“Then why didn’t you tell her that?”
The million dollar question. Why didn’t I tell her anything? Why, in that moment when the only thing keeping me here, keeping me together was her, couldn’t I tell her? “Because, I’m so fucked up, Gabe. I don’t know what to do.”
“What happened?”
My mind races through the evening, how much fun we had at the gallery, despite the run-in with Andrew and Becca. The car ride home, my fingers buried in her heat when all I wanted there was my throbbing dick. The way she tasted when she came against my mouth, screaming my name. The almost-painful throb of my cock as she pressed her wet pussy against it and started to slip it inside. Then, the pain and tightness in my chest, suffocating me while my mind spun out of control.
“I panicked.”
His brow furrows. “You panicked when she said ‘I love you?’”
“No,” I say, closing my eyes against the memory and shaking my head, “I panicked when she tried to have sex with me.”
I chance a glance at him. I can practically see the cogs of his brain spinning. “What? I don’t understand. You two have been together for like three or four months…”
The greatest months in my entire fucking life.
“Yeah, we have. We just haven’t been ‘together’ together.”
He drops back against his seat, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Is this because of the accident? Can you not…you know?”
I groan. “No, that’s the fucking point. I have no problem getting hard when I’m with her, or when I am alone for that matter, but I haven’t been able to ‘seal the deal,’ so to speak. It has never been this bad though, the panicked feeling. Today, I completely lost my shit.”
“What did she say?”
Dropping my head back against the headrest, I stare at the ceiling of the car, wishing this morning was just a bad dream instead of a very real-life nightmare. “That’s when she told me she loved me, and I just laid there, and said nothing. It was like I was completely numb and mute, I couldn’t say anything.”
He sighs and turns off the car. “You know you need to get your shit figured out so you can fix this, right? Danika is fucking perfect for you. You belong together.”
“Like I don’t know that,” I snap, glaring at him.
“Hey, man, I’m your best friend. It’s my job to call it like I see it.”
“Yeah, well, right now, I need you to be my best friend who shuts his trap and helps me burn off all this crap I have built up right now, all right?”
He nods his agreement, shaking his head in disbelief shortly thereafter. “Hope you’re ready to get your ass kicked.” The door slams and he moves around the back of the car.
An ass-kicking sounds good right now.
“I deserve it.”
My phone rings just as I stumble into my apartment, grocery bags hanging off my arms. Who am I kidding? I might as well call them liquor bags, since all I bought was three bottles of Prosecco and two of Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey.
Thankfully, Caroline is on her way over. Otherwise, I might feel like an alcoholic.
I set the bags on the counter and scramble for my phone, digging in my purse until I find it. I groan when I see the caller ID.
Why did I give Skye my number?
Because Savage thought maybe there was a chance to smooth things over that has never come.
She’s the last person I want to talk to right now. Well, that’s not true. Savage probably is. How can I want to hear from him so badly, yet dread it so completely?
Maybe because we the way we left things yesterday felt so cold and final. When I managed to drag myself up off the bathroom floor and take a quick shower, I returned to find the bedroom, and the condo, empty. Even Princess was MIA, and I still haven’t heard from Savage.
The ringing stops and I let out a sigh of relief, setting my phone on the counter to unpack my bags and get the Prosecco chilled. No sooner do I close the door to the fridge when the shrill ringing starts again.
She’ll just keep calling.
“Hey, Skye.” I try to put some cheer in my voice, but it sounds fake, even to my own ears.
“Danika, what the hell is going on?”
Crap. What did Savage tell her? Time to play dumb. “What do you mean?”
“Savage says he’s not coming to family dinner tonight. He sounded off, but not sick. Something is going on and Gabe is keeping his mouth shut. I figured you’re the only one I can get the truth out of.”
The truth? The truth is not something I want to discuss with Savage’s nosy little sister. “Everything’s fine. Savage is fine. He’s probably just tired.”
She sighs loudly. “Whatever. I know you are all keeping something from me. Savage never misses Sunday dinner. I’ll figure it out sooner or later. Thanks for nothing.”
Click.
I look down at my phone. Her abruptness and attitude shouldn’t surprise me. Not after that family dinner and her warning.
A knock at the door startles me. I almost drop the bottle in my hand.