Fix It Up - Mary Calmes Page 0,61

infuse his voice. “Where are you?”

“Please, just go back to bed,” I said gruffly, trying to keep all emotion out of my voice and failing miserably. I needed sleep. That would at least help somewhat.

“You tell me where you are, right now,” he demanded irritably. “Your buddy only told me you had to leave and that you asked him to keep an eye on me and your mother.”

It took a second for his words to sink in. “What?”

“Although why your mother needs watching is beyond me. She’s actually a grown-up.”

“Bite your tongue,” I heard her say with a cackle.

Jesus, they were both up? And what the fuck was he doing at my mother’s house?

“Loc,” he pressed me. “Where are you?”

“What?” I repeated, because I couldn’t get my head around what was happening.

“Answer!” he barked. “Because you’re starting to scare me.”

“I…I’m driving back to my mother’s house.”

“Oh,” he said, his anger deflating, sounding confused. “Okay. Good. Now, where did you go?”

“I thought you were going to spend the night with Jamie.”

Moments ticked by. “Say that again.”

“I said,” trying not to growl, “I thought you were stayin’ at Jamie’s.”

“Why would I do that?”

“Because you guys were eye-fucking all through dinner, and then he came over and picked you up on a goddamn horse!”

He caught his breath, and then there was a lot of muffled noise before there was silence. Looking at my phone, I saw that the call was still connected, so clearly he’d muted me.

I was about to hang up when he was suddenly back.

“Jesus, you’re an ass,” he barked at me.

He wasn’t wrong.

“James Reider is a god behind a camera lens,” he told me. “And yes, it was nice to have his complete and total attention for a second, but come the fuck on!”

“You lost me,” I groused at him.

“It’s not a romance, for God’s sake,” he said curtly. “Is that how things work when people get older?”

“Oh, fuck you and your––”

“Jesus,” he gasped. “You actually thought that’s what was happening.”

“I––”

“Wait, wait, wait, let me think for a—is that what that looked like? Him picking me up on the horse? Like a prelude to fucking?” He was quiet for a moment.

“Are you done?” I snarled, annoyed that I’d said anything to begin with. “You can do whatever the hell you want.”

“I guess if I were you, I could’ve come to that same conclusion, so I apologize. I did not mean to leave you with the impression that I was going to go to bed with James Reider,” he assured me. “That was not my intention in the least.”

“I don’t give a shit if you––”

“Yes, you do,” he said implacably. “We both know you do.”

“Have you lost your mind?”

“No, Loc, but clearly you were distraught that Jamie and I were off to his stables to fuck.”

I hung up on him. I didn’t need to deal with his crap.

When he called back, I thought about letting it go to voicemail, but answered.

“Okay, okay,” he said, chuckling. “I’m sorry already. Just…I’m stunned that you thought that Jamie and I were running off together.”

I hung up again, because fuck him!

It was strange to have to balance between what I knew about his past and how he was here, in the present. I hoped that when he knew what I’d just done and why, and that I was aware of what he’d endured, that we could still be friends. I hoped it wouldn’t change things between us, but that was probably wishful thinking. Between the trust violation, which was a heinous betrayal, and me taking the law into my own hands…we were finished. I had no doubt that he would demand another company be put in charge of his recovery.

I let my phone go to voicemail twice when he called back, and then a call came in from my mother’s landline. I wasn’t stupid, but I picked up anyway.

“Stop hanging up on me,” he ordered.

“Stop saying stupid crap,” I warned him.

“Fine.”

We were both quiet.

“But really, I have a home; so does he,” Nick apprised me.

“What?” I was lost, because my mind had wandered to him throwing me out of his life. I’d just found a place in it, and now our time together would be over.

“Are you listening to me?”

“No,” I answered truthfully, because what did it matter? The chances of him forgiving me for first, listening to a private voicemail, and then going behind his back, were slim to none. And yes, both had been for a good reason, but still. The road to