the building to hopefully handle the issues we’re having with the dash design on the new model. I was content to leave it the way it was, but once Alistair Wilde made his little comment about the layout, I knew I would have to change it.
So that’s what we spend the next three hours doing. I end up skipping lunch trying to figure out how we can make room for the redesigned altimeter without rewiring the entire electrical panel. I hate the way it turns out, but at least he can’t say anything about it now.
After signing off on the blueprints, I grab another company car and head toward the city center.
I don’t really know what it is Hanna had to do in the city, and it’s not my business to ask. Neither of them are really talking to me after our little fight on Saturday, and it’s been two days. It’s not exactly the cold shoulder. More like they’re fine talking to each other, so they don’t need to talk to me.
It hurts.
But I brush it off. Neither of them are really supposed to be here anyway and in a few weeks they’ll be gone, and I can go back to my solitary existence with nothing distracting me from work.
I shoot a quick text to Ellis asking for their location, and he drops me a pin. Once I find a parking spot downtown, I take it and text him back.
He responds a moment later letting me know they are on their way.
Nothing about being on the mainland today has cleared my head. Somehow, I feel fucking worse. Like how if I wasn’t so obsessed with things I could easily delegate to others, I could have joined them for lunch in the city and helped Hanna out with whatever he’s helping her out with.
No, I’d rather work. I know that.
Then they round the corner, side-by-side, and it’s like salt in the wound. He has his arm around her, hanging over her shoulders and she’s leaning into him. They both look so damn happy and relaxed it has me instantly putting up my defenses. Fuck them. Fuck this feeling I get every time I’m stuck being the odd one out.
The sickening feeling of jealousy hits me hard as I watch them both looking so happy. He’s looking down at her with a smile in his eyes and she’s practically glowing under the spotlight. I hate how he’s touching her. I hate how she’s letting him when she won’t let me. And I hate how she gets his attention when he won’t give it to me.
Why?
Because I’m a fucking asshole, and I’ve dug this very grave I’m lying in.
We make dry small talk in the car on the way back to headquarters, and my eyes keep checking on Hanna in the backseat. She’s purposefully avoiding me.
“Did you get everything done you needed to?” I ask.
“Mostly,” she replies without looking at me.
“Everything okay?” I ask, digging for information.
“Yep.”
Things between us remain this cold during the ride back to Del Rey. When we touch down, she immediately climbs out and says goodbye to Ellis without acknowledging me.
She passes by me on her way to the guest house, and I suddenly can’t go another second with her giving me this cold shoulder. Hanna and I have known each other for too long. We were friends before this for fuck’s sake and after she leaves here, there will be more times we’ll be around each other with Zara and my dad. I can’t leave shit like this.
Before she can disappear into the guest house, I jog after her and make the dumb ass mistake to reach out and grab her by the forearm. Her head snaps in my direction as she snatches her hand out of my grasp.
“What are you doing?” she gasps.
“Sorry, fuck. I just…” Fuck this. Why can’t I just apologize? “Never mind.”
“What is wrong with you?”
“I don’t know,” I mutter, turning back to the helicopter. Her heels click against the pavement, but after a few steps, they stop. When I hear her coming back my way, I turn toward her.
She stops directly in front of me, and for a moment neither one of us speaks, she keeps her eyes unfocused on my suit as thoughts clearly turn through her mind.
“I don’t understand why you’re so insecure, Nash. I don’t know why you don’t see what I see.”
“What does that mean?” I ask, feeling my defenses rising again, readying myself to hear her call