Page 6 of Nomad
“Wow!” She placed her hands on her slender hips. “You’re a real asshole, you know that?”
I shrugged because I did know.
At least, I got my point across.
“So, you don’t want to meet my son or my family?”
She appeared surprised by my admission, but we’d done the same song and dance for three years now. Every time she asked, I made every excuse not to meet anyone close to her. That included her friends and family. I’d never met or seen anyone in her circle, and I meant to keep it that way. Why would I want to meet any of them when I wasn’t able to take this further than where we were now? I was a pussy for not telling her the truth sooner, but I never wanted to hurt her. It wasn’t an excuse for stringing her along all for three years, but it was the truth. Now, she wasn’t giving me much of a choice but to crush whatever imaginary world she’d built for us. This wasn’t a fairytale, and I wasn’t her fucking Prince Charming.
“No, Angie.” I shook my head and rubbed my temples, trying to stave off the pounding in my skull. “I don’t want to meet any of your family.”
“And we’re not a couple?” she asked, like she couldn’t believe the words coming out of my mouth.
I sighed. “No, we are not.”
“Then what the hell are we, William?”
She tossed her hands in the air, then took a few steps toward me, crowding my space. Something she knew I hated. She wanted to argue, but I wouldn’t take the bait.
“We spend all our free time together. We only fuck each other. What do you mean we aren’t a couple!”
“Because we don’t fuck anyone else? Angie, that doesn’t make us a couple.”
She pursed her lips.
“How many times have you’ve stayed over at my place?”
I waited for her answer. In three years, she’d only been in my bed so we could fuck. That was it. Sure, we’d hang out downstairs, watch movies when the mood hit, then fuck until we were both sated. But when the fun was all over, we went our separate ways. She went to her home, and I stayed here. By myself. I’d never woken up to a woman in my arms, and I wouldn’t start now unless it was Jade.
“Sure, I’ve never stayed, but that’s because…”
I threw up my hand, stopping her from using her son to explain why she never stayed the night at my place. She could have always let her son stay with her parents, or sister, according to her. She wasn’t without someone to watch him anytime she needed. Nothing would change the fact that she never spent the night at my place because I hadn’t invited her to. Not because she couldn’t, but because I didn’t want her to.
“How many times have I been to your home or stayed the night in three years, Angie?”
Her lips thinned in anger.
“Let me answer for you. None. No matter what you may think nor how much time we’ve spent together, or try to twist what we’ve done together, I haven’t committed to you, Ang. And, deep down, you know that. That’s why you keep wanting to have this fucking conversation with me.”
I ran my hand through my hair. Although talking about all this shit irritated me, we should have had this talk a long time ago instead of me stringing her along once I’d realized my feelings for Jade weren’t going to fucking magically disappear like I hoped.
“Sure, we’re exclusive because wechooseto be,” I continued, further driving home my point of what we were really doing together. We were two lonely people desperately wishing to end it. Nothing more, nothing less. “That doesn’t mean we’re a couple. You’re free to date and fuck who you want, like I am. I choose not to, like you choose not to. I don’t call that a committed relationship, do you?”
“Are you freaking serious right now?” Her usually calm voice rose in anger. Although, lately, we began arguing more because of her frustration with me, what was happening right now wasn’t the normal thing for us. Like anyone else, over three years we’d disagreed, but I’d never really seen her angry. Until now.
“Where the hell is all this coming from?” Her blue eyes blazed with fury.
“Look, I’m not trying to hurt you, Ang.”
She shot me a cold look. “You could have fooled me, William.”
“Well, hurting you is not my intention, but you asked where I stood with you, and I’m telling you the truth.”
“The truth?” she huffed.
“Yes, the truth, Ang.” I pierced her with my stare so there would be no further misunderstanding on where I stood. “I’ve tried to do this thing with you, Angie. But I can’t do it no more.”
“This thing?”
