Page 50 of Breaking Blaze

Weird. Typically, this time of night, Sally was sipping wine.

Anna shrugged at her own thoughts. Sally could drink what she wanted, it wasn’t like she’d been banged and be-goned by the man she loved. She didn’t need to suck back tequila like it was water to numb the soul deep ache of being betrayed by someone she trusted.

Angry at the trail and whining in her own brain, Anna snatched up her fork and began eating. The taste of eggs and the delicious fattiness of the bacon made her feel marginally better. At least her body was coming back on line, even if her heart and soul were battered to hell.

“Now that your mouth is full, you can keep your yap shut and listen to what I have to say,” Sally commanded using a tone Anna had rarely heard used—at her. Straightening on her stool, Anna fought to swallow the mouthful of now tasteless eggs.

She opened her mouth to protest, but Sally held up a manicured hand, her bright green claw-like nails flashing menacingly.

“Shut it, Anna-bae. I need to say something and you are going to listen.”

Anna snapped her mouth shut and glared. Hard.

“You need to talk to Blaze.”

Those were not the words Anna expected to hear.

“What?” she snapped, shaking her head nearly right off her neck.

“Listen,” Sally barked, reaching across the island to grab Anna by her shoulders to shake her. “Listen.”

Trembling, anger and hurt surfacing and crashing against her, Anna tried to pull away. She didn’t want to talk to Blaze. Not now. Not after all the texts and voice messages she’d left over the last three days. Not after all the READ and ignored. As someone who’d spent a lifetime in her shell, going with the flow, giving Blaze his space to do whatever the hell he wanted, she’d actually put on her big girl panties, stepped out of her comfort zone, and begged and pleaded with him to call her back.

Like a goddamn idiot.

It was obvious he didn’t want to talk to her.

“I tried, Sally, I did. I texted him right when I woke up that first morning. Then I texted him another twenty times. Twenty times, Sallina! And he hasn’t responded once! I’ve looked for him at Happy Jack’s, I’ve waited for him at his apartment, I’ve done everything I can to get him to just freaking talk to me, but he has avoided me every single time—like I’m just a one-night stand.” Her voice broke, tears burning the backs of her eyes and spilling down her cheeks. “I was just a one-night stand, Sally.” Sucking in a breath, she wiped at the tears furiously. “There’s no point in talking to him now. We’re done. Friendship over. He got what he wanted from me and now he’s back to manwhore Blaze—like he never even stopped. Because he didn’t.”

Her tone like acid, Anna hated her own words. But they were true, weren’t they? Weren’t they?

It didn’t feel like a one-night stand. When I was in his arms, beneath his body and his lips, it felt so real. So beautiful. It couldn’t have meant nothing to him.

But it had. His silence was telling.

Sally came around the island and pulled a reluctant Anna into her arms, her heartbeat steady and strong against Anna’s cheek.

“Last night…AJ called me…” Sally began, pausing to take a deep breath.

What did AJ have to do with anything?

“He told me that something’s going on with Blaze, that Blaze hasn’t been himself.”

Anna struggled against the concern that arose—Blaze didn’t deserve her concern. Telling herself that didn’t stop it, though.

“He’s been sleeping at the office, Anna.”

Anna jerked away, lifting her face to stare at Sally in shock.

“What? He sleeps in his office to avoid me?” she asked, incredulous. And hurt. Damn. Again, the tears burned her eyes.

Sally pulled Anna back into her chest, her breasts cradling Anna’s face.

“Probably,” Sally replied, “but from what AJ told me, Blaze isn’t just avoiding you, Anna. He’s been working and sleeping, that’s it. He wakes up, hits his work sites, heads back to the office, and sleeps on the couch. He hasn’t been out, Anna, and for Blaze, that’s some serious shit.”

Pang. There was that damn concern again. Blaze had always been a hard worker—hell, he’d built an amazingly successful business in four years. Slackers didn’t get million dollar contracts from big shot developers. But Blaze did. He’d earned that. But ‘all work and no play’ Blaze? That was new. And terrifying.

“So what am I supposed to do? It’s obvious he’s doing all that to keep from actually talking to me. If I go there, what’s to stop him from locking me out? Do you know how humiliating that would be?”

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