don’t know.”
“Who was that?”
“Cullen, my agent.” She sighed. “Also my ex-boyfriend.”
Oh shit.
She went to the couch and sank down, so I crutched my way in and sat beside her.
“Obviously dating my literary agent was not my smartest move.”
“That was the guy you were with before you moved here?”
“Yeah. He dumped me for another one of his clients, an author named Pepper Sinclair.”
“Are you serious?”
“Unfortunately. That’s not even the worst of it, though. By the time he told me, he’d been cheating on me with her for months. And she was married, so she was cheating too.”
I clenched my hands into fists. Now I really wanted to fucking punch that guy. “What the fuck?”
“He said I should have seen it coming, but I didn’t. I was totally blindsided.”
“That’s just a shitty way of trying to blame you.”
She took a shaky breath and tears ran down her cheeks. “See, I know that, and it makes sense. But I thought… I thought he was it, and we were fine, and maybe we were going to…”
“You thought you were going to marry him.”
“I feel so stupid.”
“No.” I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and drew her close. “You’re not stupid. He’s the dumb motherfucker who cheated on you.”
I held her against me for a long moment, wishing I could do something more to make her feel better.
She sat up and swiped beneath her eyes again. “Sorry. I hate crying in front of people.”
“It’s okay.”
“I’m just so frustrated. I didn’t think seeing him again would be that bad. And I was counting on the advance from that foreign rights deal. I can’t believe he just blew it off like that.”
“I’d really like to hurt him.”
She laughed a little. “Me too.”
I rubbed her back, not sure what I should do next. It felt like we’d been doused by cold water—and not the jumping in an icy river kind that was actually fun.
“Sorry you had to see all that,” she said.
“It’s okay. Do you want to…” I trailed off. I couldn’t exactly suggest we go upstairs and bang before her parents got home. And the feeling that maybe that interruption had been a good thing kept growing. Not that I wanted her to be upset, but if that shithead hadn’t showed up, we’d have been having sex again.
Which, I wanted.
But shouldn’t.
Fuck, this was a mess.
“Honestly, I think I just need to be alone for a little while,” she said. “I just…”
I knew what she was trying to say. She was thinking the same thing I was. We’d been about to have sex, and if I stayed we probably would. And we probably shouldn’t. “It’s okay. You don’t have to explain.”
“Thanks. It’s not you, Gavin, I—”
“I know.” I leaned close and kissed her temple. “Text me if you need anything.”
“I will. Thank you. And I’m sorry.”
I gathered up my crutches and stood. “Don’t be. I’ll see you later.”
Walking out her door, it felt like I was leaving a piece of myself behind. It was the weirdest feeling. I hated leaving her, but at the same time, I knew it was the right thing to do. I couldn’t fix this for her. In fact, if I stuck around, I’d probably just make things worse. More confusing.
Because fuck, I was confused. She sure as hell had to be.
I drove home in a haze, barely aware of where I was going. I kept thinking about Skylar. About what it had felt like to kiss her. Be inside her. How she wasn’t just some girl. I couldn’t chase her and let things play out, for better or worse. Have some fun and not worry about what would happen down the road.
There were consequences down that road. Big ones.
I tried to imagine having that conversation with Chief. That something had gone wrong and whatever had been going on between me and Sky was over. I knew what Chief thought of me. A good firefighter, maybe, but other than that, I was just a crazy kid.
Definitely not good enough for his daughter.
Chief was the closest thing I’d ever had to a father. I didn’t want to make him have to say that to my face.
But maybe it wasn’t too late to rewind things with her. Sure, we’d made out and things had gotten pretty out of control last night. But we’d been friends first. We could go back to that. It’s not like we’d been officially dating or anything. I’d just explain to her that we needed to stay friends. She was just getting