Page 56 of Repluse

“I fucked up,” he says before I get chance to greet him with a good morning.

“What the fuck, Frank. It’s not even seven. Are you even out of bed?” I ask as I slow the treadmill Iwasenjoying a run on. Wiping my face on my towel, I come to a stop and wait for his answer.

“I’m up. I went for a run and thought I’d call Mila to check in.”

“And?”

“I think I told her I love her.”

I grin, and then I laugh out a “What?”

“Don’t fucking laugh. Why’s it so fucking funny anyway?”

Stepping off the running machine, I head towards my bathroom. “It’s funny because I just can’t imagine you telling anyone you love them.”

“I tell my mum all the time. You’ve heard me on the phone to her. I’ve told you I love you before.” His voice rises with indignation.

“That’s different. I meant in a romantic sense. Anyway, youdidtell her you love her, or you onlythinkyou told her?”

“I told her.”

“What she say?”

“Nothing. I said it and ended the call.”

“What prompted it? What made you tell her?”

“She was a mess.”

“When you told her? What do you mean, she got emotional?”

Jealousy slithers cold and unwelcome through me as I consider Mila telling him she loves him first. I’m not a jealous person, so although the emotion is foreign to me, I’m man enough to recognise it for what it is, and I don’t fucking like it.

“No, before I said it. She was almost hysterical.”

“Why?”

The jealousy is now joined by a knot of anxiety lodged somewhere between my chest and my gut, or possibly filling the entire fucking space.

“I don’t know what’s happened. She was having a meltdown about where this is all going, with her, with us. She’s scared, thinks we’re gonna get bored, move on…”

“What brought that on?” I ask as I turn on my shower, fighting the urge to hang up and call Mila myself.

“Mate, I wish I knew. She just went on a rant about us meeting someone new at the club and leaving her hanging. Then she burst into tears. No, not just tears, she was sobbing.”

“And you just told her you love her and hung up?”

“No, dickhead. I told her everything would be okay, that we’ve got her, then I told her to get showered, get dressed, and meet me where you usually pick her up so we could spend the day together.ThenI told her I love her and hung up.”

“Do you?” I ask.

“Love her?”

“Yeah?”

“I think… I don’t know. I feel something—something I never have. Do you?”

“Yeah, same,” I admit.

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