Page 51 of The Meaning Of You

“Here’s the deal,” he said. “If you tell me about your shitty day, I’ll tell you about mine.”

I narrowed my gaze. “In case you’ve forgotten,you’rethe one who turned up out of the blue after ghosting me the last few weeks. I even gave you the name Casper on my phone.”

Nick almost choked on a laugh. “As in Casper the friendly ghost? Now you’re really showing your age.”

“You should know. Now, are you done?” I snapped and he shut his mouth. “Suffice to say,Idon’t oweyouany explanations, Nick.You, on the other hand, need to start talking.”

“Suffice to say?” He smirked and I wanted to slap him. Then that strangely desolate look he’d been wearing when I first saw him returned and I wanted to wrap him in cotton wool instead. Something was definitely off with him.

“I know I need to talk, and I will, I promise,” he said soberly. “But maybe humour me for once?” He indicated the bottle of whisky. “My thoughts are a little... fuzzy. I need a minute.”

Protect. Protect. Dammit.

“Fine,” I breathed the word out on a sigh. “If you must know, I spent the day teaching a workshop at a conference. A very hot, very tedious, very long conference. On aSaturday.”

He nodded. “Explains the suit. Looks good on you, by the way.”

I blinked, thrown by the unexpected compliment and not sure how to respond. I decided to let it go and began recounting my day instead. Nick listened without interruption, although I wasn’t sure how much he really heard, his attention waning at times like the whisky level in that damn bottle. When I couldn’t stand it any longer, I held out my hand and clicked my fingers.

“Enough. Hand it over. You promised to talk, but at the rate you’re chugging that down, you’ll be comatose before you get a chance.”

Nick’s shoulders tensed, like he was steeling for a fight, but then his body deflated and he reluctantly handed me the bottle.

I was about to thank him when he reached for a beer to replace it with.

“Absolutely not.” I shot to my feet and snapped my fingers again. “I’ll take those as well, thank you very much.”

He groaned and made a big show of surrendering the two remaining cans while grumbling about bossy fucking friends.

“I’ll make us some coffee,” I countered, and his answering pout made me smile.

“I don’t want coffee,” he griped. “Iwanta whisky.”

“You mistake my order for a request,” I clarified. “I’ll bring some water as well. And yes, I know, you don’t want that either. Save it for someone who gives a shit.”

His mouth snapped shut.

I smirked. “Excellent choice. This is the part where you shut the hell up and do as you’re told.”

That earned me a sizzling glare. “Then maybe I should leave.”

My gaze remained steady on his. “You can, but you won’t. Because youwantto talk to me, Nick. That’s why you’re here. And there’s nothing I want more right now than to hear what you have to say. So, how about you stop all this fucking posturing and let someone else look after you for once. It won’t kill you.”

His gaze hardened, and for a moment I thought I might’ve pushed too far. But his expression softened after a bit and his mouth quirked. “But it might kill me.” He cocked a brow. “You can’t know that for sure.”

I groaned. “Then leave. See if I care. But you’ll have to walk because I’m not handing your keys back until you’re sober, which isn’t going to be anytime soon judging by how much you’ve had to drink.” I jangled the key ring I’d swiped from the coffee table earlier and headed inside.

“You can’t do that!” Nick protested, his chair scraping back on the deck.

“I just did,” I threw back over my shoulder. “Now sit the fuck down, and if you’re a good boy, I’ll even throw in a sandwich for good measure.”

“I don’t want a bloody sandwich,” he hollered as I disappeared into the kitchen.

“Just as well I wasn’t asking, then.”

Twenty minutes,a double-shot espresso, and a ham-and-cheese sandwich later, Nick was finally ready to talk. He pushed his plate away, set his mug on the coffee table, and stared into the treeline.

“I’m pretty sure Davis was cheating on me,” he said baldly, still looking away.

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