Page 98 of The Potter

Our relationship has always been about helping one another through tough times. Tonight, as she hears me stumble through the front door, is no different.

“Hey,” she says on yawn. “I tried waiting up for you.”

I move through the room, bypassing the bed altogether, and head toward the bathroom. “You shouldn’t have.”

Before coming home, Astor and I went to the gym, where he let me get a few hits in before he kicked my ass bloody. I felt better, but no less sober, thanks to bottle of bourbon I took with me. I might have made it through the deposition, but I have no doubt that the pain is just beginning.

I need it all to be finished.

Halle.

Calista.

The lawsuit.

My job.

Everything.

I just want it gone.

“Okay, rude.” She sits up in bed in her favorite pajamas—my Harvard T-shirt—and eyes me closely as I stumble through the threshold. “Great, you’re drunk again.”

“The fact that this surprises you, impresses me.”

Just call me Dick Potter.

Halle shakes her head, getting out of bed and coming to my side, finally noticing the red welts on my face. “What happened to you?”

I knock her hand away. “Astor thought I was being a little too mouthy.”

The softness in her voice gives me pause. “Come to bed with me. We’ll talk about it in the morning.” She intertwines her fingers in mine, and all I can feel is the comfort she’ll take from me soon, when she leaves for California.

“Don’t,” I tell her, pulling away and backing into the bathroom. “Don’t act like we’re some kind of couple.”

Halle jerks back like I pushed her. “You should probably stop before I add to Astor’s welts.”

She should probably get in her licks now; she won’t have another chance after tonight.

“I gave Astor your return-to-work papers—that’s if you still need a job now that you’re healed.” I dare her to argue her intentions.

“That’s not fair. You knew why I came here. I never kept it a secret from any of you. Heck, Astor is the one whoofferedme the job! I was happy bagging groceries!”

I take another step back, creating much-needed distance between us. “Well, now you can go back to being happy. My commitment in seeing you through this recovery is done.”

A tear streaks down her face, and I have to quell the urge to reach out and wipe it away. “What are you saying, Vance? That our relationship was only about the surgery?”

No. “Yes.”

I just want to rip it off like a Band-Aid.

“Yes?” Her lip trembles in the bathroom light, and it takes everything in me to stand there like an asshole and deny what she means to me.

“Yes. You came here for a surgery, Ms. Belle, and I provided it—with great results, I must say.” If being an asshole were a sport, I’d hold the world record. “With that little need out of the way, I’m not sure what else I can help you with.”

I didn’t see her slap coming, but I wholeheartedly deserved it. “You’re a bastard.”

I nod, not bothering to acknowledge the hit to the cheek. “You knew this when you met me.”

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