Page 60 of Teasing a King

“I can’t,” I whisper, hating myself as I do.

We stand there for a long moment, neither speaking. Finally, Van nods once as if coming to a decision.

“Okay,” he says. “If this is what you want, I’ll go.”

I shake my head. “No,” I say. “This is your house. I’ll go.”

Van is already walking toward the door. “I’ll give you your space,” he says. “We can figure out where we go from here after we’ve both had some time to think.”

He doesn’t give me a chance to respond before he leaves, closing the door softly behind him. The soft click of the door feels like a bullet lodging itself deep in my chest.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Van

I go to Mack’s. Of course, I do. Besides The Jester, it’s the only place that still feels like home. I know Wyatt will have questions, but I don’t know what to tell him. I don’t even know what just happened. It’s clear that something is going on with Mya, but I don’t know what it is. Something happened to make her suddenly decide to break things off with me. On the drive to Mack’s, I wrack my brain trying to come up with some reason for her change of heart. But the only thing I can come up with is my telling her I love her. That’s the only thing that’s changed between us.

I walk into Mack’s and head straight for the bar. I wave at the smiling hostess as I pass, but I don’t stop to chat. Wyatt looks up as I approach, concern evident on his face.

“What happened?” he asks, moving to my side in two strides. “Is it Mya? The baby?”

I shake my head. “She dumped me,” I say. “Says she wants to take a step back. Reinstate rule number two.”

I walk behind the bar and grab a bottle of bourbon and a glass. Wyatt watches me make the drink but doesn’t comment.

“Did she say why?” he asks.

I shake my head and take a large sip from my glass, enjoying the way the liquor burns on the way down.

“Nope,” I say. “Just that it’s for the best.”

“Okay,” Wyatt says, drawing out the word. “So, what happened? Something had to have changed, right? You guys were happy. She didn’t just suddenly change her mind.”

I stare down at the glass in my hands and sigh. “I told her I love her,” I say, tossing back the rest of my drink.

Wyatt nods slowly. “So, you scared her off,” he says.

I shake my head. “I don’t know,” I say. “She didn’t seem scared when I said it. She seemed happy.”

“Did she say it back?” Wyatt asks.

I look at him. “We were kind of in the middle of something at the time.”

Wyatt shakes his head at me. “How romantic,” he says drily.

“Shut up,” I say. “I felt it, so I said it. It doesn’t make it less true.”

He concedes with a nod. “Okay, so if that’s not the problem, what is?”

“That’s just it,” I say. “I don’t know. We were fine this morning. Then, this afternoon, she ended things. It was totally out of the blue.”

“What did you two do all day?” Wyatt asks. “It’s probably some misunderstanding, like what happened with me and Hope.”

I think back over the day. “I don’t see how,” I say. “We barely spent any time together today. She went shopping with Quinn in the morning, then had lunch with her brother.”

Wyatt’s eyes narrow. “Does her brother like you?”

I shrug. “He seemed to. When we hung out the other night, he all but gave me his blessing. He said he’s happy Mya is with someone who cares so much about her. He even welcomed me to the family. He strikes me as the kind of man who doesn’t sugarcoat anything. If he didn’t want me with Mya, he’d have said it.”

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