Page 134 of Attached At Heart
The stark emotion in her voice remained unnamed.
“That might be for the best,” I cemented, keeping my eyes on the highway.
It actually sounded like the worst.
A roll of distant thunder filled the silence that followed. Delaney didn’t say anything else, and I didn’t dare open my mouth again. Not right now, not when I was feeling too many things so intensely.
Neither of us spoke again until we were almost home, and then all Delaney said was, “Thank you for coming with me tonight.”
“You’re welcome.” I dared to look at her for the first time since we’d pulled out of her parents’ driveway, and theunreadable look on her face was almost too much for me to bear. I needed a fucking minute to get a grip and reassess all of this. So I took a breath and said, “I think I’ll head to the gym. Get a quick workout in before the workweek.”
Delaney didn’t look too happy about that, but I couldn’t figure out why. She pressed her lips together and remained silent for a moment before giving a curt nod.
Her response made me hesitate, but fuck, I knew I needed to work out some of my pent-up emotions so I didn’t do something else I regretted tonight.
Delaney opened the car door, and she had one foot out of it when I grabbed her wrist to stall her. Feeling her soft skin beneath my fingertips made my heart burn up.
“Text me when you get into the apartment, okay?”
She glanced back at me, her eyes finding mine, making it momentarily hard to breathe. She looked like she might say something but then shook her head and turned away.
“Okay.”
And then she was gone.
I watched her walk away. Every step she took stomped on my heart a little bit.
Once she disappeared into the elevator, I grabbed my phone and texted Noah. I wasn’t sure if he would be available, but I wouldn’t mind the company. And the distraction from my own fucking head.
By the time I’d shot him a text and gotten a reply that he’d meet me at the gym, Delaney had messaged that she’d made it upstairs. So I took off and thanked God I kept an extra gym bag in my trunk for emergencies like this.
Somehow, Noah showed up only about twenty minutes after I did, and I was grateful because even though I’d been destroying the same punching bag until I had sweat dripping down my temples, the gym was empty except for the owner, Zach,and being alone with my thoughts wasn’t helping my fucking headspace right now.
“What’s going on?” Noah burst through the doors, panting as though he’d run here.
“Nothing.” My glove connected with the bag, and the chains rattled above it. Noah lifted a brow at me but seemed to understand. He threw his stuff down and then got ready in silence before joining me at the bag next to mine. He gave me a look, which I understood.
He was here.
When I was ready to talk, he’d listen.
Until then, he’d be waiting.
He worked on some of his footwork and approaches while I continued to take my frustration out on the swinging bag. When Zach noticed that Noah had shown up, he swung by to let us know that he wanted to head home because of the incoming storm but tossed us a set of keys to say we could lock up when we were done.
I knew Zach pretty well by this point, but Noah’s presence always helped with shit like this. And this time, I wasn’t complaining. I wasn’t ready to go home yet and face reality.
Once Zach was gone, I sighed and turned to Noah. “I think I fucked something up with Delaney.”
Noah cocked his head to the side, observing me. I could tell he wanted to say, “Already?” but kept his lips sealed. Instead, he adjusted the straps on his gloves until they were just right and then turned to face me straight-on.
“Fine.” He sighed and threw up his hands. “You can punch me in the face. I’ll tell Gemma it was for a good cause.”
I rolled my eyes. “I don’t want to punch you in the face. I wouldn’t mind ifyoupunchedmein the face, though. Knock some fucking sense into me.”
Noah sighed. “You wanna tell me what you did?”
“The marriage isn’t real,” I blurted, and Christ, saying that aloud really fucking hurt. But at the same time, it felt so good to get off my chest.
