Crushed (21 page)

“
I don’t think either one of us
are
happy right now.
We need to talk,” he
tried again
as he raked a hand through his
hair.
“I think—”

“No!” she snapped as she ju
mped up off the bed
where they had been sitting
. “I’m mad
at you
.
I don’t want to talk.”

“Mia!”

S
he rushed ou
t of
the door and disappeared into the crowded hallway.

“Are you kidding me?!” he grumbled to him
self.

He
follow
ed
and
got
a
few curious looks but mostly, he thought
people
were
used to Mia’s
tantrums so no one pa
id
much attention.

He had no idea where she went
. H
e went outside and tossed himself down on the front steps. He knew he should just
go home
. B
ut he
wa
nted to take care of this mess he
’d created.
He
need
ed
to end things. He was
pretty sure she realized that
. He was
just as sure that’s why she bolted.

“Hey,” someone sa
id
from beside
him. He glanced up and Emma was
standing there, holding a beer and swaying s
lightly. She must’ve followed him
out.

“Hey,” he
said back as she slumped down on th
e steps next to him. They were
s
o close their thighs we
re touching b
ecause she’d nearly landed in his
lap.

There wer
e a few
things he kne
w about Emma Donavon. She was
a light
weight. Alcohol plus Emma equaled
:  happy, chatty, affectionate girl.

“W
hy are you out here?” sh
e asked. She was
working hard at enunciating every word.

“I’m just taking a break. H
ow ’
bout you?”

“I’m just…” she looked
around like he
’d
just asked her a ve
ry good question.
Then she flung her arm around him, accidentally whacking him
in the head with her hand.
“
T
aking a break
,” she decided as she grinned
at him
.

“You okay, Em? Do you need a ride home?”

She shook
her head to tell him
no.

“Is
someone driving you?”

“Lauren
.” Then she sa
id
something
he
c
ouldn’t
decipher
. P
art
ly
because she was
slurring her words
. But also
what he thought she said didn’t make sense. He
ask
ed
her to rep
eat it and she very slowly told him
, “You are
soooo
sweet. No wonder Cleo loves
you
.”

That’s what he thought she’d said
. S
o he
had to remind her, “Except she doesn’t. Not anymore.”

She leaned back from
him
and squinted
.
Reece thought it was m
aybe because she forgot who she was talking
to. Then she came
back in for a tight sideways hug.
She was quiet for a while, as her thoughts seemed to swim around in h
er head.

“Don’t be mad at her. ’
Kay? This isn’t her fault.”

He
couldn’t
help it. A contemptuous laugh escaped
. “Really? Whose fault is it? Ethan’s?”
He thought maybe he
shouldn’t have said that, Ethan being Emma’s brother and all but
he couldn’t help it. He’d
been pissed about Ethan from the second
Cleo
had
said his name.

“Things between Ethan and Cleo are…” It was obvious she was choosing her words carefully,
and they came out slow and clear. “Complicated. Things with my brother and Cleo are
very
complicated.”

Reece just shrugged because he
w
anted to not care. And even if he
did
care
, he
could prete
nd he
didn’t.

“You should be with Cleo
.”

Her words surprised him
. W
hen he
look
ed
over at her, she was
staring off into the trees
.
He
wonder
ed if she even knew what she had said.
Or maybe she didn’t like having her best friend dating her brother. There was always
that
.

“So where is she
tonight
?” Stupid question because she’s watching Luci for sure
he decided
.
Or…s
he’s out with Ethan. He
really, really hope
d she was
home with Luci.
“Watching Luci?”

Emma sh
ook
her head. “L
uci is at a sleepover,” she said
. S
he carefully pushed
the wor
ds from her mouth so that
he
would
understand her.

“Why didn’t she come?” It would be the perfect, rare, night for her to get out.

Emma’s face crinkled
up and she aw
kwardly patted
him
on the head.
“Because she knew you would be here.”

Right
. And Cleo would do
just about anything to avoid him
.

“With Mia,” Emma continued
. “She can’t stand seeing you with Mia.”

He shook his
head. E
ither he
was conf
used or Emma was confused and his
bet? Was on Emma. “Why would she care if she sees me with Mia?”

“Why do you think?” She leaned
in and slobbered a kiss onto his
cheek.
“Don’t give up on her, okay?”
Then she got to her feet and shuffled back into the house.

He
sat there for a minute. Wondering what to do. Mia was
staying the night at Mel’s so he
didn’t need to worry about getting her home.

He
had no reason for going to Cleo’s. None.

Except that he
wanted to see her.
Especially after talking to Emma. And especially after t
he way Cleo reacted today when he’d put his
arms around her. She
had said they were
over. But tha
t sure didn’t feel like it to him
.

Less
than twenty minutes later, he
fou
nd him
self standing on her doorstep.

Knocking.

Before he
c
ould
reevaluate how stupid he was
being, the door
swung
open a
nd Cleo’s gorgeous blue eyes were staring out at him
.

“Reece.”

He couldn’t detect a trace of how she was feeling when she said his
name. Not annoyance, not happiness, not even surprise.

“Hi,”
he said, because he
had nothing
more logical
to say.
“You shouldn’t just open the door befo
re checking who it is, you know,
”
he added on when she didn’t say anything.

“What are you doing here?”
she finally asked. Her eyes swu
ng out past him, check
ing to see if he was alone?
He did
n’t know who she would be looking for. Emma, maybe?

“Can I come in?” he asked. He
hated
how his heart was thrashing and his
palms were sweating.

“Um,” she said as she glanced ov
er her shoulder. For a second, he was
worried
that Ethan was there and Emma just did
n’t know. “I need to get Luci to bed.”

“So is lying to me a new thing
? O
r have you always done it and I just didn’t know?”
he
asked.

Her shoulders slump
ed
. S
he
was
smart enough to not pretend. “Look, Reece, it’s just not a good time.”

“It’s never a good time! Can’t I come in for a while? Just…I don’t know, ten minutes,”
he
pressed.

She shook her head
. S
he looked nervous
as her eyes dart
ed
out toward the street again
.
She made no move to let
him
in. She
was
just standing in the doorway
, blocking his way
.
“Paul might come home.”

“So?”

But she actually looked a l
ittle freaked out over this. He wasn’t
sure when Paul became a problem
. B
ut he was the last thing Reece
want
ed
to
talk about right now.
“Let’s go for a drive then.
”

“Reece, I can’t,” she said, sounding miserable.

“
Please
. Or am I not even worth a few minutes of your time anymore?”
His tone was desperate and he hated him
self for it.

She hesitated
for a minute
. “Okay. Let me get my keys and my jacket. Would you mind waiting out here?”

He couldn’t
believe she
actually
agreed to come with
him
.
And
he
want
ed
to say no
, he wouldn’t
wait outside
.
Because a part of him was afraid she was
going to lock the door behind him
and call it a night.

“
Just in case
Paul comes home, please?”

“Paul’s never car
ed whether or not I’m here,
”
he
reminded her.
Something in her expression ma
de
him
back down. “Okay. But I’m going to sit
in the driveway
until you come out
. I
f you’re thinking about staying inside, I want you to know that.”

She cracked
the smallest of smiles as she
shut the door
. He was only in his
tru
ck a matter of minutes and she was
making her way down the sidewalk.

When she got in, he caught a hint of
a fruity
scent. It was
probably body spray. Or lotion. Or a combination o
f the two. Either way, it smelled familiar. It smelled
like
her
.
And completely delectable.
His whole body reacted
to it.

She gave him a nervous glance as they pulled away from her house.

Now that he had her alone, he
was having trouble saying what he wanted to say. He
drove to the lake and parked in the huge lot used for the boat access. This late
in the year, and especially this late at night, it was empty.

He was frustrated that he
hadn’t been able to end things with Mia tonight. It didn’t feel r
ight having that hanging over his head when he was alone with Cleo. Not that he
expected anything to happen, but still.
Most likely
, he
still
had a girlfriend and he was sitting in the dark with his
ex.

“I tried to break up with Mia tonight,”
he
finally said, breaking the silence.

She was quiet for longer than he
expected her to be before finally asking, “Why?”

“Because it’s not fair that I’m with her when I can’t stop thinking about someone
else.”

The words hung in the air. The streetlight in the middle of the parking lot c
ast
just enough of a glow that he
could see her expression. It was painfully impassive.

“But you didn’t?” she finally asked.
The words sound
ed
slow, careful.

He shook his
head. “I think she knew what I was going to do. She disappeared on me.”

Cleo was chewing her bottom lip. Still not saying anything. When she fi
nally did talk, it wasn’t what he
was expecting
this time, either
. “Do you think Mia really cares? I mean, do you think it would matter to her if you’re
still thinking of someone else? I mean, other than a blow to her ego? We were together
all of last year
. T
hat didn’t stop her. She never let up. She flirted with you all the time. She was
always finding a reason to touch you, to talk to you. I don’t think you should break
up with her.”

“I don’t want to be with her.” He steeled himself for the consequences of his
next words, but thought really, they weren’t exactly a secret. “I want to be with
you.”

“That just…that’s not an option. We were getting too serious. I’m not ready for that,”
she said quietly. “You need to move on. I mean, if you really need to break up with
Mia, do it. But you need to find someone else.”

“I don’t
want to
!”
he
argued
. He knew he
was being stubborn
.
Stupid, really. E
ven still, he
coul
dn’t accept the fact that they
were over.
Really and completely
over. “Tell me you don’t want to be with me. Tell me you don’t love me.”

She flinched
and she looked away. He wasn’t sure what he was doing. He knew he
shouldn’t be
shovin
g her into a corner but he
did it anyway.

“Tell me!” he
insisted. “You want me to believe we don’t have a chance? Then prove it!
Then I’ll leave you alone.
I’ll stop pushing you.
If you can look at me and tell me that you don’t love me anymore…I’ll stop pushing.
”

She took a s
teadying breath and looked at him
. She shook her head subtly. “I don’t love you anymore.”

The words hit
him
with the force of a sledgehammer. T
elling him they
were getting too s
erious was one thing. Telling him she didn’t love him
? That was a whole new level of pain.
And he
’d asked for it.

He collapsed into his seat and scrubbed his hands across his face. She put her hand
on his arm. He
flung it off without looking at her.

He
couldn’t look at her.
“Because of Ethan?”

“It’s not that I love anyone else Reece. It’s just…I love my sister more than anything
.
I don’t have time to let anyone else in right now.”

“Really?
That doesn’t even make sense b
ecause seems to me you have time for Ethan,”
he
shot out.
“And since when has Luci been an issue? She’s more independent now tha
n she was when
we started dating.
And now that she’s older, she’s
with her friends a lot. So you have time for
Ethan
and Luci but not
me
and Luci?”

“I don’t see him that often,” she admitted.

“So what kind of relationship is that?”
he
demanded.

“The kind that’s not any of yo
ur concern,” she quietly told him
.
She was looking at her hands now. They were in her lap.

He
didn’t say anything. This conversatio
n was obviously over. Instead, he started up his vehicle because finally, he
’d had enough.
Maybe this was what he
needed to finally get it. To realize that there was nothing left.

But Cleo wasn’t done.

“Don’t be mad at me,” she pleaded.

He
clenche
d his
jaw,
biting off a hateful response. He felt his
anger surge, drowning out the agonizing fee
ling of letting Cleo tear out his
heart again. Not that she was to bl
ame. He knew he
’d pushed her into it.

“Reece?” she asked in a quaking voice.

“What?” he
spat at her.

“I’m sorry. You have no idea how sorry I am,” she told
him.

He said nothing. He
had nothing to say.

“I don’t want to hurt you. I never wanted to hurt you.”

Now
she was talking?
After all of this tim
e he
g
ot her talking…A
nd he
didn’
t want to hear what she had to s
ay. Not anymore. But because he couldn’t trust his
voice to tell her that, she continued on.

“Aren’t you
even a little bit
happy with Mia?”

He didn’t know why her wanting him
to be happy with someone else hurt so much. Maybe because that just drove home the
dagger her words ha
d become. She was so over him she didn’t even care if he
was over her. No. Scratch that. She
wanted
him to be over her. Or maybe if he was happy with Mia, it would make her feel better
about being with Ethan.
That, more than anything, sent his anger spiraling. As his fury surged
he
decided to give her what she wanted.

“Yeah
,”
he
managed to grate out. “I
’ve been
happy with Mia.”

She let out a little puff of air. A sigh of relief maybe?
He
wasn’t sure but that lit
tle puff fanned the flames of his
fury
.

“Is
that what you wanted to hear?” he
angrily asked. “You want things to be great with me and Mia? Fine, things are great
with me and Mia. I mean, why not? What do you want me to say Cleo? That Mia’s beautiful?
That she’s a great k
isser and even better in bed?” He was shouting now. He didn’t mean to. He
’d never yelled at Cleo before
. N
ow he
couldn’t seem to stop. “Is t
hat what you want me to say?!” H
e
turned to her
,
looking for confirmation.