When I Fall

“So, you’re telling me that you’re over her.”

“Yes.”

“Completely over her.”

“Yes.”

“Good. So when you see her, not if, because it’s bound to happen, and she tells you she’s made a huge mistake and wants you to give her another chance, what are you going to say?”

She drops the treat into Max’s awaiting mouth, brushes her hands off, and recaps the container, pushing it against the backsplash. Max crawls underneath the kitchen table, cracking into his treat, while Tessa holds her hands out, waiting expectantly for my response.

“Well?”

I stare at her. “Do you think I’d actually take her back?”

“I don’t know,” she answers, moving back to stand across from me. Her fingers play with the knot in her T-shirt. “This girl affected you, Reed, and not just in your typical break-up sort of way. You were straight-up devastated after what she did to you.”

“I was sad,” I correct her.

“No, you weren’t just sad.” She points a finger at her chest. “I know how it feels to be way past the point of being sad, and that’s exactly what you were. For a long time.” She drops her hand, bringing both of them in front of her to wrap around her coffee mug. “And now look at you. You’re completely different when it comes to women.”

“Yeah, I am,” I agree, raising my eyebrows. “What’s your point?”

She narrows her eyes at me across the top of her mug. “My point is that this chick did a number on you, and when someone who affects you like that comes back into your life, old feelings resurface, whether you want them to or not.” She pauses, her eyes losing focus before she says quietly, “Trust me.”

I pinch my eyes shut with a heavy sigh.

Old feelings? No, fuck that. If I do run into Molly, I sure as hell won’t be feeling anything toward her besides the ongoing hate I have streaming through me now. That bitch isn’t getting anything else from me, and Tessa is out of her mind if she thinks I’ll be tempted to take her back. I don’t care if Molly’s sorry. Fuck her and her sorry.

A damp cloth hits me on the side of the face. I reach up, pulling the towel off my head and catching Luke’s guilty smirk.

“Ass,” I spit, dropping the towel onto the counter in front of me.

“Dick,” he replies through a laugh. He turns his head. “Babe, where’s my shampoo?”

Tessa leans her hip against the counter. “Uh . . . oh, it’s in the other bathroom. Max needed a bath yesterday, and he was out of his doggie shampoo.” She smiles behind her mug. “Now he smells all yummy like you.”

“You used my shampoo on Max?”

“I didn’t have anything else to use. Mine’s too expensive.”

Luke pulls her against his chest and kisses the top of her head. She wraps her arms around him, holding her mug behind his back. He nods in my direction. “What’s up with broody over there? Someone piss in his cereal this morning?”

Tessa looks at me, smiling against him. “Nah, he’s just upset because his ex-girlfriend’s back in town. She’s the skank who made Reed the glorious man-whore we know and love today.”

Luke looks at me, frowning. “You gotta be able to get pussy to be a man-whore, babe. Reed’s too busy trying to figure out how to suck his own dick.”

I flip him off, which only stirs his amusement.

“Hmm, you know,” Tessa says, smiling coyly at me as she peels away from Luke. She drops her gaze to the lowest part of my shirt she can visibly see above the counter, then brings her eyes back up to mine, gleaming with mischief. “Some guys can do that, and they even finish in their own mouths. I’ve seen it online and it’s . . . surprisingly hot.”

“I’m out.” I push off from my stool, hearing Tessa laugh quietly as I exit the kitchen.

This conversation just went from pointless to fucking disturbing, and I don’t need to stick around and listen to Luke weigh in with his opinion on Molly moving back to Ruxton. He’ll just give me shit about it.

Luke Evans likes to act like he isn’t affected by stuff the way normal people are, but that motherfucker would’ve done anything to avoid running into Tessa after their break-up. I’m just not stupid enough to remind him of that.

He has a gun somewhere in this house. I’d rather not get shot at.

“UNCLE WEED! WHAT ARWE YOU doing herwe?”

I look over my shoulder as I grab some tools out of the bed of my truck. Nolan is running down the driveway toward me, carrying a styrofoam airplane over his head. The damn thing is almost as big as he is.

“What’s up, little man? Where’s your brother?”

He stops at my side, watching me closely. “He’s with Mommy. He pooped everwywhere.”

I smile down at him while he catches his breath, clutching the airplane in both hands against his chest. He has to crane his neck to the side to see around it, which he does so he can look up at me.

“Whoa!” His eyes double in size as I lift a large tool out of the truck. “What is that?”

I set the machine at my feet before grabbing a few more items out of the bed. “That’s an auger. Looks pretty cool, huh?”

“It’s all twisty. Like a big corwk scrwew.” His smile spreads, showing the gap in the front of his mouth where a tooth fell out a few weeks ago. Mia told me he was so pumped to get money from the tooth fairy, he’s obsessed with trying to loosen the rest of his teeth now.