We’re late, Margo.
Hayes, we need—
We’re late, Margo.
The drive over to Blue Beauty, Carrie’s pretty house perched on a hill that overlooked the Columbia River, was a short one. But by some sort of twisted, obsessive miracle, I’d managed to replay the scene between the man I was falling for and me over thirty times.
Granted, this…relationship was still new, but our history was anything but fresh.
I’d started to fall for him the second he promised me he’d save my best friend, not because of his power to do so, but because of the truth behind his promise. He’d never failed me, even when I needed him to. Him leaving me after our one-night stand was something I couldn’t hold against him. That was my fault, and he thought he was doing the right thing.
After all, he was Mr. Perfect.
When I came out of the bedroom, he wasn’t in the apartment. He was standing outside in the cold, his eyes on the water, my pies already in the car. He was silent as I locked up, and when I turned to face him, he wouldn’t even look at me as he grabbed my hand and tried to lead me down the stairs.
Now, I looked down to my lap, hating that his hand was resting on the gear shift instead of my thigh. Every time I looked at him, a muscle in his cheek jumped, making him look even more beautiful than when he was inside me. There was an anger radiating from him, but I couldn’t tell if it was directed at me or himself.
His words, gruff and laced with pleasure, repeated in my head as he parked in his usual spot under the streetlight.
Tell me you love me, Margo.
Tell me you love me, Margo.
Tell me you love me, Margo.
Tell me you love me, Margo.
Tell me you love me, Margo.
Tell me you love me, Margo.
Tell me you love me, Margo.
Tell me you love me, Margo.
Tell me you love me, Margo.
Tell me you love me, Margo.
Tell me you love me, Margo.
Tell me you love me, Margo.
“Margo?”
My head snapped up, the cold air hitting me like a train as my eyes collided with his dark green ones. He’d already parked and gotten out of the car, then came around to my side. My lips parted as I studied him, silently begging him to let me in, to tell me what was running through his perfect mind, to tell me why he was angry. His features softened slightly, his brows relaxing as the shadow in his eyes retreated just so. “Are you okay?”
I shook my head. “No. I am far from okay, Hayes Mitchell.”
He flinched. “Baby—”
“We’re late, remember?” I quipped as I put my legs out, forcing him to move back. He gave me the room I needed to hop down, open the back door, and grab the pies. I turned, shut the door with my hip, and walked up the hill to the house, keeping my eyes on the blue jay statue in the second story window. Carrie and I had gone to an estate sale down the coast one day, and the second we walked into the giant beach house, our eyes landed on the blue jay, the morning sun hitting it just right. I told her she had to have it for the window. I told her that blue jays were a symbol of determination. After everything she’d been through, she needed a reminder of how far she’d come. Secretly, it always made me feel good seeing it when I walked into her house. It wasalso a symbol of how far I’d come too. Of course, she didn’t know any of that back then.
Now, that damn bird was staring down at me, mocking me. I tore my eyes from the creature as my Docs hit her small walkway, the snow from last night already melting, the sun high above me. Hayes trailed behind me, his boots crunching over the salt, the rest of him silent. I tried to ignore the distance between us, how cold it felt…how it scared me.
Once I was on the porch, I waited until he was right behind me to knock.
Carrie, Sarah, and I had a secret knock that we always used.