“I didn’t mean it like that-”
“Oh, no, you definitely meant it like that. You thought that I was pathetic. That I didn’t have a life? That I didn’t have any meaning other than you? That you- you- that just because you were rich, I’d gladly take you back? Jesus, Trey, how conceited can you be?”
Trey thumped his hand down on the tabletop. Not hard enough to be violent or scary, but hard enough to make the tea in her mug jump a little. Hard enough that she might have jumped a little too.
“I. Didn’t. Mean. It. Like. That.” Trey ground every word out, enunciating each one. “I came here to talk. You might want to try listening.”
Ambi slammed her arms over her chest. “Why the hell would I want to listen to anything you have to say?”
“Great. Well. This isn’t going to go anywhere if you refuse to have an open mind.”
“That would make two of us.”
Trey’s nostrils flared. His jade greens turned to that darker shade, something closer to emeralds. “Here. I’ll prove that I have an open mind.” He picked up his mug and even though his tea was still steaming, he chugged back the whole thing. He kept the quilt tucked under his armpits and wiped at his mouth with the back of his hand. “There. I drank your foul tea. I tried it again, even though I knew I’d hate it. It wasn’t half bad. I drank the whole thing. Yeah. It actually wasn’t that bad at all. Can I have another? Is that proof enough for you? How many mugs of this do I have to drink to get you to hear me out? Because I’ll do what it takes, even if I have to down a hundred of those.”
“You’d puke before then.”
“It would be my pleasure if you’d hear me out.”
She didn’t want to just capitulate, so she shoved back her chair and put the kettle on. She kept her back to Trey until she put a second mug in front of him. It was even worse than mint. He hated chai tea with a passion. She had milk and sugar to make it more palatable, but she kept it out of it.
“Here’s the deal,” she said roughly, not letting him in on the fact that she might have been softening just a little. “You drink that, and I’ll hear you out.”
“It’s scalding,” Trey protested.
Ambi wasn’t letting him off the hook that easily. She got up, walked to the fridge, popped a few ice cubes out of the tray, and let them fall into Trey’s cup back at the table. She waited a minute until they dissolved.
“There. Problem solved.”
Trey looked like he really was going to be sick just looking at the tea. He picked up the mug though and downed it like he’d down the mint tea. It really wasn’t fair. He was too good at just opening his throat and pouring it down. He could shotgun a beer like that too, in under a minute.
He thunked the mug down on the table when he was done and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand again. A mouth she tried really hard not to look at because it reminded her of kissing him and thinking about kissing him made her uncomfortably warm and that made her want to do something crazy, like leap across the table and maybe try it again. It didn’t help that he drew the tip of his pink tongue over his bottom lip. His mouth was outright sexual. He stared at her with an if it’s war you want, it’s war you’ll get expression.
“You have to hear me out now,” he said, his voice uncharacteristically soft, not demanding at all. IT was almost more like a question.
She sighed like she was bored. She sipped at her tea like it was the last thing she wanted to do when really, she did want to hear what Trey had to say. She did and she hated that she did, so she kept her careful mask in place.
“I thought you’d wait,” he started, but it didn’t come out as terrible as before. “I thought that you wouldn’t move on with someone else. I knew how focused you were on starting your own business. When you want something, you throw your whole self into it. I didn’t think there’d be room for you for distractions.”
“Glad you clarified.” Unfortunately, even though her words dripped sarcasm, they’d lost most of their heat.
Trey continued on like she hadn’t said anything at all. “I didn’t choose money over you. I know that’s what you think, but you don’t know the half of it.”
“It is what I think because it’s true. You’re now rich. Your dad asked you to break up with me. He gave you an ultimatum. Pick me and kiss your inheritance goodbye or pick the company and him and a really good, cushy, padded life over me. It’s pretty obvious what choice you made. Explaining it five years after the fact is a little late.” Ambi’s foot started vibrating and she pressed down on her thigh to keep her leg from jumping nervously all over the place.