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“And you’re back.”
My lips rise further, and it doesn’t escape me how blurry my vision has gotten. I take a step forward, then another, seconds from pulling him into a hug. And if the agonized, yet hopeful and expectant look on his face is anything to go by…
He’s not going to push me away.
Finally. Finally, finally, finally?—
And just as he’s in reaching distance, and I’m mustering all the courage in the world, reinforcing the resolve I’ve built up over these last ten months since waking up alone in a lounge chair, as I missed and missed and craved and craved…
It goes to shit.
Three things happen in quick succession.
The first, a yelp and a string of curses, followed by hasty footsteps thudding down the alley, and the distinct sound of a fly being zipped.
Jeremy’s eyes widen on mine, and he takes a step back, ducking his head, blinking down at the ground just as a guy dressed in a similar peacoat to Jeremy’s joins us, panting, his dark, glistening eyes bulging.
“There’s a cat!” He makes circular motions with his hand. “A very, very scary cat.”
The second thing that happens…
Looking to me, the guy grins, and extends his hand. “You’re Mason.”
I look down at it.
“Oh, sorry,” he says, with a cringy smile as he drops it back at his side.
Jeremy mutters something under his breath, and I don’t miss how tense his jaw is, even from this angle.
And the third thing…
“I know, babe, but I really had to go.” And then the guy with his fancy peacoat and soft, flowy brown hair, leans over, and presses a kiss to the side of Jeremy’s covered head.
An icy cold breath punches through me, seizing my lungs.
No…
No.
Like dominos, all my plans and hopes—all the layers of resolve and determination I’ve stacked up over these last few months—topple over, falling somewhere in the pit of my stomach.
“Mason…” Jeremy says in an unreadable voice. He peeks up at me through his lashes. “This is Nick.”
I give a little, barely-there shake of my head, silently begging him not to say it.
I thought…I thought…
As if he could sense me spiraling through denials, his face hardens, and he stands a little taller, taking whatever resolve I might’ve had moments before, and claiming it for himself. Taking two words I never knew I needed to dread, and dropping them on me like a hand grenade.
“My boyfriend.”
