Chapter 1
Jessica
“I don’t understand why you have to move because of—” Travis Hurley, my ex-friend-with-benefits, lowers his voice “—the incident.”
Oh, for fuck’s sake. Not again.
I remind myself breakup management, no matter how tedious, is part of being an adult. “When are you going to get it through your thick skull that this has nothing to do with you?”
Hurt shines in his brown eyes, like he’s a puppy I kicked. “Why are you being so caustic? Is this a defense mechanism?”
How did I get into this mess? Travis was supposed to be easy. Uncomplicated. When we started, I agreed to casual sex and to accompany him to required work events.
He was supposed to be a huge time-saver.
I was wrong.
I take a deep breath and hope this time he’ll see reason. “Travis, I told you if I got the job, I was leaving town and moving to Revival.”
He grips my wrist and tugs me across the marble floors of city hall, where we both work, to stand between Courtroom A and the women’s bathroom, right next to the unsmiling portrait of our founding fathers.
I want to resist, but I don’t want another scene.
Barbara from registration, the most notorious blabbermouth in town, swings out from behind the ladies’ room door, her big owl eyes widening in excitement as she takes us in.
Fantastic. Just what I need. More gossip.
I stare at Travis’s fingers. “Let go.”
“Have dinner with me tonight. Give me a chance to talk you off the commitment ledge.” He lingers entirely too long before releasing his hold.
I’d rather watch the extended version of the Lord of the Rings trilogy with commentary than go to dinner with Travis. That’s the level of torture I’d endure to escape him.
I glance longingly at the heavy wooden doors flinging open at regular intervals as people make their escape. Golden light shoots beams across the scales of justice embedded into the floor, illuminating the path to freedom before the room goes dim again.
I refocus on Travis. “I have nothing to say.”
“Jessica, we were sleeping together. That has to mean something.” As his voice grows low and intimate, he leans in close enough to smell what’s left of his cedar-scented aftershave.
“Only because it was easy and convenient. As I explained when we started casually seeing each other, I am not interested in commitment.” I feel a vein in my temple throb.
“You don’t mean that.” Travis conducts his personal life the same way he approaches his job as a litigator, with a slow, methodical dismantling of excuses. He believes the if you repeat it enough, it becomes fact philosophy.
“I did, though. Over and over again, I told you.” I can’t blame him. His tenacity wore me down after I’d suffered through a couple of bad dates. He’s playing odds he thinks are in his favor. Refusing to see that I never wavered on commitment.
I don’t want to be tied down. I’m not interested in taking care of some guy. And Travis isn’t going to be the one to change that.
“You said you weren’t seeing anyone else.”
“I also said I didn’t want anything serious. But that never counts, does it?”
How many times do I have to have this conversation? I blame the public sympathy he’s received. It’s made him bold. Made him believe he’s in the right, when he most certainly is not.
Not that anyone’s bothered to get my side of the story. Why would they? I fit so neatly into the role of monster that broke poor Travis’s fragile boy heart.
“You’re scared.” He cups my arm, rubbing up and down the length. “Because of your commitment issues.”
I want to scream my frustration, but it’s late on a Friday afternoon and the first warm day after a cold, gray spell. The dark, paneled halls of local government are full of people making a run for the light of the outdoors.