Page 37 of Love Always, Nova Black
“Just leave me alone, Don.”
“What do you mean, leave you alone? You’re the one that showed up at my door acting like I did you some kind of injustice by interacting with another woman.”
Tossing her head back, she belted out a laugh. One that I would have normally thought was cute, but given the circumstances, cute was the furthest thing from my mind.
“What’s so damn funny?”
“You are. The fact that you’re going to stand here and act like that woman wasn’t half-ass naked in your condo is pretty damn comical. It’s late in the afternoon, which meant she spent the night at your place, which also means that you fucked her.”
“And?What does that have to do with you?”
With her mouth wide open, she shot her head back. “Damn, so that’s where we are now? We’re at a place where you talk to me like I’m not shit?”
Instantly feeling bad for my choice of words, I said, “Nova, you know I would never disrespect you, but you have to admit that you’re acting crazy right now.”
“No, I’m not. I haven’t heard from you in two weeks, Don, and then the first time I see you, you’re laughing and talking with another woman. It’s like you’re perfectly fine with the fact that you haven’t heard my voice.”
“Is that what you think?”
Moving in closer to me, she rolled her neck. “That’s exactly what I think.”
“Well, you’re wrong. Not talking to you has been driving me crazy. But after what went down between us, I didn’t know how to talk to you. Maybe you can move on and act like things are like they were, but I can’t.”
“Who says that I can?”
“Nova, do you not remember the shit you said to me?” I told her. “You pretty much told me that you can’t get down with me like that, and I’m not talking about the sex. I’m talking about us.”
“I know what I said, but I also told you the reason I felt that way.”
“Yeah, and I call bullshit.”
“How? You know that Jayson is putting me through hell. You know my emotions are all over the place, so why would you even trust a potential future with me?”
“Because I trust you, and I trust what we’ve had. Let’s just keep it real, we’ve been feeling each other for a long time. Our situations just kept us from acting on anything.”
She lowered her gaze, letting me know that I was right. But given how stubborn Nova was, getting her to act on those feelings would be a challenge. A challenge that I wasn’t sure I was up for.
“Don, I can’t disagree with anything you’re saying—”
“So don’t try to,” I said as I stepped in a little closer and lifted her face just enough to meet my gaze. “Just let things be.”
“It’s not as easy as you make it sound, and you know it.”
Nodding, I said, “Understood. At the end of the day, I can’t make you do anything that you don’t want to do. With all that being said, I’ve made my decision about moving back home.”
“And?”
“After giving it a lot of thought and hearing the way Dakota feels about things, I think it might be in our best interest to move back.”
Immediately, Nova’s eyes lit up and her arms flew around my neck. “Oh my God, that’s great news.”
As much as I wanted to return the sentiment, I decided not to.
Peeling her arms from around my neck, I nodded and forced out a grin. “I’m glad you appreciate the news. I should probably let you get going.”
“Get going?We should celebrate.”
Shaking my head, I let out a nonchalant laugh. “Nah, I’m good.”
