“I don’t think you should break up with him. But I think he’s probably going to break up with you.”
My heart fell into the pit of my stomach when the truth seared my blood. Christopher was right, and I knew he was. The situation was bad all around, but I was the one who lost my temper first. We were lying together so peacefully when he suddenly pushed me away. Deep down inside, I knew that was the real reason I was upset. I simply didn’t go about it in the right way.
“At least I’ll have a stud to pick up girls with. The guys from the office are too nerdy.”
“Christopher.” I wasn’t in the mood for his jokes.
“What? If you break up, I can’t be friends with him anymore?”
“You can’t pick up chicks with him.”
“Why?” He finished the rest of his beer and set the empty bottle on the table. “I won’t bring it up to you or anything.”
I rolled my eyes because he didn’t get it.
A knock sounded on the door. It was loud and slow, telling me a man was on the other side.
Christopher’s eyes darted to the doorway. “Wonder who that could be?”
Shit. Calloway must have stopped by on his way home, and he was going to kick me to the curb before he moved on with his life. The end was here, and now I couldn’t swallow it. My body came alive for him in a way it never did for anyone else. Did I ruin the best thing that ever happened to me?
Christopher turned his gaze back to me. “Grow some balls and answer the door.”
I would normally tell him off, but in this case, he was right. I took a deep breath before I turned the knob and opened the door.
Calloway stood on the other side, wearing a black suit with a black tie. Looking like a million bucks, he made the hallway look like a narrow tunnel. His dark hair was messy from running his fingers through it, and his intense eyes held their typical frozen gaze. His thoughts were unreadable, buried under layers of armor.
I knew what was coming. “Hi.”
He didn’t reciprocate the greeting. All he did was make a slight nod of his head.
Christopher cleared his throat then walked past me to get to the door. He moved past Calloway awkwardly and gave him a quick wave before disappearing into the hallway.
Calloway kept his eyes on me like he hadn’t noticed him.
“You wanna come in?”
Calloway walked inside, bringing a shadow with him. He straightened his sleeves out of habit and stood in the middle of my tiny apartment. The place looked even smaller with him in it, like a cage too small for an enormous animal. He glanced around the apartment in a quick scan before he turned back to me.
I shut the door and stood a few feet away from him, suddenly feeling anxious and nervous. His cheek wasn’t red from my palm, but his exterior still held signs of obvious irritation. When he dropped me off last night, he didn’t say goodbye to me. He waited for me to get inside my door before he walked away.
He slid his hands inside his pockets and shifted his weight to one leg, looking like every woman’s fantasy.
I forgot how hot he was.
Now getting dumped would be even worse.
He still didn’t say anything, like he expected me to speak first.
“I know why you’re here. And I think we should just get through this as quickly and painlessly as possible.”
“Painlessly?” His eyebrows arched in a sexy way. No one else could pull that off. “There’s no pleasure without pain.”
“What?” I didn’t understand his meaning, and it seemed like I was supposed to.
He didn’t elaborate.
I wasn’t getting anything more out of him, so I moved forward. “I know you’re here to break things off with me, and that’s fine. I understand you’re upset, and I think you have every right to walk away. But I want you to know that I’m sorry. I’m sorry for slapping you—”
“Don’t ever apologize for that.” Aggression seeped from his throat unexpectedly, hitting me like a bolt of lightning. The look he flashed me was a little terrifying—and a little sexy.
“But it was wrong of me. I don’t even know why I did it…”
“Because you liked it. And you knew I liked it.” He closed the gap between us, getting so close we could kiss. “I’m not here to break up with you. In fact, I’m here to beg you to stay with me.”
“You don’t need to beg.”
“Then I’ll just ask.” His hands moved to my hips where his fingers dug into my sides gently. “I’m sorry I snapped at you. I just have…issues.”
“What kind of issues?”
“Anger issues.”
He hid it so well up until that point.
“Control issues.”
I picked up on that one.