“Not exactly.”
He leaned his way and whispered, “Dude, she’s by your car.”
“Yeah, but Tyson fucked up first. He’s been messing with Ashley.”
Karan raised his hands in the air. “Mia’s friend—Ashley?”
I nodded.
“What the hell is happening tonight?”
“A lot, KK. But the biggest thing you need to understand is that Tyson is a piece of shit.”
“Dude.”
“I’m done with him.”
“Wow.” Karan pocketed his keys.
Tyson appeared at the doorway, holding more boxes. “KK! Come on. I want to get out of here as soon as possible.”
“You see this guy?” I gestured to him. “No hello or thanks for jumping out of your bed to help him. He’s a narcissist.”
“Hurry up!” Tyson disappeared back into the apartment.
Karan frowned. “If he keeps that up, I’ll be giving him the boot too. ”
“Be careful with Tyson. Some people take kindness as weakness and will take and take until you have nothing to show of your friendship.”
“Good point.” Karan nodded.
“Either way, we’ll talk later.”
“For sure, Logan.”
“Bye, Greek God of Bollywood.”
Karan headed off. “Only my fans call me that.”
Laughing, I headed back to my car, but first to Mia’s side, opening the door for her. “Sorry. I should have unlocked the car. I was just thrown off that Karan came by.”
“No worries.” She didn’t climb in as she tucked her phone into her overnight bag. “I was trying to get in touch with Ashley again. There’s probably no reason to now. I’m just surprised she hasn’t responded yet.”
“Do you think she knows what happened between Tyson and you?”
“No, not yet. Tyson was completely caught off guard when I told him I read his notebooks.” Surprisingly, her face brightened. “Thanks for being there for me this whole time. Once I talk to Ashley and end our friendship, I’ll have my closure with everything.”
“I believe you will.” I held back the urge to kiss her. “And then, you’ll be able to look to the future.”
A smile threatened the corners of her mouth.
“That sounds good too.” She climbed in, and I closed the door.
Finally.
16
Slow or Fast
Mia
L
ogan pulled into his building’s parking garage. Being that he owned it, he had a guaranteed spot right next to the guarded elevators.
The car rolled into his space.
Logan shook his head and turned off the car. “Are you hungry? I can whip up something.”
“You can cook?”
“I’m a pro with steak and potatoes. Ask for anything else and it will suck.” He got out of the car.
I exited the car too. “Then, steak and potatoes sounds awesome.”
“By the way, do you mind if I take a shower? I brought extra clothes.”
He hungrily gazed at me over the car’s roof. “Mia, don’t tease me. I’ll have you inside that shower and completely naked before you could say yes or no.”
“I didn’t say we were taking a shower together.”
“Yet, we are.”
“Are we?”
“Okay. I see you think I’m playing with you.” He rushed around the car.
I shrieked. “Logan, you’re crazy!”
“Not exactly.” He captured me, pulling me into his huge hold. “I can’t wait to get you in my bed. I want to help you forget everything about today.”
“I don’t want to forget.” I wrapped my arms around his thick waist. “While there was a lot of heartbreak today, I see them as lessons that I needed to learn.”
He kissed me on my forehead, nipped at my lips, and then let me go. “And what did you learn?”
I walked with him toward the building’s entrance. “A boyfriend is more than a warm body in my bed saying all the right things but doing absolutely nothing.”
“I like that. Very true.” He got to the door before the guard could open it for me, and gestured for me to go in. “What else did you learn?”
“Trust my gut.”
“That’s always a good one.” He led me to the elevator and pressed the up button. “Although I hope the biggest lesson from this is that you didn’t do anything for Tyson to treat you that way.”
“Yeah.” I sighed. “I’m just glad he’s going to figure out who he is...outside of my apartment.”
“And Ashley?”
“She hasn’t responded. I know she’s doing okay. I checked her Facebook page. She posted some weird meme about peace and the universe.”
The elevator arrived, and we stepped in.
“What a joke.” Logan shook his head. “Maybe you don’t need to talk to her at all.”
“I was thinking that.” At that thought, I turned off my phone. “Part of me wanted to get some closure, curse her out, tell her how betrayed I felt.”
The elevator doors closed.
“You should have that conversation with her.”
“But would it even matter?”
He considered the question. “I doubt it would matter for her. She’s grown enough to know that it was wrong. We’re not fucking teenagers learning about life.”
“Exactly. There are golden rules and she fucked up all of them.” I shook my head. “I can just cut her out of my life. I know what happened. I don’t need to talk to her.”