“We’ll take three martinis, please,” Izzy says to the waiter.
“Martinis tonight? Looking to get trashed?” Carly asks her as he walks away, and Izzy points to me.
“Home girl looks like she could use something a little stronger.”
I let out a curt laugh and cross my arms over my chest. “Do I really look that bad?”
“You look gorgeous but sad,” Izzy says, trying to soften the blow, and I sigh. “What’s going on?”
“Things are, uh…over with Logan,” I say, looking down at my dress and pretending to pick some lint off.
Carly gasps. “What?”
“Since when?” Izzy asks, her eyes narrowing in my direction.
“Today.”
Carly shakes her head and takes a sip of water. “No, that doesn’t make any sense. I saw the way he was looking at you the other day. Why would he end things?”
“I ended it.”
They both give me sympathetic looks, and I’m really starting to hate it. I feel like all I’ve gotten from people in the last couple days is sympathy. It would be amazing if I could just go back to a few days ago before someone broke into my house and turned my world upside down.
“Why would you end it? I thought you were really into him,” Carly says, and I sigh just as the waiter brings our drinks to the table. I take a sip before setting it back down and looking up at them.
“I was. I am. But I’m not into the games, you know? One minute he’s there, telling me he wants to be with me, and then he disappears for days at a time without a word. I went over to his house today, and he refused to even come talk to me.”
“Maybe he wasn’t home,” Carly suggests, and I love her optimism and wish that were the case.
“I watched him come home, and when I knocked on the door, I could hear him walking up to the door but he never opened it and he never said a word.”
Carly looks over to Izzy, who’s staring at me with a faraway look in her eyes, and I can’t help but wonder what’s going on in her head.
“There’s got to be some kind of explanation, right?” Carly asks, and I shake my head.
“Maybe there is, Hon. But look at me. It’s only been three weeks and I’m feeling like this? Better to just bail out now before I do something stupid like fall in love with him.”
Izzy clears her throat, and I glance over at her as she takes a big gulp of her martini. “You sure it’s not already too late?”
Sighing, I mimic her gulp with the martini and shrug. “Not really but the longer I invest in this, the harder it will be when it falls apart.”
“Who says it’s going to fall apart?” Carly asks, and I shoot her a look.
“He’s hiding out in his house and refusing to talk to me. There’s no way that this can go anywhere but down.”
Carly shoots me a look of annoyance. “You always do this, Ali. I get that Adam hurt you badly but Logan is nothing like Adam. I’ve never seen a man look at a woman the way Logan looks at you, and I would do anything to have someone look at me like that.”
“Sweetie, someone broke into my house and his first reaction was to call me a slut, and then he just up and left me with the detective without saying a word. And I still haven’t heard from him four days later. These are not the actions of a man who has any feelings at all.”
She huffs, her annoyance with me growing. “I don’t know why he left, and I don’t know why he hasn’t spoken to you since then but he can’t hide the look he gives you. He can force himself to stay away but his eyes give him away anytime you’re in the room.”
“Okay, back to your corners, Ladies,” Izzy says, and I sigh, taking a sip of my drink as I glance over at Carly. She avoids my gaze, and I hate it.
“I’m sorry. I just can’t invest any more in this if I’m the only one doing it. It’s really only been three weeks since I met him, and I got a little too caught up in the idea of a relationship with him but when you look at the reality, it’s not as pretty.”
“Did you see his face when you got to the house on Monday? He looked like once he saw you he could finally breathe again. How can you doubt that?”
“Then where is he, Carly? Why has my phone not gone off one time with a text from him since Monday? Why did he purposefully ignore me when I knocked on his door? Maybe he does feel something for me but not enough to make an effort.”
“I don’t know,” she snaps, crossing her arms over her chest and looking away from me. This is so unlike her, and I glance over at Izzy, who shrugs in return.
“Are you okay, Car? This really isn’t like you,” Izzy points out, and Carly sighs, dropping her gaze down to the tablecloth.
“Until I met you guys, I always felt like I was too much for people. I’d meet friends and take to them much faster than they did me, and I’d want to hang out more than they did. It’s the same with guys. I want someone that’s going to look at me the way Logan was looking at Ali. Like I light up their whole world.”
My heart squeezes in my chest, and I reach out, grabbing on to her hand. “You’re going to find it someday, Carly. You’re too good not to, and those other bitches have no idea the great friend that they are missing out on. We’re lucky to have you.”
“Oh, Jesus, do not make me cry in public,” Izzy snaps, dabbing at her eyes, and we both start laughing at her, the tension melting away.
“I’m sorry for snapping at you,” Carly says, and I shake my head.
“Don’t mention it. It’s already forgotten.”
Chapter Twenty
Storm
I watch her in the window as she walks away from my house, each step she takes is like a hit to the chest, and every part of me wants to fling the door open and yell at her to come back. But I can’t. This whole thing moved so damn fast, and each time I see her, it’s like I’m sucker punched by all the feelings she stirs up in me. I wasn’t ready for this, ready for her, and I haven’t handled any of this right. None of that matters anymore though. She’s mine. And I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her.
Bear whines, and I glance down at him. “Yeah, I know, Buddy. I miss her, too.”
I fucking hate that I can’t be with her right now but I’ve got shit that needs to be dealt with before I can be with her. If I just threw caution to the wind and did exactly what I’m dying to do right now, her life would be in danger, and that’s not something I’m even remotely willing to sacrifice. Not again. I watch her until she disappears into her house, and the dejected look on her gorgeous face breaks my fucking heart. I just need her to hold on for a little bit, and then I’ll give her everything she wants.
Moving away from the window, I grab my phone off the table and slip my cut on before stalking out to my bike. I’m jittery as I climb on, ready to end this shit. Straddling the bike, I check my messages.
Ray:
Meet you in the usual spot.
I shove my phone back in my pocket and fire up my bike before pulling out onto the street. My gaze lingers on Ali’s house as I drive by, and I promise her that I’ll be seeing her soon. The wind whips against my skin as I drive west out of town, the sun sinking into the horizon in front of me. I imagine bringing Ali out on the bike, her arms wrapping around me from behind, and I grin. I’ve never had someone on the back of my bike, and I’m looking forward to it.