“I got pissed off.”
She arched an eyebrow at me. “You’ve lost it.”
“Don’t,” I ground out. “I didn’t call you here for therapy. I thought you were the only one left who wouldn’t lecture me.”
“Whatever,” she said, kicking the broken lamp and stepping over a piece of broken glass. “I wasn’t expecting a construction zone.”
“Bedroom is still clean,” I said with a smirk.
“I see the Maker’s is all over the floor. Anything else for me?”
“Got some Goose and a shot of Fireball.”
“What the hell?” she said as I followed her into the kitchen. “Where is the rest?”
“Gave it up.”
She snorted. “Sure looks like it, Wright.”
I leaned heavily against the counter as she popped open the Grey Goose and downed it straight, like a lady.
She smacked her lips together and shivered. “Yum,” she muttered.
“Want a chaser?”
“Do I look like a pussy?”
I grinned and swept my eyes down her.
She held her finger up and wagged it in my face. “Easy there.”
“No intention of going easy.”
I strode toward her, backing her into the counter. Her nails dug into my T-shirt, and she dragged me hard against her.
“I don’t have to know what’s going on with you, Austin.” Her hands slipped under my shirt, and her nails scraped across the waistband of my shorts. “But I know something is.”
“Does it matter?” I snapped.
She shrugged. “You didn’t call me for therapy, right?”
My hands gripped the back of her thighs and hoisted her onto the countertop. I gasped in pain as my ribs seized under the pressure. Holy fuck!
“Are you okay?” she asked, her eyes wide.
“Fine, Mags. Just…shut up.”
I grabbed her face between my hands and crushed our mouths together. She was still for only a second before returning the kiss. Her legs wrapped around my back, tugging me closer. And I tried to will all the anger I’d been drowning in into that kiss. Fuck everything else going on in my life.
I wanted to forget. I wanted someone to help me forget.
But I wasn’t forgetting.
Because that name still rattled around in my head. The brown hair wasn’t red. The blue eyes weren’t brown. Her lips didn’t taste like cherry. She wasn’t covered in ink. Her body didn’t match mine.
I tried to force it. I didn’t need feelings with Maggie. We never had. I just needed one night. Then, maybe I’d learn how to move on. Learn how to be as dead inside as Julia was.
Here’s to hoping.
Thirty-Four
Julia
“I have looked at seven thousand new apartments today, and I hate them all.” I pushed my computer back and slumped into the couch.
“You’ll find the one,” Heidi assured me. “What about this one?” She pointed to the last one I’d looked at.
It was on the first floor with a security plan and a fence with code access to get inside and, and, and…
All the features I wanted. Yet none of them fit.
“No, I don’t like it.”
“Well, you don’t have to get a new place right away.”
“I don’t want to impose,” I said at once.
“You’re not imposing. We have plenty of house, and it’s no trouble at all.”
I still felt bad. Even though it hadn’t been very long since everything went down. It didn’t help that I couldn’t seem to sleep. Not without nightmares jolting me out of bed in a cold sweat. I was exhausted and had no energy. I wanted this all to be over.
Heidi seemed to notice that. “Let’s look more tomorrow. We should relax until Landon gets up. He really likes his beauty sleep.”
I shot her an appreciative smile. “That sounds good.”
“I could make us omelets. Landon is the better cook, but eggs, I can do.”
“Sure.”
I’d go for anything that didn’t involve people looking at me with pity. I knew I was pitiful. I didn’t need to see it when everyone looked at me. I might have saved my own life, but I still felt like the victim. And it didn’t help that everyone was treating me like one.
“Great!” Heidi hopped up and started getting things out for the omelet.
I grabbed my computer again and flicked through a few more apartments. Not that anything was jumping out at me.
The doorbell rang. My head popped up, and I stared at Heidi with frightened eyes. Fuck, even the doorbell was freaking me out.
“Don’t worry. I got it,” Heidi said. She went to the door and pulled it open. “Austin, what a surprise.”
“Hey, Heidi. Is Julia still here?”