A Broken Soul(42)

"Or that you're constantly texting her?"

"Or stalking her social media accounts in the middle of work?"

"All right!" I shouted, cutting them both off. "You've made your point." I slammed the laptop closed and scrubbed my face with both hands. "Fuck," I hissed. "This whole thing's a goddamned mess."

Carpenter grabbed an apple from the bowl on the counter and leaned back, crossing his ankles as he took a bite. "So, she's not your girl?" he asked through a full mouth.

"No," I grunted.

"Then …  you wouldn't mind if I made a move?"

All I saw was red as I glared at him. "Touch her, and I'll break every bone in your fucking body."

He shot a smirk in Tony's direction and muttered, "Not his girl my ass," before taking another bite.

I was just about to rip into him when my cellphone rang from my back pocket. I stood and pulled it out, and as soon as I saw the name on the screen, moved out of the kitchen into the empty bay for some privacy.

"Ethan, man. What's up?"

"Hey, you got a second?"

The tone of his voice instantly set me on edge. "Sure. What's going on? Everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's good. I just need to ask a favor. You know Eliza's friend, Lilly?"

My shoulders went stiff at the mention of her name. "What about her?"

He let out a sigh. "She came to Denver for the weekend, and she confided in Eliza that things are pretty tough for her right now. Apparently her dad's really sick. It's not looking too good, and even though she tried to hide it, Eliza said she's taking it pretty hard."

I'd spent the past few days in misery as jealousy gnawed at my insides over the photos of Lilly with another man, and now, knowing that she'd confided in Eliza about her father - something that she'd only shared with me up to this point - only compounded that ache.

Yep, it was official. I really had lost my mind. I had no right to be jealous over her relationship with her best friend. But logical or not, I was.

"So what's that got to do with me?" I snapped. I hadn't intended for my words to come across as harsh as they did. I guess it was all par for the course of going insane.

"Uh … " he trailed off, obviously reading my sudden mood change and not knowing how to react. "Well, it's just that we're worried about her. She's heading back to Pembrooke and we're both in Denver for another couple of months, so we can't really keep an eye on her. I know you two don't know each other that well … " Oh, if you only knew. I guess Lilly hadn't confided in Eliza about our so-called friendship while she was there. And for some crazy reason, that pissed me off even more than goddamned Alex Sanders. "But I wanted to see if maybe you'd watch out for her? Just for a little while. You know, make sure she's doing okay until we can get there. I just want to make sure she's all right."

My mouth opened and the words began pouring out before I could consider pulling them back. "And why is it suddenly your job to look after her?"



       
         
       
        

There was no mistaking the bite my tone carried. Ethan remained silent for several seconds, then finally he asked, "What's with the fucking hostility, dude? If you can't take some time out of your goddamned day, then never mind. I'll ask someone else."

"You know she's not your responsibility, right?" I sneered. "You already have a wife."

"Whoa! What the hell? Seriously, man. What's your problem?"

It was like I'd detached from my body, like I was hovering over myself yelling to shut the hell up, but the word vomit just wouldn't stop. "My problem is that you've got a pregnant wife you need to be looking after, but instead of doing that, you're thinking about another woman."

"Wait … " I could hear his breathing coming through the line, and it finally dawned on me what I'd just let slip. "I haven't told you Eliza's pregnant."

He hadn't. I'd gotten that bit of news from Lilly. She'd even gone as far as to ask me not to let on I knew so Ethan could tell me himself. "Sure you did," I lied …  badly.

"No. I haven't. I'm pretty sure I'd remember telling you. The only ones that know so far are our families and …  fuck me."

I dropped my head and closed my eyes, rubbing at my temple with my fingers. "Look, man. I'm sorry. I-"

"Do you have something going on with Lilly?"

I sighed through the phone. "It's not like that."

"Holy shit," he cut me off. "This makes so much sense now! I couldn't figure out why she wouldn't go for Alex when she was here. I mean, he's a cool guy, can get tail pretty much whenever the hell he wants. But she wasn't having any of it. I just thought it was because of everything with her dad."