Page 24 of Might as Well

“And yet, I still have time for others.”

Cal would have time regardless. The more I see him with Tori and the way he talks about her, the more confused I am about why he’s with her. He clearly doesn’t give a shit either way.

“I’ll work on it,” I promise.

“Things are good, though?” he asks.

“Yeah. Things are good.”

“Good. I’d offer for y’all to get together with Tori and me, but she’s already jealous of Julie, so I’ll pass.”

I frown. “She’s jealous of Julie? Seriously?”

Cal nods and winces. “Made the mistake of mentioning we dated in high school and she’s been making comments ever since.” He shrugs and shakes his head.

Before I can ask him straight up why he’s with her, Ian walks over.

“Collin’s looking for you, Cal.”

Cal slaps me on the shoulder and walks off. I’m concerned about Cal and his relationship with Tori, but I don’t think saying something to him will be impactful at this point. I also don’t want to overstep. Cal will figure his life out at some point. He doesn’t need my help to do it.

CHAPTER 7

VIOLET

Embarrassed doesn’t even begin to cover how I feel right now. Zane will soon know even more about me and it’s not all that great. I’m not sure there even is anything good about me. I’m trying so hard not to go down that road but knowing the conversation ahead doesn’t help. What if Zane decides it’s too much and walks away?

Zane told me to just walk in once I got to his place, so I do. I find him in the kitchen. Whatever he’s cooking smells absolutely heavenly.

“So, you actually learn how to cook from the Food Network?” I tease.

Zane laughs. “Maybe. Day go okay?”

“Yeah.” Is he going to make me talk now or later? My stomach has hurt all day knowing what is to come. Maybe now is when the other shoe will drop. The veil will fall revealing what’s not-so-great about Zane and he’ll leave because putting up with me won’t be part of his great traits. “You?” I ask.

“Good. You bring something to stay the night?”

“You didn’t say I should,” I point out.

He looks at me from over his shoulder. “Do you want to?”

I shrug because I’m not sure how our conversation will go.

“For future reference, if you want to stay, just pack a bag.”

Well, he seems optimistic that whatever it is we have going on isn’t about to fall apart completely. Zane walks over to me, grabs my hand, and leads me over to the stove. He grabs my hips and lifts me onto the counter.

“Tell me about your parents. What happened? How did they die?”

My lungs bottom out. Okay, he’s going for the jugular right off the bat. I wring my hands together. Courage. Where is my courage and strength? Zane squeezes my thighs in reassurance before focusing back on the pots on the stove. For some reason, it helps that he isn’t watching me.

“They…they aren’t dead.”

Zane snaps his wide gaze over to me. “But I thought…”

“I didn’t mean to imply that.”

“You said they were gone and that all the people who loved you were dead.”

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