“Shit, Freckles. Tear my fucking heart out, why don’t you?”
He presses his lips to mine, and the front door opens.
“Babe,” Mace calls from the entryway. Gabe pulls back and crosses the kitchen in two long strides, picking up his beer and tossing it back. I wipe my tears away before Mace enters the room, but I’m sure it’s obvious I’ve been crying. “Can I borrow your card—” Mace studies my face and then glances at Gabe. “What the fuck’s going on?”
I give him a tight smile. “Nothing, it’s ... um—”
“She’s fine,” Gabe says. “Just getting a little sentimental is all.”
Mace reels back as if he’s been slapped. “Sentimental? What the fuck is there to be sentimental about? He only moved in with his wifey, he isn’t leaving the goddamn country.”
“Don’t talk to her like that.”
“How ’bout you stay the fuck out of this, Laurier. I’ll talk to my girlfriend however I want to fuckin’ talk to her.”
“Mace!” I chastise.
He snorts derisively. “You would take his side. It’s the fucking Gabe and Lo show all over again.”
“What side?” My voice cracks, and I glare at my boyfriend, all of my emotions too raw, too close to the surface to pretend that doesn’t sting.He’s right though. I think I was born to choose Gabe.
“What the fuck are you talking about, man?”
“You two.” He shoots us both an accusatory look. Out on the street a horn blares.Tommy. Mace heads for the door. “I gotta go.”
“Are you coming back?” I ask.
He turns and shakes his head. “I don’t know.”
“Mace,” I say, but he just walks out, slamming the door behind him.
I climb off the counter and stare after him. “I have to go.”
“You’re not seriously thinking about going after him, are you?”
“He’s my boyfriend, Gabe.”
“Yeah, and a second ago your lips were on mine.”
“And right before that I helped you move in with the mother of your child,” I snap. “We can’t do this. I can’t keep going through this every time you decide you want to kiss me.”
“I decide? You were the one declaring your fucking love for me a second ago.”
“Which was clearly a mistake. I can’t even stand to be in the same room as you.”
His tone softens, “Lo ...”
“I can’t, Gabe. If we’re ever going to be just friends again, I need space. I need to move on. I need you tolet memove on.”
“And what the hell am I supposed to do, huh?”
“I don’t know.” I shake my head. “Maybe you should have thought about that before you knocked up your ex. You’re not my problem anymore, Dash.”
“Your problem? That’s where you’re wrong, Lo. For the rest of our lives, we’re going to be each other’s problem, and there is nothing either one of us can do about it.”
“I can’t live like that. I can’t hang on every word, every second, just waiting for you to glance my way and throw me your table scraps.”
“Are you hearing yourself right now?” Gabe snaps. “I look at you all the fucking time. I think about you all the fucking time.”