Not someone like me.
No doubt she probably does like him better. He’s so much easier to be around, I know that. Maybe she only came to me because he wasn’t available right then.
I try to push it all down, but it doesn’t go anywhere. It just builds. The jealousy. The regret. The constant ache sitting under my skin.
I keep to myself. Decide it’s best to stay out of everyone’s way. Nurse my wounds in silence. That way I can’t do anything else stupid.
Of course, Luke doesn’t get the message.
“Hey,” he says, stepping into the shed early one morning while I’m shaping a nice piece of timber that will eventually become part of a dining table. “Reid wants you to check the heater in Bedroom Three.”
I grunt. I’ll deal with it later.
“Did you hear me, buddy?”
“I heard you. Now fuck off.”
“Well, I can’t fuck off because I asked you a question and you didn’t answer it.”
His tone’s off today. Sharper. Like he’s looking for something to push against.
This could escalate.
Part of me wants it to.
I adjust the plane slightly in my hands, saying nothing.
“What the fuck is your problem?” he goes on. “Did you fuck a bear last night or what?”
No, I almost fucked the only woman who means anything to me. I think to myself, but I decide to ignore him. Fucking asshole.
“Let me guess,” he says. “You woke up and decided you hate everyone. One of your bad days? Then again, you don’t really have good ones, do you? God, I don’t know how we put up with you.”
I let it slide. Let it hit and pass. Even as something darker starts to rise underneath.
“Hey, asshole, I’m talking to you.”
He grabs my shoulder to turn me around… and that’s it.
Everything snaps.
Almost in slow motion, I see myself putting down the plane, swinging my bunched fist, and catching him clean across the mouth.
CHAPTER 23
Sierra
Something’s changed. Something’s wrong. Since the police came by, and since my awkward conversation with Reid and Luke, followed by the even more awkward encounter with Talon, things haven’t been the same.
The energy around the place feels… off. Charged somehow.
I think they’re avoiding me. All three of them. God, even thinking it like that makes it sound worse than it already feels. It’s not obvious. Not outright.
Luke still hangs out with me after his busy couple of days, still his usual gregarious self—taking me to sessions, encouraging me to try things, making me laugh.
Reid is polite too, the few times I run into him. Friendly. Controlled.
And Talon… we haven’t really talked since it happened. No hostility. Just a heavy, suffocating awkwardness.