Page 97 of Unexpected

When I made it to the second floor, I was staring down at my phone, reading a text from Josh saying that he was going to get someone from Murphy’s to take him home. Reading the text and not watching in front of me, it was no surprise that I ran directly into someone as I approached Hazel’s door.

“Oh shit. I’m so sorry.” I almost knocked the person down as I stumbled for my footing and the empty coffee cup flew out of my hand. My phone also fell directly in front of Hazel’s door, and I stooped down to grab it as I said, “I should probably pay attention to where I’m going.”

I tried to laugh it off, but the person didn’t say anything. When I stood up straight, with my phone clutched in one hand, all I saw was a flash of red hair before the woman hurried into the apartment next to Hazel’s without a word to me.

The entire exchange was odd, but I retrieved the empty coffee cup from across the hall and didn’t have to knock as Hazel’s door swung open.

“I heard thudding and then raised voices. What happened?” she said with a confused look.

“Hi to you too, Angel,” I said, pressing a kiss to her forehead before I stepped around her. She closed and locked the door, and I took a minute to look at her. Her dark-brown hair was hanging in loose waves over her shoulders, she was wearing a long-sleeved dark-red top that dipped into a deepV, and her legs were hugged in dark jeans that cupped her ass mouthwateringly well.

She was unimaginably gorgeous in more than one way.

When she turned back, she looked at me expectantly with raised eyebrows. “Whatcha lookin’ at?”

I smiled. “You,” I said, not even trying to hide my obvious gawking. But watching the appreciative smile as it crossed her face, I couldn’t help but think about Valerie. God, she was the last person I wanted to think about when I looked at Hazel’s face, but it happened. She had already begun tainting everything and nothing much had even happened. I didn’t want her to taint Hazel even more, but I was too selfish to let her go. She was brave and hopeful for staying.

“I actually don’t mind it when you stare,” she said, casually strolling over to me and kissing my cheek. I tilted my head and leaned into her calming presence. It was hard to be anything but utterly and completely calm when I buried my nose in her freshly washed hair.

“Good, because I plan on staring a lot,” I mumbled into her hair, wrapping my arms around her and pulling her to my chest.

“How was your day?” she asked after a minute, still clinging to me.

I pulled back to look at her as I spoke. “It was good. I toted Josh around and then went into the clinic for a few hours to get some work done.” I kissed her softly on the lips, no longer being able to hold back and she laughed against my mouth. The normalcy of the act brought up an ache in my chest I hadn’t felt in years at least.

“You smell and taste like coffee.” She kissed me again yet lingered a few seconds longer. “I love coffee.”

“I know you do.” We stood there, arms wrapped around each other, our lips connecting and grazing and hovering over each other’s.

“I have to tell you something.” Hazel stepped away, and she immediately began chewing her thumbnail. It was a sign of her apprehension I’d caught on to as the weeks had passed.

“What’s wrong?” I asked as I urged her to let go of her thumb. My first thought was Valerie, but I had hoped if something had happened, Hazel would have called me earlier. Either way, I thought the absolute worst.

“Michael’s back,” she said. And I took a breath.

“Okay, well, you knew he’d be back, and—”

“And he wants to meet.”

I frowned. “Are you going to meet with him?”

She shrugged, and I scrubbed a hand over my face while backing farther into the apartment. The small little entryway didn’t seem like the place for that conversation, but, yet again, neither did the kitchen or the living room because I didn’t want to have the damn conversation. I had gone over there with the intention of taking her out on a casual date, just dinner and maybe hot chocolate afterward. I wanted to do something that seemed normal even when the rest of our lives weren’t necessarily normal at all.

My jaw clenched even though I tried to stop it, but I was able to smooth my hands on the cold quartz counter instead of clenching them at my sides.

“I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet, but his mom found out about everything. She’s making him go to mandatory therapy and part of his required shit is making amends with me. Or at least attempting to because I don’t believe he can actually make amends.”

“Therapy is great and everything, but I’m not sure what it’s going to do for him. And do you think meeting him is going to benefit you? Because who gives a fuck what he needs to do. If you don’t want to do it, or if you don’t think it’ll help you, then he can rot. You never have to speak to him again.”

I so badly wanted to demand that she not go and that she never see him again. That we never speak to him or about him for the rest of our lives. But I knew that was unrealistic, no matter if the idea of her even being in the same room with him made me want to flip the fuck out.That also made me a controlling asshole much like the man she’d left.

“I think it might be good. Moving out without even saying another word to him just felt wrong and odd. I think it’d be good for me to get some closure and then move on the right way.”

“I don’t think you should.”So much for not being controlling.

She gave me a look that told me she was going to go no matter what my opinion on the subject was.

Not the answer I wanted, but I nodded as I shifted on my feet. I stared down at my hands still flat against the counter to keep them from noticeably shaking.

---