trying to honor her word. All he’d done was fuck it up. Royally.
“No argument here. Although I’d add a few more adjectives and some adverbs to it as well.”
“Where did you see her?”
“A few hours away and no, I’m not going to tell you exactly where. She was out with a woman named Ryliee.”
“If she was out with her friend, how do you know she was sad?” He thought about all the places Gibson went when they were home, trying to figure out where he could have seen her.
“They don’t call me Sonar because of my good looks. I got that name because of my hearing.”
“What did she say?”
“Nope. I’m not giving you that. All I know is she still has feelings for you and Cullen both.” He shrugged. “My personal opinion, probably more Cullen than you, but they’re there.”
“Besides the tears, how did she look?”
“She’s not sleeping well. There were circles under her eyes. She shook when she hugged me.” An evil smile. “Both times.” He bent one knee. “She still smelled delicious and her lips were soft when she kissed us and her skin was smooth as silk when I kissed her.”
“I fucking hate you.”
Gibson tsked. “Get cleaned up and figure out how you’re going to win her back, because I still like her, and it’s going to be awkward for the two of you to be together when I invite her to things if you don’t fix this. She’s good for you.” He hopped over the railing of the porch and turned back. “Next time, I won’t go so easy on you.” Then he was gone.
“Next time you won’t be so easy on me? You’ll kill me.”
“Most likely.” The two-word reply was cheerful as it floated from the side of the house.
Fucking sonar ears.
He thought about how best to make Skylar see he was willing to fight for her. For them.
Chapter Sixteen
Skylar pulled up to her house and got out of Ryliee’s car. She couldn’t help it—she looked over to Parker’s place. Even from this distance her heart ached for him.
She’d go over in the morning and face him. Right now, she needed to regroup.
I’m such a fucking wuss.
Locking her friend’s two-tone Nissan 370Z Sport, pearl white with a solid red stripe, she trudged silently up the walk to the house where she’d gotten to start over. Learned to stand on her own feet and find her place in the world once again. Now it was time to find some balls or do it all over.
Ryliee’s words echoed through her mind as she tried to figure out if she had the stones to fight for him. Standing on the threshold, she wavered. Biting her lower lip, she entered and locked the door behind her. This was home to her, and it was going to be hell starting over.
She’d done it before, and she could do it again.
The house sat empty of all her personal items. She’d left the furniture for the staging and would be sleeping on the couch. She opened the sliding glass door and allowed some fresh air to move through the house.
She sat with a heavy groan. The weight of the world was on her shoulders, and her brain wasn’t giving her a moment’s rest. Hadn’t since Ryliee had talked to her about this. Or was that more like, kicked her ass about it?
Toeing off her shoes, she put her feet up on the sofa and reclined, wishing she’d thought to bring a glass and some liquor. Or ice cream. Because it was going to be a long night, even though it was already two in the morning.
A knock came on the door, and she stiffened. The sound reverberated through the house and after swallowing, she shuffled through the dark to pull it open.
“Did you really think coming back in a different car would stop me from knowing you’d returned?”
She gasped and scrambled back as Parker’s voice wove out of the dark, scaring the hell out of her. Lunging back, she tripped over her own legs and tumbled to the floor. Only to be stopped by something hard. And warm.
Even though he was preventing her from landing on her ass, her body reacted to the simple fact that he was touching her.
“How the fuck did you know I was back, and why are you here?”
His warm breath brushed along the side of her neck as he carefully maneuvered them to the sofa and settled her back on it, then clicked on a light.
Her heart