“What about this weekend? There’s this new Thai place I really wanted to try.”
“I’ll be in Miami for the club.” Thank fuck, Blaze decided to assign this run to me. It’s the perfect excuse to get out of a weekend of torture.
“Oh, that sounds fun. I haven’t been to Florida in ages. Maybe I could go with you?”
I shake my head, relieved that I actually have a valid excuse for why she can’t go no matter how tempting she might look in a bikini. “Sorry. It’s club business.”
“What the hell? I really need to talk to you, Moose.”
I grit my teeth. I’ve asked her more times than I can count to use my real name but she continues to call me by my road name despite the fact that we’ve been sleeping together for months. “About what?”
“Well, I was hoping to talk to you in person…”
“Then, it’s going to have to wait until after I get back,” I tell her as Fuzz comes to retrieve the last two boxes. God dammit. Now I feel like an asshole for not helping him like I should have been.
“I don’t want to do that either. Maybe you could get out of your thing tonight and meet up with me?” she whines and my phone smashing fantasy resumes. “Please. It’s really important.”
“Jesus Christ, woman. Just tell me now.”
She sighs. “Okay… It’s about us…”
“Tawny,” I growl, the last band on my patience threatening to snap.
“No, just listen. I know when we started sleeping together, it was just fun but I’ve developed feelings for you and I think you and I could be really good together. I want you to give us a chance.”
Fuzz walks back out to the truck with a questioning look on his face and I let him know it’ll be another minute. He nods and slips behind the wheel to give me a little privacy.
“I’m sorry, Tawny, but I’m not on the same page as you.”
“Oh,” she whispers. “Well, maybe just take the weekend to think about it and then we can talk when you get back.”
Fuck.
Am I really about to break up with this girl over the damn phone? My ma would skin my damn hide if she ever found out but then again, what choice do I have? I either do it now, over the phone, or I string her along for a few more days and do it in person which sucks just as much. I go back and forth in my mind, trying to decide which option is less cruel before sighing.
“No, I think it’s best if we just call it quits now. My mind isn’t gonna change in three days. You’re a nice girl but we’ve run our course.”
Silence greets me on the other end of the line, stretching on for so long that I pull the phone away from my ear to make sure she didn’t hang up on me.
“Tawny?”
“Fuck you, Sawyer Michelson,” she snaps and I can hear the tears in her voice. “You’re going to fucking regret this.”
The line goes dead and I sigh as I stand up and slip my phone back in my pocket before closing the tailgate and rounding the back of the truck.
“That sounded like it went well,” Fuzz says, a grin on his face, as I climb in the truck and I shoot him a glare.
“Yeah, it was great. Her parting words were “You’re going to fucking regret this” so I’m really looking forward to finding out what the fuck that means.”
He barks out a laugh as he starts the truck. “Jesus, dude. You have the worst luck with women but don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye out for psycho blondes and tranquilizer darts.”
“Fuck you, dude,” I growl, remembering the disaster of a relationship that gave me my road name.
Shit.
Now that I think about it, I really do have an awful track record when it comes to women. For whatever reason, the ones I pick always turn out to be fucking crazy and they fuck up my life time and time again but I never seem to learn. As we pull out of the parking lot, I shake my head and promise myself that I’m done with girls all together until I can get my shit together and pick one that isn’t absolutely insane.
Chapter Six
Juliette
Leaning back against the headboard, I stare out at the water as the sun begins creeping over the horizon, casting pastel shades of blue and pink across the sky. Gavin was right. The view from these windows in the morning is reason enough to buy the place. It’s magical - even if I don’t recognize a single thing in the expansive three thousand square feet of the apartment. My eyelids start to droop and I yawn as I wipe the sleep from them. After tucking my box of memories under the bed last night, I tossed and turned for hours before falling into a restless sleep. Confusing dreams of faceless people and vague places haunted me all night long and I feel like I barely slept. Yawning again, I throw the covers off my legs and swing them over to the side of the bed with a sigh. As much as I want to get some more sleep, I’m afraid it would just be more of the same.
My gaze flicks back to the water for a moment before I push myself off the bed and grab the blue satin robe hanging on the foot of the bed. It feels luxurious as I slip it onto my skin and I can’t help thinking about how much my life has changed in the five years I’ve lost. When I was living with Mercedes, I liked the finer things but I was still in college and I was concerned with making my trust fund last as long as I could so they were occasional splurges but as I look around this apartment, luxury and money is all I see. A dull throbbing pierces the back of my head and I sigh as I cinch the belt as I wander out of the bedroom and into the hallway.
“Morning,” Gavin says, looking up from his tablet as I stumble into the kitchen, yawning. He’s all dressed up in a dark blue suit that makes his eyes pop like crazy and his hair is combed back again, that reckless bad boy look giving way to a devastating man. He commands all my attention and I stop short next to the island, unable to take my eyes off of him. Even with no knowledge of him or our relationship, I have to admit there’s something about him that intrigues me.
“Morning.” I turn away to hide my blush and scan the countertop for a pot of coffee. The clean, minimalistic look carries into the kitchen and I can’t spot a single appliance in this place except for the refrigerator. “Is there coffee?”
I glance over my shoulder. Smirking, he points to a second cup sitting on the island next to him, steam rising from the rim and I sigh in relief before flashing him a thankful smile. He turns back to his tablet as I round the island and sit next to him. Warmth seeps into my skin as I wrap my hands around it and bring it to my lips, breathing in its rich aroma with a hum.
“How did you sleep?” I ask, glancing over at the couch and he laughs as I turn back to him and our eyes meet. He seems well rested and more carefree this morning.
“It’s surprisingly comfortable.” Reaching out, his eyes soften as he brushes a lock of dark hair out of my face and heat rises to my cheeks. “How did you sleep?”
I shrug. “Okay, I guess.”
“So what you mean is, you slept like shit.”
“I would ask you how you know that but you already seem to know everything about me,” I muse as I bring my cup to my lips and take a sip of my coffee. It’s exactly as I like it, reminding me again how unbalanced this relationship and my life is right now.