Page 39 of Beck and Call

"It's okay to cry. Hell, I'd be a snotty mess right now and probably stuffing my face with a pint of ice cream. Do you know what you want to do?"

I wiped the moisture from under my eyes. "I told him I'd give the engagement three months, but I've barely made it three days."

"I can think of a middle ground."

"What?" I was desperate for something I could hold onto, any way out of this situation.

"Move in with me. This was obviously too fast. You don't know each other enough. If you are determined to stick by your agreement, then do so, but you don't have to live with him."

"And when the three months is up?" I couldn't imagine I'd have a job any longer, or even if I did that that I'd want to be around him day in and day out. He might have been untouched by sentiment, but it appeared I was still the same girl starved for love that I'd been since my grandmother passed away.

"Whether it's three months from now, or tomorrow. Well, maybe more like Monday, but my point is you have a place on my team. It makes more sense anyway. With him you're an executive assistant. With me you'd be a marketing assistant, which is what you went to school for anyway, right?"

My pride had kept me from accepting this offer the many other times she'd made it, but desire like I hadn't known bubbled up inside of me. I think I'd turned her down all the times before because I was afraid of getting close to what I wanted and failing.

"You're right. I don't know how I'm going to handle the near future, but I want to come to work with you. I just need to figure out what I'm doing with Beckett."

Chapter Fourteen

Beckett

Colter walked into The Lounge and laid his coat on the back of the sofa. I held my hand up as a signal for the waitress to bring two more drinks. I tossed back the rest of my whiskey in preparation for another round.

He stared at my empty glass, up at me, and back down at my glass. "What did you do? Where's Evie?"

I shrugged and began tapping my fingers against my knee. "She went out with Jana Easton."

"But, she'll be back, right?"

"She told me not to wait up for her." Would she be back? Surely she would.

"I can see you thinking. I bet you're telling yourself she'll be back, but you aren't sure are you?"

My hand clenched and unclenched. Everything was fine until his loose lips told my father I had a girlfriend. As soon as I proposed, our perfectly arranged relationship became messy.

"What exactly would she be back for?" he pushed. "Don't try and feed me bullshit about her coming back for the job, or your apartment. Unless you've been so oblivious you honestly don't know she doesn't have the same values as any of the women you've dated since–"

"Don't fucking bring her up," I snapped.

"How long are you going to let what happened ruin your life? If you can't let her go, you're going to lose Evie. You don't deserve the half-life you've been living, but sure as shit that young woman doesn't deserve to join you in purgatory," he snapped.

He grabbed his coat and stood. He was leaving, and our drinks hadn't even arrived yet.

"Where are you going?" I demanded.

Colter ignored me and shoved his arms inside his coat. "I'm not going to watch you throw away your last chance at happiness. What was it this time? Was she too nice? Did she fall in love with you?"

I flinched.

He laughed, but it sounded more pissed off than amused. "You're a real fucking piece of work. You asked her to marry you, probably expect her to have your children, and yet you won't let her into your life. Not really."

"Don't be stupid, I don't want children."

He pinched the bridge of his nose and leaned back against the sofa. "I hadn't realized how deep the damage Callie did to you went."

"The damage she did to me?" I paused to take a deep breath so I wouldn't bite the head off my best friend. "I'm not the one in a long-term care facility."

Colter pounded his fist on the arm of the couch. "You didn't force her to take those pills! She might be in that facility for the rest of her life, but she put herself there. It seems she's helped lock you up too. When are you going to stop punishing yourself?"

---