Page 112 of On the Double

“Uh…see you later.”

It was the most awkward goodbye ever, but it needed to be done. There was no way I could keep going the way I was without leading her on, and that was the last thing in the world I wanted to do.

29

HARPER

It had beena whole week since I’d seen Edu. I got the distinct impression that he was walking away from me, though he still checked in with me every day. Something had freaked him out, and he was more distant now than he was when I first started sleeping with him.

But I kept my emotions under control. After all, he had taken weeks off work to be with me as I recovered. Maybe he was just focused on getting back to work and I was blowing this whole thing out of proportion, but it didn’t feel that way.

I shoved my food around my plate, finding it hard to have any sort of appetite when I was so unsettled about what was happening in my life.

“Everything okay at work?” Oliver asked.

“As good as it can be,” I muttered.

“Your boss isn’t giving you a hard time, is he?”

“Not really,” I sighed. “It’s not like he can without looking like a complete ass.”

I took a sip of my water and sighed again.

“Alright, what’s going on?”

I looked up at him, frowning at the tone in his voice. “What do you mean?”

“You’re barely eating.”

“It’s the medicine. It makes my stomach upset.”

“Bullshit,” he snapped. “You were eating fine last week.”

“I was being forced to eat,” I grumbled.

“Is that what you need? You need me to call Edu and tell him to get his ass over here because you’re not eating?”

I glowered at him. “The last thing I need you to do is call Edu. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”

“But you’re refusing to do it,” he snapped. “Where is he, anyway?”

“He’s working.”

“He’s been ignoring you all week.”

I rolled my eyes at his dramatics despite the fact that I felt his statement was accurate. “He hasn’t been ignoring me. I’ve heard from him, but he had to get back to work.”

“And now you’re all depressed. Fuck, I knew he was bad news.”

I shoved back from the table, carrying my plate to the sink. “He’s not bad news. He’s working, which is perfectly normal.”

“Yet, he hasn’t even bothered to come for a visit.”

“He took three weeks off to be with me! What more do you want from him?”

“I want him to act like a man. Either he’s with you or he’s not.”

“He’s not,” I snapped. “I knew that from the beginning. He doesn’t want a relationship.”

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