Dex turned his back to Joe, who was on the other side of the garage, and hit Hattie’s number, trying to call her again. He’d been trying since he got home from her place early that morning—shit, before he’d left her building. She wouldn’t pick up. Wouldn’t reply to any of his texts.
The sound of her sweet voice asking him to leave a message echoed down the line.
“Fuck.”
He was leaving in an hour, heading home for the wedding, but he didn’t want to, not until he’d spoken to her.
He shoved his fingers through his hair. Jesus, he needed to hear her voice. He needed her to tell him it wasn’t over, that she’d just freaked out like last time he’d said more than he should, that he was right—that she felt the same way about him.
Somehow, he forced himself to get back to work and, on autopilot, finished changing the oil filter on the Honda he was working on.
After closing the hood, he wiped the grease off his hands and, unable to help himself, pulled his phone from his pocket and tried to call Hattie for the fucking millionth time.
Again he went to voice mail.
Goddamn it. “Hattie, please. Call me back, sweetness. I pushed, and I said I wouldn’t. I won’t…say what I did again. I’ll do whatever you want. Please, I need you to call me. I need to hear your voice before I leave town.”
Breathing heavily, he ended the call and shoved his phone back in his pocket while he tried to gather his control. The way he felt right then, if he could have, he’d have picked the car up in front of him and hurled it across the room. That’s how angry he was at himself.
No wonder she was running scared. What the hell was wrong with him? She probably thought he was some desperate, obsessive loser.
“Christ, you look like you’re about to Hulk out. What’s going on?” Joe said from beside him.
Dex hadn’t even seen him walk over.
“Nothing,” he bit out.
“Your nostrils are flaring, your teeth are about to shatter from gritting them like you’re in the fucking electric chair, and your fists are clenched tight like you’re ready to punch someone.” Joe winced and took a step back. “Woman trouble?”
Dex planted his hands on his hips. “Listened to you assholes. Now everything is fucked.” They’d made him think he could care for people again, that the risk of pain and rejection would be worth it. It fucking wasn’t.
Joe frowned. “What the hell did we do?”
Hugh walked out of the breakroom, and Dex couldn’t control it or hold it in. “Why the fuck did I listen to you?” Adam was there as well. “I barely know you. The fact we’re related means jack shit.”
“What the hell’s going on?” Hugh said. “Brother, talk to us—”
“Not your brother. My brother’s about to marry my ex, and the other two have made it clear they want nothing to do with me. Don’t want or need more.”
“Jesus, what happened?” Adam asked.
“I told her how I feel, didn’t I? Followed your fucking advice.”
“It didn’t go well?” Joe asked.
Dex growled.
“Okay, okay, as long as you didn’t tell her you love her, it’s totally fixable,” Joe said, looking hopeful.
When Dex said nothing, he groaned.
“Shit. You can’t go telling a woman you love her after two weeks. No wonder she’s running scared.”
“Not fucking helpful, Joe,” Hugh said.
Who was he kidding? Joe was right. There was no fixing things between him and Hattie. There was no going back in time, no swallowing down those three words that had destroyed everything.
Dex sucked in several steadying breaths. He needed to calm the fuck down. When he thought he could talk again without losing his shit, he looked at Hugh. “I appreciate what you tried to do for me here, bringing me into the family, the apartment, the job. But I don’t want more family, and I don’t want…this. I quit.”
He strode out the door and up to his apartment to pack.
Hattie forced a smile when Shay walked into their office carrying a tray with their coffees and two large pieces of cake.
Today was the first day since she’d moved there that she hadn’t wanted to come into work. Somehow she’d eventually managed it, when all she’d wanted to do was stay in bed with the covers over her head and cry.
But the sheets smelled like Dex, and that made her want Dex even more. Made her want to call him and cuddle him, kiss him. Be with him.
Why did he have to complicate everything? Telling her he loved her had made it impossible for her to see him again. If she failed here, if her parents won…
She couldn’t afford to let her emotions get in the way.
He can’t love you. How can you love someone after such a short amount of time?
Her phone beeped again, and her belly tightened, heart racing. Tears sprang to her eyes, and she bit back a sob as a rush of emotion came from nowhere—emotions she’d been trying to keep locked down since last night when he’d told her he loved her, when he refused to take it back.
God, the look on his face when she told him to leave.
“Hattie?”
She glanced up at Shay, trying and failing to smile.
There was sympathy in her friend’s eyes. “Are you okay?”
“I’m…yeah, I’m fine.”
Shay didn’t miss the hitch to her breath, and after putting their drinks and cake down, she rolled her chair over to Hattie’s desk.
“There’s nothing wrong. I promise,” Hattie said unconvincingly.
“I don’t want to pry or stick my nose somewhere it doesn’t belong, but…I thought you should know—” She took Hattie’s hand. “Dex quit this morning. He told Hugh he’s leaving and he’s not coming back.”
Hattie stared at Shay for several long seconds, trying to process what she was hearing and feeling. Then the dam broke. A sound she’d never made in her life burst from her, followed by a sob, and the tears threatening to escape did. “Oh God. He…he’s leaving?”
Shay grabbed her and pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. “What’s going on, Hattie?”
Her friend sounded alarmed.
“H-he told me he loved me last night,” Hattie managed to get out.
Shay started rubbing her back. “Okay, and what did you say?”
“I kicked him out of my apartment.”
Shay pulled back and wiped away Hattie’s tears. “You love him?”
“How can I?” she all but yelled. “That’s ridiculous. I’m ridiculous. I’ve only known him two weeks. My parents would be mortified, would think I was a fool if they knew I thought I was in love after two weeks!” She sounded hysterical, but there was no controlling it.
Shay shook her head. “This isn’t about your parents. This is about you and how you feel. They have no say in this. What they think is irrelevant. And as for not being able to fall in love in two weeks? That’s bullshit. I fell for Hugh the moment I laid eyes on him. I didn’t know it at the time, but it’s true. And I’ll fight anyone who tries to tell me I’m wrong.”
“You did?” Hattie whispered.
Shay nodded and tucked a strand of hair behind Hattie’s ear. “Yes, and Hugh tried to fight it, like you are now, but it was the same for him. If you love him, don’t let him go.”
“But…this is insane, right? I can’t go after him and tell him I love him, can I?”
“Are you willing to lose him? Live without him?” Shay said.
No, she realized. No, she couldn’t. She didn’t want to. Hattie surged to her feet.
“Go!” Shay called after her as she ran for the door.
Hattie got in her car and headed toward the garage. She couldn’t let him leave. She had to talk to him. When he’d told her he loved her, she’d panicked—like she had the first night she’d gone home with him, the first night they met, and after they babysat together, when he’d told her he wanted to get to know her better, that he’d wanted more of her—because on some level she’d known there was something special between them.
Something unstoppable. A connection she couldn’t explain.
A soul-deep knowledge that she could fall for him if she dropped her guard. That being with him, even once, could risk all her plans for her new life.
She thought being with Dex would complicate things, but now she knew how she felt. Now she’d let herself feel it. Being with him was the easiest decision she’d ever made, and the least complicated thing in her life.
She finally reached the garage and stopped without even properly parking. Leaving the car running, she climbed out and ran for the steps to the apartment above. She reached the top step and pounded on the door.
“Dex?” She kept banging, her tears threatening all over again. “Please let me in…please.”
“He’s gone, Hattie.”
She spun around.
Hugh stood at the foot of the stairs, frowning deeply. “He loaded his car and left close to an hour ago. I’m sorry.”
“He’s gone?”
He nodded.
Hattie’s legs gave out from under her and she ended up sitting on the ground on the small landing in front of the door, using it for support.
He was gone. She was too late.