Page 73 of Witch Please

“You’re allowed to be mad,” she said.

And that made him angrier, like he needed permission. Titus gritted his teeth and wished he didn’t still care what she thought of him—that he could just cut loose and call her names. He opened his mouth, but the shitty words wouldn’t come.

Finally he managed to say, “I guess we’re done hanging out?”

Is that the right word?

“I’ll miss you,” he added then immediately wished he hadn’t.

Because she looked away, over the top of his head to watch the squirrel scrambling up a branch nearby. “Yeah, we had fun, huh? Sorry I didn’t get a chance to tell you face-to-face that it—”

“Just wasn’t working out?” he supplied smoothly.

Yeah, that’s an old standard.

“I’m not ready for a relationship right now.”

Sure, that’s the other excuse.And it made zero sense when he thought of her with that asshole Leech. Before, he never asked for a play-by-play or autopsied a failed relationship—fear and awkwardness prevented it—but this time he would, out of curiosity and despair. Because he’d thought they were good together—that she was different. Maybe even the one.

“Did I do something wrong? Is it because I left—”

“It’s nothing you did,” she said firmly, so much that he almost believed her. “We’re just not right for each other. That’s all.”

All? It was everything. And Titus was starting to think that he wasbornfor solitude, isolation etched into his bones. Archeologists would be mystified and amazed to find “Forever alone” stamped on his femur, thousands of years hence. On some level, he knew he was being ridiculously dramatic, but he was so damn angry over this current, inexplicable failure that it felt like his skin couldn’t even contain it. Yet he couldn’t lash out at her, and that left him to swallow it or to flail in the fury until he drowned.

But nobody could go forever without breathing. The lack of oxygen made him testy. He snapped. And the words poured out like poison. “You should have told me. If we were done, you should’ve said so. Not sent me vague texts and let me find out when you were on a date with some random asshole.”

Danica squared her shoulders and nodded. “That’s entirely fair.”

It made it worse somehow that she was taking it. “God, I think I had a near miss. If that’s what you’re looking for, no wonder you’re not into me. Your taste utterly sucks. Is that what Darryl is like too?”

She nodded. “Cut from the same cloth.”

“Then what the hell were you thinking with me, huh? Did you lose a bet?” Hell, he couldn’t even be mean to her without cutting himself on the backswing.

Her eyes softened, flickered, and she took a step before her hands clenched into fists. “Okay, I think I’ve been more than fair. Let’s stop now.”

“Screw you, I’m just getting started. I have all kinds of shit to say.”

“No. You don’t. And you have no right either. Frankly, we weren’t even a thing. I was being courteous to give you closure, and now we’re done. If you have a problem with that, get drunk with your friends and shit talk me to them like everyone else.” She whirled and walked away.

Like an absolute dipshit, he watched her go, every step of the way. He ate up the slope of her shoulders, the curve of her ass, the way her arms swung because she was presumably pissed. Which was better than nothing, better than the icy pond she’d brought for him to skate on, and fuck, he was no good at winter sports, always off-balance and windmilling, exactly how he felt right now.

His phone rang. For Maya to resort to voice calls, she must be worried. He picked up on the third ring and willed himself to sound fine. “What’s up, Mini?”

“Where the hell are you? Your break was over forty minutes ago. Are you okay? I’ve sent you like twenty texts.”

“I had some stuff to take care of. Is something wrong at the shop?”

“The cash register is acting weird. I managed to restart it and it’s working for now, but you might want to get Danica to look at it again.”

Fuck that.

“We’ll buy a new one if need be. That was used when we got it, and it’s served well. After a certain point, some things can’t be fixed once they’ve been badly broken.”

Thankfully she didn’t seem to hear the grim undertones in his voice. “True enough. Are you ready to have the big family video conference tonight?”

Shit. Right. Not even remotely.

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