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“Hmmm.”
My face freezes in a deadpan as I zone out at the wall. Johanna. She hasn’t replied with a word, but still, I know it’s her.
“It’s been a while since I heard your sexy morning voice.”
I glance back at Aubrey, hating that my ex is interrupting my time with her. “You need to stop calling me. Stop texting me.”
She scoffs. “You can’t mean that.”
“I do. I have meant that for months now. It’s over.”
“Dalton, I refuse to believe that,” she says primly, like she’s merely amused.
Arguing with her always made me so mad. When I bicker with Aubrey, it’s a contest of equal wills, and half the time, it turns me on. With Johanna, it felt too much like being sequestered in a corner and clawing to get out under a web of manipulation.
“You can’t possibly want to be done with me.”
I grit my teeth, reminding myself to keep my tone down. “You cheated on me.”
“It was a simple misunderstanding. One I can explain if you would just agree to meet up in person. To talk. I can come by your office within the hour. Or you can stay in bed, and I’ll stop by your place.”
I shake my head, glad neither of her dumb ideas are possible. She’s unaware I’m out of New York, and right now, I wish I could claim I was even further away. No distance feels like enough.
“I just—”
Aubrey’s phone cuts her off. It’s a snazzy little jingle. I turn and eye the pile of clothes on the floor. The ringing is coming from somewhere in there, and I hurry to retrieve it for her, either for her to silence it or answer.
“Are you…” Johanna hesitates as I search for Aubrey’s phone. “Are you with someone?”
“None of your business.”
“I think it is my business. Dalton, are you sleeping with someone on the side?”
“There is no side. I’m single.”
“But we—”
“There is no we!” I’m louder with my retort, frustrated with how long it takes me to grab Aubrey’s phone from her pocket. There it is. Finally.
“We had something great, Dalton. Don’t you want to hear what I have to say?”
Since I know she can’t be pregnant as a result of having a hysterectomy due to severe endometriosis before she met me, honestly, no, no I don’t want to hear what she has to say. Aubrey stirs in the bed, waking. “I have to go.” I hang up and set my phone on the nightstand.
Aubrey blinks up at me, and I lower myself on the bed again, offering her the ringing phone.
“Mmm.” She smiles sleepily as she reaches for the device. “Good morning,” she tells me.
Now it is. I lean against her and kiss her cheek as she answers on speaker.
“Hey, Lauren,” she greets.
“Shoot. Did I just wake you?”
“Maybe.”
“It’s like, ten o’clock!”
She glances at me and I can only smile at the alarm in her eyes.
