Page 83 of His Temptation
“Whoa,” Roman’s voice rumbles next to me. “Are all these empty glasses yours?”
I look down at the ten empty pint glasses in front of me. Wait. No, I think I’m seeing double. It’s five empty glasses.
“I … fffink so,” I reply sluggishly.
Five beers aren’t so bad. I don’t know what the big deal is. I’ve had five beers in an evening before.
“Dude,” Walker says roughly, “you’ve been here for, like, forty-five minutes. How did you drink that much in such a short amount of time? You must be hammered.”
I try to bat my hand at him to let him know he’s making a big deal about nothing, but my hand must hit the glasses in front of me because they all clink together. Roman and Sawyer, who are sitting next to me, grab the glasses to settle them and make sure nothing breaks.
“I’m finnnnne,” I argue.
They all look at each other, concern written all over their faces. I roll my eyes, which kind of makes the world spin a bit.
Walker’s voice lowers. “What’s going on? I’ve never seen you drink like this. Something’s up with you.”
“It doesn’t matter. She doesn’t matter. Nothing matters.” I open up my wallet and throw whatever cash I have in there on the table. “I’m gonna go fome … home.”
I step off the barstool and run into Roman. Shit. How did he get so close?
“That’s it,” Walker says, resigned. “I’m gonna make sure you get home safely.”
He stands up and holds my arm.
Before we make it to the exit, Colton joins me on the other side. “I’m coming with you guys.”
They practically manhandle me into the back seat of my car. I rest my head against the seat and close my eyes, but the spinning of the car tells me that’s a big mistake. Instead, I settle for keeping my eyes glued out the window.
“Something happen with you and Kylie?” Colton asks after several minutes of silence.
“It doesn’t matter,” I whisper.
“It seems like it matters a lot to you. You don’t behave like this. What happened?”
I look over at him, void of emotion. “She just reminded me of something that I had begun to forget.”
“What’s that?” he asks.
“That the only person you can trust in this world is yourself.”
31
KYLIE
Ihear his voice from my desk as he talks to Roy. It sounds hard and void of any emotion, giving my body chills. His eyes remain glued to the ground as he walks past my desk. No acknowledgment of my existence. It tears up the remaining shreds of my heart. A heart that is broken—proof that what I feel for him is far more than what I even realized.
I spent most of last night lying awake as my mind raced with an endless number of thoughts. An entire range of emotions was felt—from anger to regret. I still can’t get the look on his face as I tossed out my accusations out of my mind. I don’t know what had come over me.
Perhaps it was a way of protecting my heart, which was clearly already so entangled in the relationship, that it exposed more than it should have.
One second, I cursed the man for putting me in the position to feel so vulnerable and doubtful of where we stood. His mood swings and blunt shutdown of any questions I’d asked about his family sowed a seed of doubt that just kept growing. It was only amatter of time before that doubt took hold and became too much for me to hide away. I just didn’t think it would happen so soon.
But I was willing to give him the time to explain himself. I didn’t start with an accusation when I went into that office. Of course, he had to go and ask me to send flowers—the one thing he used to have me do after his dates. If it wasn’t for that little action, all of this could have been avoided.
I hear the familiar footsteps walk past my desk. This time, I refuse to look up. I just keep my eyes on my computer screen. I blink away my tears as the wedge that has been driven between us makes me feel lonelier than I ever have before.
It doesn’t make sense. I’ve been alone since I was sixteen. I’m used to being alone. How does a couple of months with someone change that?
