“What’s not going to work?”
“Us. You and me.”
She couldn’t have been more surprised by his answer. “What? Why?”
“It’s not fair to you. I’m busy with the club all the time, and I found out I’m gonna be goin’ out of town a lot.”
She stared at him, trying to make sense of his words. It was like this wasn’t the same man that she’d been with just last week. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s just not gonna work, Sky.” His voice had a little more bite this time.
She could feel her face turning red with the heat of anger, embarrassment and hurt. “And you waited until you fucked me one last time to tell me this?”
He ran his hand through his hair looking guilty.
She crawled out of bed, wrapping the sheet around her. “All the stuff you said before, did you mean any of it? Was it all bullshit? Was it?”
“Sky, calm down.”
“You fucking asshole.”
“Babe, we had a good run. Let’s not end it being ugly to each other.”
“A good run?” She gaped at him. “Is that all this was to you?”
“Skylar, stop.”
“There’s someone else, isn’t there?”
He shook his head. “No, babe. That’s got nothing to do with this.”
She stood there confused and watched him lean back against the dresser.
“So, what was that, huh? What was that all about?” She flung her hand out toward the bed as she bit out the question.”
He ran both his palms down his face, almost in frustration and then folded his arms.
“Shades?” she pressed.
“That was me saying goodbye, Sky.”
She actually pulled back, so stunned was she by his answer. “You’re serious? You’re really saying goodbye to me?”
He stared at her a moment, and then responded softly, “Yeah.”
She turned, gathering up her clothes and moved into the bathroom, slamming the door. She hurriedly pulled on her jeans, bra and shirt. When she went to button up her blouse she realized most of the buttons were missing from when he’d ripped it open. Jerk!
She stared at her reflection in the mirror over the sink, not believing this was happening. What had gone wrong? Last week everything was so good between them. She tried to think back to the exact moment that everything had changed. He hadn’t been distant the last time they were together. But after that, all week his texts had been short, and he’d never called. What they’d just shared had been so hot, and then so sweet. And then he dumps her?
The pain of every time she’d ever been moved from one foster home to another came back. The feelings of rejection and not being good enough flooded her. What was the point of ever letting herself get attached to anything or anyone, or of ever letting herself care? It always ended. It was always torn from her.
She thought she’d really found something with Shades. She’d thought she’d finally found someone she could trust and depend on and let her guard down with. She felt like such a fool.
She brushed the tears from her cheeks, refusing to let him see her cry. Refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing just how devastated she was. The only way she was going to be able to do that was to stop feeling hurt and start feeling angry. What an asshole dick move to fuck her one last time before he dumped her. We had a good run, babe. Don’t be ugly about it, babe.
What a dick!
And then her eyes fell on the rosary hanging over the edge of the mirror. He’d obviously taken it off before he’d taken his shower. Before she thought about what she was doing she lifted it off the mirror and shoved it in her pocket.