Page 24 of Rescuing Micah
“Hey, I don’t sleep around that much,” he protested. He had sex when he felt like it, and okay, he was a young, healthy man with an equally healthy sex drive, but it wasn't like he had a different woman in his bed every night of the week.
“More than Teresa does. From what I've gathered from Ava, Teresa hasn’t been in a relationship in all the years they’ve known one another. Doesn’t bring guys back to the apartment and rarely sleeps over at a guy’s place. That’s part of the reason she’s so into the idea of you and Teresa, she thinks her friend needs someone to help balance her out. To make sure she doesn’t overload herself with too much on her plate.”
Now that sounded like the Teresa he knew. He’d always worried that she would forget about herself because she was so busy taking care of everyone else.
Micah liked knowing there hadn't been many men in her life, but he was having trouble correlating that with the cause of their breakup. Had things changed for her when she realized her choices had cost her him?
He was so confused about the whole thing, but most of all, he worried he was no longer what Teresa needed to balance outher life. He should have contacted her before now, or at the very least read the letter she sent so he could better understand what had happened back then.
Because it felt like he was missing a whole lot of pieces.
CHAPTER 7
April 30th
6:46 P.M.
“You ready to leave?”
Teresa tensed at Micah’s question, wishing she had something that could delay their departure, an excuse as to why they had to stay a little longer, so she didn't have to face being alone with him again.
But there was nothing she could think of, and if she said no just to say no, then she’d be the one who looked like the silly, petulant child. If she let herself look like the crazy one and Micah the sensible, calm, rational one, then she would let on that she didn't just have a past with Micah but that it was a dark and painful one.
While she’d told Ava and Chelsea about her history with Micah, and they already knew about what her brother had organized to happen to her, and they knew that the two of them broke up after her assault, she hadn't told them that Micah just straight-up abandoned her. It felt wrong to cover for the man who had let her down so badly, but Micah worked withNathaniel, their lives depended on trusting one another, and she didn't want Ava to hate Micah, cause trouble between her boyfriend and his friend, and someone get hurt because of it.
Ava deserved happiness, and so did Nathaniel. Micah … well, he didn't deserve to die because he hadn't been able to handle supporting her through trauma when he was only nineteen.
If she didn't want the truth to come out, she had to watch how she acted around him.
To that end, she gave a nod, shut down her computers, and pushed back her chair.
Pain pounded between her temples, but she wasn't sure if it was because of the blows to her head she’d taken the day before, or because of all the stress she was under. Having Micah there really was the absolute last thing she needed. The fact that he was pretending to be interested in taking care of her when she knew that absolutely wasn't the case only made it worse.
Maybe she should just agree to stay at Prey. Then there would be no need for a babysitter, and Micah could fly back home and get out of her hair. Perhaps then she could finally relax and begin to process all that had happened.
But she didn't mention anything about staying there.
Just moved away from her desk and pushed her chair back in, scanning the space beside the keyboard and screens to make sure she hadn't left anything behind.
“Here, you should take these. I don’t think you took anything since lunch, and I can see you're hurting,” Micah told her, holding out his hand with two small white pills nestled in his palm.
Why was he being so insistent on looking out for her? Helping her clean up last night, making her breakfast this morning, ensuring she kept hydrated and fed throughout the day, and offering her painkillers when she would havejust powered through without them. It all felt like it meant something, but she had no idea what that could possibly be.
She did know she didn't want it to mean anything, though.
What she wanted was for him to get out of her life again as quickly as he’d entered it. Only, when her fingertips brushed across Micah’s warm skin as she took the pills, and she caught sight of the almost tender expression on his face as she popped them in her mouth and took the bottle of water he offered, she found herself feeling almost … bereft at the idea of him being gone again.
Which was crazy since she didn't even like Micah Hart anymore.
Still, she watched him with more interest than she should have as he scooped up her bag before she could pick it up and started across the room.
Josiah was the only one still in it. Tobias and Isabella had already left for the night and so had Ava and Nathaniel. Chelsea had made it halfway through the afternoon before she was coughing and sneezing and obviously feeling like garbage, so they’d all ganged up on her and sent her off to bed.
Neither she nor Micah spoke as they walked down the hall, got into the elevator, and traveled all the way down to the underground parking garage. She had no idea what she should say to him, she wanted to beg for an explanation that made sense as to why he had abandoned her, but this didn't feel like the time or place to have that conversation.
It wouldn't go well because therewasno explanation that would make sense as to why he would tell her he loved her and wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, and then bail when she was at her most vulnerable.
So she said nothing and had no idea why he seemed content with the silence as well.
