Page 3 of The Question of Us
I cupped his cheek. “And yet here I am, the simple and remarkably untouched solution to your problem.”
The smile fell from his lips. He put his hand over mine and kissed my palm. “I’m afraid I must beg to differ.” He held my gaze. “Because you, Madigan Church, are anything but simple.”
I leaned in and kissed him. “You’re not so straightforward yourself, Mister Fisher. Slowly, slowly, we agreed. Wouldn’t want to get ahead of ourselves.” I was aiming for light relief, but the words fell flat.
Nick’s gaze turned troubled. “I’m sorry that I’m such a fuck-up at the moment. I know we need to talk... again.” He shot me a rueful smile. “I just don’t know if I have any answers for you yet.”
I narrowed my eyes. “I thought we’d decided that relationship decisions were a joint thing, not a solo effort?”
He winced. “You’re right. See, I’m fucking up again. I’m such a mess. I think a day back home sorting some things out is in order. Catch up with my life. I can’t hide out here forever. I’m going to have to get back to work sometime.”
My stomach dropped. “I wasn’t aware you werehiding out.” I made air quotes. “I thought you wanted to be here. To be with me. That this was us trying things out for a bit?”
Nick tipped my chin up. “It is. But it’s also kind of a bubble away from reality.”
I stepped back, frowning, my heart swimming in insecurity once again. “I dunno. It feels pretty real to me.”
“I didn’t mean that. I just—” The front doorbell put an end to whatever Nick was going to say next.
I glanced into the hall. “Pretty early for visitors?”
Nick pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Go see who it is. We’ll talk later.”
I considered him for a long moment.
“We will,” he insisted. “I promise.”
“Oh, Iknowwe will,” I countered. “I don’t need any of your promises because I’ll make sure of it.”
Nick smiled and shook his head. “It’s adorable that you think that.”
I patted his cheek none too gently. “It’s amusing that you don’t. Now get up and shower. I’m hungry.”
Nick smirked, looked me up and down, then raised a brow.
“Nope.” I ran my fingers through that crop of silver hair on his chest. “You don’t get to do that. You’re nothing but a fucking tease.” I pulled a T-shirt over my head and added an extra swish to my walk as I left the room.
Nick’s chuckle followed me down the hall.
CHAPTER TWO
Madigan
Gazza sawme coming through the glass and managed a tiny wave, even if the accompanying smile missed his eyes completely. He’d looked like that since it all happened. Pale and haunted, overly thin, and riddled with guilt. So much so that I’d insisted he spend a few nights in my spare bedroom before venturing back to his flat under the proviso he took some well-earned vacation time and kept in touch. But my texts had mostly gone unanswered except for the occasional one to fob me off.
What was it with the men in my life, friends and boyfriends alike? I’d planned many times to talk to Gazza about what happened, but he avoided that conversation and me like the plague, insisting he was fine and that he just needed some time to think and let everything settle in his head.
He and Nick had a lot in common in that regard, and it wasn’t helping me one bit because thefinepart was a bald-faced lie, and we both knew it. I was so sick of that damn word it felt like a razor blade in my brain every time I heard it. Gazza felt a misplaced guilt for what had happened to me, believing he should’ve seen through all the lies his so-called boyfriendhad spun him—a boyfriend who’d turned out to be a dangerous fraud.
Goddammit, did I have to be the grown-up with both of them? What the hell was wrong with these men?
I opened the door and ushered Gazza inside. His eyebrows rose briefly at my state of dress. I wasn’t sure I’d ever answered the door to him in my sleep shorts before.
He mumbled his thanks, along with something about work, and headed for the studio.
“Oh no, you don’t.” I grabbed his arm as he passed. “You’re not going anywhere, mister, until we’ve talked. I’ve been worried sick about you. Returning text messages is a thing, you know? And you’re not due back until next week.”
He sighed but wouldn’t meet my eyes. “I need to work, Madigan. I’ve spent too long pacing back and forth in my apartment, and my mother is driving me crazy. I just want to get lost in my books and forget about everything for a while.”
