Page 66 of One More Round

“Morgan loves it.” He lifts a shoulder and shrugs.

“I’m not Morgan.”

“Thank God for that. Anyways, Gia. She’s leaving. In about,” he pulls out his phone from his pocket and looks at the time, “two hours or so.”

“Yeah, and what’s the problem?” I ask.

“She’s leaving. Gone. Maybe for good. You’re not going to say goodbye?” He doesn’t act surprised that I’m not going, since I’ve already told him as much.

“Nope.” I pop the last part of the word.

He studies me for a minute. Being under his scrutiny does not inspire feelings of comfort.

“Is it because you are still mad at her for leaving, so you are giving it back as good as you got from the first time around? Or is it because you’re too much of a pussy to say goodbye to the one girl you’ve ever loved? Dick or pussy? Which way are you going to play it?”

I swear under my breath. Of course, one of my closest friends would know me well enough to call me out on my bullshit.

“Well, to be clear, I’d always choose pussy. Dick really isn’t my cup of tea,” I mutter.

Dex walks into my room and plops down on my bed. He jerks his head forward to encourage me to continue.

I shift my body in the chair so I’m facing him and consider my words.

“I’m still really pissed at her. Not so much that she’s leaving, but that she hid it and continued to start something with me,” I say.

“So, if she’d told you from the start, you wouldn’t have started sleeping with her? You would have kept your distance?” he asks, knowing damn well I wouldn’t have. “Because, to me, I’m not sure it would have mattered much.”

“It would have mattered to the point that I wouldn’t have let myself fall in love with her again,” I say through clenched teeth. I’m annoyed that he’s making me talk about this.

“Ah, but you see, I’m not positive that you ever stopped,” he says with a cock of his brow.

He’s right. He’s clearly enjoying himself right now though, so I’m not going to tell him he’s right.

“So, you’re not going to say goodbye because you love her, and you don’t want to man up?” he asks. But then from down the hall somewhere I hear Link yell, “Sounds like a pussy to me.”

I roll my eyes and toss my head back into the chair. Fucking-A. I do not need Link involved in this conversation too. Dex is chuckling but Link never appears in the doorway, so it looks like I’m safe on that account.

“I get it, man. Losing your girl sucks donkey balls. Even though she might not come back, I can tell you that she’d love to see you,” he offers.

I perk up. “She told you that?” A knowing grin slides across his face.

“Nope, she really doesn’t do a lot of talking when I’m around anymore. But Morgan says she got all hopeful when she mentioned she accidentally invited you to her party,” he says.

I like how he says accidentally because it was evident that Morgan invited me out of clear uneasiness.

“And as I told Morgan when she asked, me going to that party would not have been a good idea,” I defend.

“Maybe. But she was visibly watching the door for you last night.” He pauses a moment. “Look. You’re one of my best friends. I don’t agree with what she did, not telling you about the job. But, you’ve shut her out of your life. You’re clearly miserable. You could have been enjoying the past couple of weeks with her—” He’s interrupted by Link yelling again.

“Think of all the great sex you’ve missed out on, man!”

Fuck, he’s right about that.

Dex continues, “He has a point. But what I’m trying to say is that if you two are indeed done, have the balls to go and say goodbye. I think it would be good closure for the both of you. If you don’t want to go, tell me now and we’ll make sure she doesn’t get her hopes up over the possibility of seeing you today.”

I just stare down at my hands. I wait for a beat and tell him the truth.

“I really don’t know. I’m mad at her. I don’t want her to be sad, but I’ve already lost her once. It was harder than shit to end things with her, but damn, I’m not sure I’m going to survive letting her go again.”

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