Page 123 of Hurry Up And Wait
“I didn’t say it was anything else.”
“Then why the fuck are you here?” he growled, his face turning hard as granite.
I shook my head. “I don’t know why I thought you would tell me the truth.”
“I just did. If you’re looking for another answer, go find it somewhere else.”
Stupidly, I thought I had some sort of quasi-friendship with IKE, that despite what an asshole he was, that if I needed something from him, he would help. Clearly, I was mistaken. There was no unspoken friendship between us. IKE was…I wasn’t sure what he was, but he definitely wasn’t someone I should trust or turn to when things were bad. He was out for himself and didn’t care about anyone else.
“Sorry I bothered you.”
“You didn’t,” he muttered. “That would imply I actually gave a shit about you.”
I rolled my eyes and headed for the door, but before I could open it, he spoke again.
“You want some advice? I’ll give it to you. You already know the answers to your questions. Will he stick around? Is he good enough for you? Those are all things you can figure out on your own. Ask yourself, when your ex tried to kill you, was he here?”
No, he wasn’t. But that wasn’t the question I had come to ask. I jerked the door open and walked out, ignoring Riley’s questioning gaze as I stomped down the steps.
30
KAVANAUGH
“It’sall over the fucking news,” Eli said, flipping the channels to every news program. “There’s no way she didn’t see this.”
I glanced at my phone again. It had been two days since the rally and she hadn’t called or texted. I hadn’t attempted to reach her either. Call me a chicken shit, but I was avoiding the inevitable for as long as possible.
“She hasn’t called,” I pointed out.
“Because she saw you on the television with a fiancée and decided you could fuck off,” Red said, flipping through the latest Guns and Ammo magazine.
“She’s not like that. We’ve known each other a long time. If she was pissed at me, she wouldn’t just drop me. She’d call me out on my bullshit.”
“You should have told her,” Red muttered, flipping another page.
I shoved my fingers through my hair and paced the room, staring at my phone again. “I should call her.”
Eli sucked in a breath. “Are you sure you want to have this conversation over the phone?”
“I have to be with the senator today for a lunch.”
“So, go to the lunch and leave afterward.”
“And tomorrow, we have another rally.”
“Sounds like you’re avoiding her,” Red said, still not looking at me.
“I’m not avoiding her. I just can’t drop everything to explain this shit to her.”
“Right,” Eli chuckled, tossing the remote on the coffee table before taking a seat. “This small thing of you being engaged while sleeping with her.”
“I’m not engaged,” I seethed.
“According to that,” he said, pointing to the TV, “you are. And you can’t just expect her to understand that.”
He was fucking right. But why hadn’t she called? She should have called. Isla was never one to hide behind her feelings. If she had a problem, she said something. So, why the fuck hadn’t she called?
“It’s not even real,” I argued. “None of this is real.”