Chasing Forever(64)

“Regan. Wait.”

She was only two steps from the kitchen and one second from bursting into tears when she heard him call her name.

She froze when she felt his hands on her shoulders. He gently squeezed her shoulders. Under normal circumstances, the gesture would comfort her, but it felt entirely wrong.

“It’s not what you’re thinking,” he whispered, his voice anxious and thick with emotion. “Before you overreact, give me a chance to explain.”

She sucked in a ragged breath and bit her lip hard to stop it from trembling. She didn’t need an explanation. She needed to get the hell away from him. She hated him. She loved him. She was fucked…again.

He leaned closer and his breath tickled her neck giving her goose bumps. Her body was a traitor. Lucas was the enemy. “Can I come over after your shift? We can talk in private.”

Regan lowered her face hiding the silent tears burning her eyes with a vengeance. “I have plans, and you have a date.” She stepped out of his hold, pushing the door to the kitchen open, eager to get as much space as possible between her and table five.

The door barely shut before the tears started racing down her face. Frantically, she ran to the locker area, searching for her purse. She needed a tissue.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck…” she mumbled under her breath as she not so gently tossed aside her jacket, a scarf, and a bunch of random items she’d never bothered to remove from her locker.

The lack of organization in her locker wasn’t the problem. The real problem was sitting twenty feet away having a romantic dinner with her nemesis, the woman who had ripped her life apart, starting with her family and then moving on to her.

She groaned thinking of what a complete and utter fool she’d made of herself during the past week with Lucas.

She’d never fully understand how she’d become so deluded over the past week to believe that Lucas cared about her and regretted what he did six years ago.

She’d felt like such a fool standing there, staring at them while Lucas so charmingly held Olivia’s hand across the table. What a fucking cute picture. When he said he could explain, there were a thousand things on the tip of her tongue just waiting to be unleashed. Evil, vindictive things. Instead, she resisted because what did it matter anyway? They could profess their love for each other a thousand times, but at the end of the day, there were too many skeletons in the Lucas and Regan closet. Truth be told, whatever they had or didn’t have was best left in the past.

She could rant and curse at Lucas for days, but she only had herself to blame. She gave her trust to a man who’d crushed her without a thought six years ago. She should have known better. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop her from feeling like a piece of her barely mended heart had been ripped out of her chest for the second time.

Just briefly, her mind drifted back to Lucas, their trip, and all the nice little gestures he’d made this summer. There was just something about that man—maybe his smile, his voice, or his walk—that drew her in and didn’t let go. Since she met him six years ago, every other guy seemed like a cheap intimation, but no more. She needed to move on.

“Bastard,” she mumbled, dropping her head into her hands and wiping the tears from her face.

“Regan, what’s going on?”

Whirling around, she saw Parker standing behind her, a confused look on his face. Seeing his beautiful, kind eyes and open smile, she wondered what mental deficiency caused her to choose Lucas over him because only an insane person would have done what she did.

“Can you take table five tonight? I don’t think I can do it.” Her voice shook, so she swallowed hard, trying to bury her emotions. She needed to be numb to finish her shift without turning into a blithering fool.

He stepped a little closer and ran his fingertip across her cheek. “You’ve been crying.”

She nodded. “Yes, but I’m finished now. If you take table five, I’ll be fine…I promise,” she added when she saw the skeptical on his face.

“Did they yell at you?”

“I wish.”

“Huh?” he said, cocking his head to the side.

“Lucas is sitting at table number five.”

“So?”

“With the lovely Olivia Reynolds. The woman who basically shattered my life the last time Lucas and I dated.”

He pulled her close and hugged her. “We can switch. You can have table eight, and I’ll take five, but maybe you should go home. I could call Renee. She lives close by. Maybe she’d cover your shift.”

“No.” She stepped back. “I have to do this. I can’t cower from the situation again. Last time, I transferred schools. This time, I’m going to walk out there and pretend he doesn’t mean a thing to me.”