Page 69 of Love Not Qualified

“How do you know if there’s no signal?” she questioned, putting her phone inside her jacket.

“Before we got in town, I had the radio on. All roads outside the Mountains are getting cleaned as we speak,” I continued, the lie tasting bitter on my tongue.

Why was I lying? If she wanted to go home, I should’ve let her go.

Instead, I stood my ground. If I didn’t deviate from my story, she had no other choice but to wait. What would she do? Take a cab home?

I knew—fuck, Iknew—it wasn’t right to lie to her, but if that meant she was going to stay, I was willing to accept any consequences that may come.

Gladly.

As long as she remained here with me.

“Fine.” She let her arms drop. “You’ll take me back first thing in the morning.”

Haelyn walked past me and I hid a smile at the small win.

For now, I could breathe in relief.

TWENTY-FIVE

HAELYN

I was mad. No, I was fuming like a goddamn dragon who just burned an entire city. I had no idea how I kept my calm when he told me the truth when all I wanted was to cut his head off his shoulders.

Who did he think he was to fool me like that?

Mr. Graves was my boss and nothing else. I only reported to him regarding work-related matters, and he was supposed to do the same, not crossing that well-defined zone. Yet only because he happened to be there when the clinic called, he took it as his responsibility to take care of me and take me to another city when he didn’t have my permission.

I wasn’t sure what led him to believe he had any right to intervene in my personal life when I never suggested our relationship was anything other than professional.

If he wanted to help, he could’ve given me the day off and I would’ve been way happier. But to trick me into coming to the Mountains because I thought he had a business meeting and therefore it was my job to assist him? That didn’t help.

He was so infuriating with those big dark lashes of his and a deep set of green eyes that I didn’t know what to do with or where to direct my anger.

I burst into the house, the wooden door creaking as I opened it. I stopped short, taking a second to level my breath when my eyes landed on a couple. The man—who I assumed was Sebastian—was crouched in front of the fireplace on my left, feeding wood into the fire. His head snapped to me and when his eyes danced between myself and something behind me, I knew Mr. Graves had caught up.

A woman was laying on the sofa in a ski suit with a scarf around her neck. She offered me a smile, then got to her feet as Mr. Graves closed the door behind us.

God, she was beautiful.

Long blonde hair, piercing blue eyes, and skin to envy. She approached me. “Nadia.” The woman extended her hand, and I took it, returning the smile.

I wasn’t going to disrespect them just because their friend was an asshole.

“Haelyn,” I presented myself, then did the same with Sebastian.

Nadia invited me to the couch and I joined her, even though I would’ve loved nothing more than to lock myself in a room until it was time to leave.

I had no business being there.

She smiled with her eyes, getting comfortable in her seat as she snuck a foot underneath herself, then supported her head in her hand. Nadia surveyed me for a moment. “I didn’t know Tristan was bringing someone.” While the observation could pass as rude, I could see she was simply curious.

I glanced at him and bit my cheek as it turned a brighter shade of pink at the embarrassment.

Not only did I not want to be here, but not even his friends were expecting me. All I wanted to do was shout at the man who refused to take his eyes off me since we had entered the house.

He was taking his coat off, his muscles flexing under his shirt.

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