“It was the last thing you needed, period,” he said, scowling down at her like Mark’s issues were her fault. “Are you really not going back?”
“I quit my job,” she whispered, lifting an arm and covering her eyes with it. “I don’t have all that much to go back to.”
“Hailey, I—”
Her cell phone buzzed. Loudly. Too loud for the intimate atmosphere they were lying in. Plus, the glare was horrendous. She reached for it on the bedside table where she’d placed it before, peered at the notification, then let out a short shriek.
Hailey, I need to talk to you. I’m outside. Please, let me in. We need to talk about this. It can’t be over between us.
“Hailey? What the hell’s wrong?” James asked sharply, sitting up beside her and trying to wrestle for the phone when she just sat there gawking at it.
“It’s Mark. He says he’s downstairs.” She scrambled upright and nearly fell out of bed. Christ, how had she failed to realize she was so close to the damn edge?
“Where are you going?” James asked in astonishment.
“I need to talk to him.”
James grabbed a hold of her arm. “Why?”
She stared at him blankly and stopped trying to reach for the shirt that lay beside the bed. “Why what?”
“Why are you going to talk to him? You just said he was a controlling asshat, Hailey. What on earth would you have to say to him?”
“The man just flew across the country to see me, James. I think he deserves a little conversation.” She blinked at him a handful of times, then frowned at his glower.
Mark did, didn’t he?
That was more of a gesture than she’d ever imagined him capable of conceiving. Mark was controlling and domineering but somehow, she’d always been the one to do the chasing. She hadn’t split up with him to get a reaction out of him, but if she had, this was one she’d never have foreseen.
“Are you going to get back together with him?”
“I don’t want to talk about that,” she said softly, then grimaced when she felt his seed start to slip down her inner thigh.
God, what was happening to her?
The thought combined with the past hour had her collapsing on the side of the bed. She hunched her shoulders and covered her face with her hands as her shoulders began to quake when she started sobbing. “What’s the matter with me?” she whispered tearfully.
James was quiet a second, then he reached over and carefully rubbed her shoulder. “You’re just a little confused right now. That’s all.”
“Mark was a good man, James. Sure, he wanted to know what I was doing, but I mean, don’t all women want that? He was interested in me. Interested in everything I had to do,” she tried to reason. “Maybe I just misread that.”
James was quiet through her musings, and maybe that was what gave her the courage to clamber to her feet and pull on some clothes.
“You can’t seriously think it’s a good idea to go downstairs and talk to him, Hailey?” he asked, now sounding beyond astonished at the prospect. He added, “You stink of sex. Sex you just had with me.”
“I don’t need you to point that out, dammit,” she spat at him, the words muffled as she dragged her shirt overhead. When the fabric cleared her face, she scowled at him. “I just… I think I need closure or something.”
She didn’t know what she needed. And that was God’s honest truth.
Ten minutes ago, she’d have said it was what happened on that bed with James. And damn, she wouldn’t lie, she did feel better.
But this with Mark?
It felt unresolved somehow.
Like she’d needed a reason to dump him so that she could hook up with James or something…
God, she felt like such a slut.