Page 128 of An Investigator For Ivy

Brooks didn’t need those words thrown into his face.

It was the truth and that hurt more.

“I just need a break,” he said. “That’s it. It’s moving faster than I thought it’d move.”

“So that’s it?” she asked. “Just a break or you want to keep having sex but nothing more?”

“I wouldn’t do that to you,” he said. “You should think better of yourself.”

“Funny words coming from the man that seems to have more insecurities than I do.”

“What the fuck does that mean?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” she said, throwing her hands in the air. “You’re an investigator. Investigate it.”

She turned to leave. “Wait,” he said.

“Don’t say it,” she said. “Don’t tell me you’re sorry that you hurt me. I believe you are. But not sorry enough to be honest with yourself about what is going on. I knew all along what I was getting into with you and I kept it in that slot. Or at least I told you I did. Maybe I should have worked harder to not let my heart fall in love with you, but, hey, that’s my problem, not yours. Because you know, I knew this could happen so shame on me for thinking it might not.”

She walked out his door, slamming it on the way.

He hadn’t expected her to say she loved him.

It shouldn’t change a thing about the way he felt or what he just said, but he started to wonder if it did.

She was out the door though before he could call her back.

He needed a beer and food before he decided to put his fist through a wall.

He passed the pizza though and just started to drink standing in the kitchen, then went to sit on the couch.

When his phone went off thirty minutes later, he was on his second beer and hoped it was Ivy.

It was River asking a question. He replied with one word when it should have been more.

His phone rang and he knew it was his brother.

He sent it to voicemail.

An hour later there was a knock at his door. He was two pieces of pizza in and on his third beer.

He was going to ignore it but maybe it was Ivy.

It was River who opened the door.

“Yep,” River said. “What I figured I’d find.”

“What’s that?” he asked. “Me eating and having a beer?”

“A Friday night without your girlfriend around and you having what looks to be more than one beer.”

“She’s not my girlfriend,” he said.

“That’s what the mood is about,” River said. “Did she get sick of the walls you put up?”

He snorted. “No. She didn’t seem to have any issues with it. Or none that she said. I’m not sure I believe it though.”

“Why is that?” River asked.

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