what could happen to us in the future – seemed like small change after discovering a little taste of what it had felt like when I thought he didn’t love me.
I should talk to him.
I was still going to Virginia to face my family’s death.
But I should talk to him.
Wait a minute. I jerked around in my chair to look at the bookshelf where my ticket had been. It wasn’t there. And now that I thought about, I hadn’t seen Braden put it back.
Oh my God, he’d stolen my ticket!
My ire fuelled me into hyper energy. Intense! Braden intense? He was a freaking, overbearing asshole! I shoved my feet into my boots, shrugged into my coat, buttoning it up wrong and then screaming under my breath in exasperation. I grabbed my keys, my purse, and I attempted a little bit of calm when I told Adam and Ellie I was going out. They called okay back to me through the door and I slammed out of there, my hand in the air for a cab.
I couldn’t think. I couldn’t breathe. I mean, that took the cake. Stealing my plane ticket!
He was such a caveman!
I practically threw my cab fare at the driver and hopped out, running down the Quartermile to the entrance to his apartment. I knew I was on camera when I buzzed up, so I glared up into it, half-expecting him to not let me in.
He let me in.
It was longest elevator ride of my life.
I got out of it to find Braden standing at his door, looking casual and unaffected in his sweater, jeans and bare feet. He stepped back quickly to hold the door open for me as I stormed past him.
I spun around, almost losing my balance I had such an angry momentum going for me.
The idiot was smirking at me as he closed the door and strolled toward me into the sitting room.
“This isn’t funny,” I bit out, probably overreacting… but I was dealing with a whole mess of emotions that HE had put me through the last few weeks.
Okay, I maybe put myself through half of them but I was angry at me too, but I couldn’t have an argument with myself so HE was getting it!
The smirk dropped from Braden’s face, the scowl appearing. “I know it’s not bloody funny. Believe me.”
I stuck out my hand. “Give me my ticket back, Braden. I am not even kidding.”
He nodded, and pulled the ticket out of his back pocket. “This ticket?”
“Yes. Give it to me.”
Then he just shot me into volcanic rage.
Braden tore up my ticket, letting the pieces flutter to the floor. “What ticket?”