The waiter stopped by with our desserts, chocolate lava cakes.
Ryder wolfed it down in record time. “I’m going to head back to the train. I don’t want to miss the last one.”
I wasn’t far behind him, wanting to get out of the restaurant just as quickly. Although getting up from the seat I felt locked into would take more courage gathering. But I needed to leave. We needed to go before things got any worse, although at this point, I didn’t know how they could.
He had more than enough time before the final train, but I couldn’t blame him for wanting to escape the cluster of this dinner. Reaching into his pocket, he suddenly seemed one-hundred percent an awkward teenage boy completely unsure of himself.
Standing, he set a box down and slid it across the table to Hunter. “I got this for you. And I wanted to say, Merry Christmas. Thanks for the dinner. I really appreciate it. See you, Sabrina. Bye, Hunter.” It felt final, like he’d given up on ever having any type of relationship with Hunter and at that moment, I couldn’t blame him.
My emotions were all over the place. The last lingering guilt after seeing Seth and knowing what he had made me a part of, anger at him as well as with Hunter who couldn’t even bring himself to talk, which had turned the evening to shit long before Seth and his wife had burst onto the scene. There was less than a week until Christmas, and at this point all I wanted was a little calm in my life.
Once my head wasn’t buzzing like it had been filled with a thousand bees, I’d call Ryder and…I didn’t even know what I could say. Defeat weighted me down. This hadn’t gone at all how I’d planned.
In a moment of clarity, not tinged by my abject fear and wine buzz, I reached out. “Merry Christmas, Ryder.” I cupped both of my hands around his. “Let me know if you need anything.”
His gaze flicked to Hunter before focusing back on me. He nodded and then he was gone.
“Was it everything you’d hoped it would be and more?” Hunter dropped his napkin down on top of his untouched chocolate cake.
Instead of responding, I grabbed my glass of wine and drained it. “Let’s go.” As terribly as I’d imagined the evening going, this kicked it in the freaking teeth. Standing, all the wine finally got to me, and the pressure on my bladder was toe-turning. “I’m going to go to the bathroom.”
“I’ll get the check.”
I was gone before he finished the sentence. A walk back to the apartment like this would’ve ended up with me getting cited for public urination, so as much as I wanted to bolt for the front doors and never look back, the bathroom beckoned.
After finishing up, I stared at myself in the mirror, trying to pep talk my way out of this, but maybe I was too tipsy for my brain to function properly, because it was failing miserably.
Hunter and I could sleep this off and have a real conversation tomorrow, when I was less inebriated and he was less angry. Whatever was going on with him…I didn’t even know how to describe it, but it didn’t feel good.
I pushed out of the bathroom.
A man stood outside the women’s room in the ambient lighted hallway. A man who’d once been someone I’d loved. I’d given over pieces of myself to him in fear of losing him, and had lost parts of myself in the process.
I stormed out of the restroom, trying to put as much space between us as I could.
“Sabrina.” My whispered name sent a shudder of revulsion through me.
I refused to turn and look at him and kept walking down the hallway leading to the dining room.
“I miss you.”
I clenched my hands at my sides and kept going. My blood hammered at my eardrums like I’d walked into one of Hunter’s club openings.
“I’m leaving her for you.” He blared it, like he was so proud of himself for making the choice.
A gasp was wrenched from my throat. My back went ramrod straight, and I spun on my heel, the narrow space swaying a little. Emotions rushed through me, flushing my skin, making it so hot it felt like it should be sizzling. “Don’t you dare make this about me,” I hissed, glancing behind me.
He creeped closer with a look in his eyes of how could I not know? “Of course it’s about you.” The triumphant tilt to his words turned my stomach.
The evening’s bottle of wine tickled at the back of my throat, threatening to make a reappearance. “It’s not. It’s about you and your selfishness which apparently knows no bounds.” My hiss vibrated my gritted teeth. To think I’d ever thought I was in love with him. My stupidity also knew no bounds.
His gaze flicked over my shoulder. “You’ve got a new guy now and you don’t care about me anymore.”
“I stopped caring about you the minute I found out you were married. The minute I found out you’d made me the other woman.” My stomach lurched. All the wine had been a mistake.
He pitched forward and gripped my arm, just above my elbow. “I won’t be married for much longer.”
“Good for your wife. Why would you think I’d want anything to do with you? My silence should’ve been all the answer you needed. We haven’t spoken in five months. In case you need me to say it again, goodbye, Seth, and I never want to see you again. Let go of me.” The words banged against my clenched teeth.
“I love—”
“Don’t you dare pervert those words by saying them to me again.” The same words Hunter had said to me hours ago. I struggled to get free from his hold. What was it with entitled assholes lately and putting their hands on me? All I knew was I was sick of it. “Go fuck yourself! I don’t want to ever see you again, you selfish asshole. Let go.” My teeth ached, I had them clenched so tightly.
“Seth?” A woman’s voice came from over my shoulder. The voice of the woman I’d tried not to think about since I left my old life behind.
Her heels clicked on the tile floor.
I jerked my arm free from his hold and spun around.
The woman’s gaze jumped from me to the spot on my arm where Seth had touched me and back to Seth. Her smile slid off her face with each dart of her focus until it settled back on me with a glowering that made my skin blister.
My stomach knotted, threatening to bring up the little bit of food I’d choked down from the minute they’d sat down.
Her eyes burned with venom and unshed tears. “You’re Sabrina, aren’t you?”
My lungs burned, unable to bring in any more air. My mouth opened and closed, and the need to escape flooded my body. The flight instinct became harder to ignore.
“You’re nothing like I thought you’d be.” Her scrutinizing gaze raked up and down my body, every flaw probed and prodded by her eyes.
“If you’ll excuse me.” I ducked my head and tried to walk around her.
“Stay away from my husband.”
My lips tightened, and my gaze shot to hers. “Gladly. Now, please let me go.” I wouldn’t let my voice waver, although the panicked breaths I’d been able to draw in were barely enough to keep me on my feet, let alone forcefully speak.
I rushed around the corner and slammed into a solid chest.
He steadied me, holding onto both my arms. “I paid the check and got your coat and purse.” Motioning to my coat draped over his arm, he wrapped the other around my shoulder. The earlier granite stare softened the longer he stared at me.