Page 89 of No One Wants That (Blitzen Bay)

KIT

“It’s too late.”

After Butch left, I took Mateo up to my room to talk. I forgot there were a bunch of empty condom wrappers still on the bedside table.

“It certainly looks that way,” Mateo says, whipping his head around to me after he surveys the room. “Did you at least wait until you got on firm land to cheat on me or did you fuck someone on the plane, too?”

I collapse onto the couch. I can smell Butch’s scent from his t-shirt that’s still draped over the back. All I want to do is bury my head in it and take a long nap.

“I didn’t cheat on you. You broke up with me right before we left.”

“I didn’t break up with you!” Mateo yells as he starts pacing around the room. “I told you that I needed to think about everything a little more.”

“No,” I say slowly. “That’s what I said. You said if I came here without you that we were done. I came here without you, so we’re done.”

“I—”

“Stop,” I say, holding up my hand. “It doesn’t matter who broke up with whom the other day. I don’t want to be in this relationship anymore. I’ve been thinking that for a while. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you earlier. I should have.”

He sits down on the couch and throws Butch’s t-shirt across the room. “I want to move here with you. I changed my mind.”

“No, you don’t. Matty, you’d last a few weeks here before you became incredibly homesick. Deep down, you know that. You belong in Madrid with your family.”

He grabs my hand. “So do you.”

“No, I don’t.” I pause for a minute as the last two years with him replay rapidly through my head. “I loved my time there with you, but it’s over now. It’s time for us to move on.”

He jumps up and grabs the condom wrappers off the table. “You obviously have already moved on. Were you talking to him while we were together? Is he the reason you wanted to come here by yourself?”

“I met him a few days ago.”

He laughs and throws the wrappers at me. “I flew five thousand miles to tell you I wanted to be with you no matter what—only to find out that you start fucking some other guy a few hours after you left me.”

I stand up and walk around him to the door. “I’m sorry. I really am. I should have broken up with you months ago. I know this is hideous for you. I didn’t mean to hurt you, but this is where we are. You need to go home.”

He sits back down on the couch. “I’ll leave if you come back with me. Pack your things. We can still get a flight out tonight. Let’s go back to Spain and figure this out.”

I open the door. “I’m flying back there tomorrow to get my stuff, but you need to leave now.”

He nods his head toward the hallway. “Nash, did you know about this when you were in Spain? Is this guy a buddy of yours? I mean, I know you’re good at breaking up relationships, but I thought we were friends.”

I look out into the hallway to see Nash and Elle leaning against the wall opposite my room.

Nash ignores him and looks at me. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” I say, nodding. “Mateo was just leaving.”

Nash walks past me into the room. He looks down at Mateo who’s still lounging on the couch. “Do you need me to help you get your stuff together? It’s time for you to go.”

Mateo stands up and bumps Nash as he walks by him. “I don’t need anything from you.”

“I’ll be out of the flat by the time you get back,” Mateo says, glaring at me as he rolls his suitcase out of the room. “I never want to see you again.”

I watch him walk down the hall until he turns the corner and then collapse against the door. Elle grabs me and pulls me into the room.

“That was ugly,” she whispers. “We brought food. Gabi included an entire blackberry pie. I brought two forks. Let’s get into bed and eat our way through that.”

“No, I need to find Butch,” I say, turning back toward the door.

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