Page 80 of Caught from Behind

“I’m fine.”

She huffs out an unamused laugh as she draws up next to me. “Sure you are. That’s why you’ve turned up here looking like you do.”

Okay, now that’s just rude.

“So I didn’t have time to style my hair,” I mutter.

Or do my makeup.

I think—strong emphasis on think—I brushed my teeth when I managed to peel myself out of bed sans eight million alarms because I didn’t want to wake Riggs.

Didn’t want to deal with knowing that I hurt him.

My eyes burn again, the nausea in my belly a hundred times worse as guilt eats away at my insides.

He opened up to me, made an effort to move beyond what happened to him, and…

I blew beyond all those boundaries.

Fucking pissed on them.

Because of my dad.

My heart squeezes.

No. Because of me.

I drank a bottle of vodka to numb my feelings then trod all over Riggs’s.

“It’s not your hair, sweets,” Nova says quietly, moving closer, reaching for my cheek.

I skitter back and she freezes.

“It’s that.” She exhales. “Did you…did you at least talk to Riggs about it?”

“Like I said,” I mutter, starting for the back room again. “I’m fine.”

She sighs, shakes her head, and I have to appreciate her tenacity—even though I’m the one currently putting up with it—when she says, “Kit squeezed me in for a blow dry just before your lunch break. I’ll bring grilled cheese and soup, you can give me a trim, and then I can help?—”

Emotions are roiling in my belly and I can barely think straight. “I’m fine.”

“It’s done,” she says on a shrug.

“Make it undone,” I manage to grit out even though my head is spinning and I feel ready to collapse.

“No.” She reaches for my arm, grips it tight.

“Stop, Nova.”

Her fingers tighten and she steps closer. “Kit took the payment already and?—”

Something in me snaps.

“Kit is an idiotic puppy who doesn’t know how to say no and has no spine to speak of.”

Crash.

I spin, breaking her hold, turning from her aghast expression and seeing Kit—my sweet, lovely Kit—standing just a couple of feet away, his pale face telling me that he heard me, heard the bullshit I was spewing that I clearly don’t mean.

---