Page 35 of The Wrong One

The tone of his voice and the way he looked at me told me I was in trouble. I looked at Cam, wondering if he was foolish enough to tell Ramsey we kissed. Cam must have understood what I was asking and gave a gentle shake of his head. That was a relief.

“Can we talk for a minute before you go back to the lab?” Ramsey asked.

I looked at Cam again, making sure I got the right message. He gave a slight shake of his head. I was hoping that meant he didn’t say anything. “Sure,” I said.

“I’ll see you in the lab,” Cam said. “Thank you for the coffee.” He walked away.

“Let’s go to my office,” Ramsey said.

“So serious,” I joked. “Am I getting fired?”

He closed the office door behind us.

He was kind of freaking me out. “Is Lily okay?”

“Lily is fine.”

“Then what is it?” I asked.

“Why is Patrick texting me?”

“What?” I asked with surprise. “He didwhat?”

“He texted me the other night,” he said. “He wanted to know where you were. Why in the hell is that guy texting me?”

My heart sank. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want this to be anyone’s problem. Definitely not you. You’ve done so much for me.”

“I don’t care,” he said. “It’s not a problem at all. What the hell is going on? Why is he looking for you? Why does he think I’m the guy he can reach out to?”

“I don’t know,” I groaned.

“Tell me what’s going on,” he demanded. “Are you blocking his calls? Is he bugging you?”

“He’s been texting and calling the last five weeks,” I confessed. “I’ve stopped answering or replying to his calls.”

“What the hell does he want?” Ramsey snapped.

“He wants me to move home,” I said. “California. He wants us to get back together.”

“What did you tell him?”

“I haven’t told him anything,” I replied. “I haven’t talked to him. I don’t want to. I can’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t want to engage with him in any capacity,” I replied proudly. “I don’t trust myself to say no. I’m weak when it comes to him. He has a power over me I can’t really explain. If I start talking to him, I have a feeling I’m not going to be able to say no. I’ll end up going back to California. We’ll pick up where we left off. I don’t know if I have the strength to leave him again. It took every ounce of strength the first time. It drained me. I can’t do it again.”

“Dammit, Izzy,” he growled. “Why didn’t you tell me? What the hell happened out there?”

“He cheated on me. I left. I’m here. That’s all that matters.”

“If this asshole is bothering you, you should have told me,” he said. “Why wouldn’t you tell me?”

“Because I didn’t want you running off to California and kicking his ass,” I said. “He’s the type that would press charges. You would go to jail and Lily would be an orphan.”

“That’s kind of dramatic.” He rolled his eyes.

“Okay, Lily wouldn’t be an orphan, but still,” I said. “This is my mess to clean up. I’m the one who ignored all the red flags. I’m the one who let myself get snowed by some smooth-talking asshole. I have to deal with it. I have to clean it up. I never wanted this to be your problem. It’s mine. I’m handling it. I’m all the way over here and he’s there.”

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