Page 59 of Say It Slowly

He flashes me a friendly smile, leaning back against the tufted backrest. “Don’t worry about it. I hope it doesn’t create any trouble foryou,though. Looks like it might have.”

I glance up at the front door of the restaurant, but Roman and the girl are long gone. My throat feels thick, and the unshed tears sting the backs of my eyes. With a nod, I clench my jaw and sheepishly move back to my seat next to Wyn.

She scoots over to give me room. “What the hell happened out there?” she whispers. By now, everyone has gone back to eating, and chatting.

“I may have said something I shouldn’t have,” I whisper back.

“What’d you say?” Wyn asks, chewing on a french fry.

I purse my lips, then say, “I may have implied that I wanted him to find another girl.”

“Youimpliedthat?” she asks suspiciously.

I sigh. “Okay, I said it in those exact words.”

She pops another fry in her mouth, then nods toward the front door. “So…mission accomplished. Looks like he’s giving you what you wanted.”

I narrow my eyes at her, remembering my anger toward Roman. “Yeah, but did he have to be so fucking quick about it?”

She laughs, and shakes her head. “Sounds like you don’t know what you want.”

Yeah, whatever. I said what I said, but I didn’t exactly mean it. Maybe a little, but not entirely.

I stare at Wyn’s french fries. I was starving just a few minutes ago, and now I can’t even stomach the thought of food. “Who was the girl he left with?”

“Jennifer Strong,” she answers matter-of-factly. “Everyone calls her Jen. She’s a sophomore, and a major in business, I think. Sweet, but a little too focused on catching a Sacred Son. Though, honestly, so is every other girl in the circle, so I can’t really blame her for that.”

And she’s beautiful, and elegant, and basically everything I’m not. I can’t fault her for any of that, but it makes me want to burst into tears. It shouldn’t even matter, though, because I’m not in a relationship with him, right? That’s what I keep telling Roman and myself.

But five minutes ago, he jumps all over me fortalkingto another guy, yet…he gets to leave with a random chick? Let’s forget for a second that I may have goaded him into that. It’s still fucked up.

“Where do you think he’s taking her?” I ask, still staring at the door.

Wyn snorts. “Well, he’s not taking her to bible study.” Then she must see the look on my face, because she immediately softens, “Sorry. I didn’t mean that. He’s probably just trying to make you jealous.”

“Yeah, that could be it.” He’s just calling my bluff. That’s what this is. He did say something about punishing me, the asshole.

I try to push Roman and Jen out of my thoughts, and enjoy Wyn’s company. We also chat with a couple of the other girls at the table, and I’m relieved to discover they’re actually pretty nice. We avoid the Roman topic and connect mostly on the frustrations of juggling classes, and homework, and everything else.

When everyone is done eating, Lucas approaches our table. He holds his keys up. “Ready? Roman wants me to take you home.”

“I can take her home,” Wyn pipes up.

Lucas shakes his head. “Roman wants me to take her, so I’m taking her.”

I push out a breath. “If I’m the one being carted around, don’t I get a choice in the matter?”

“No,” Lucas says with finality.

Perfect.

I glance at Wyn. “There’s no use in arguing. Thanks for the offer though.”

“I’ll text you in a bit,” she says with a wink. Lucas misses it, though, because he’s already heading toward the front door and his back is turned to us.

I follow Lucas out to the parking lot, and Lucas waits for me, unlocking his car so I can slip inside.

The ride home is mostly silent, and I go back and forth about whether or not I should mention Roman running off with Jen. Lucas is pretty loyal to his guys, and I doubt he’d tell me the truth about what’s going on inside Roman’s head, so I decide to throw him a soft-ball question first.

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