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Nancy had texted me at the perfect time—and with the perfect news.
A shaky laugh erupted from my lungs, causing Jacqueline to hiss.
“Preston—”
“Nancy just got engaged to Michael!” I cut Jacqueline’s admonishment off and lifted my head to meet Drake’s gaze.
His eyes softened.
“What did you say?” Jacqueline hissed, her fork clattering onto her plate.
Here we go…
I turned toward the woman who’d birthed me. Face mottled red, she glared at me with wild eyes, a sneer curling her lips.
“N-Nancy,” I repeated since Drake’s presence gave me courage to face her sure fury, “just got engaged to the man she’s been seeing for eight years.”
Drake chuckled at Jacqueline having been rendered speechless, the tension around the table making it near impossible to breathe.
“Darling,” Devlin crooned in his usual voice when attempting to calm the raging beast about to explode. “We talked about this possibility.”
Bless the man for trying, but Jacqueline ignored him.
“That sick bastard!” She erupted with what I’d expected.
I returned my focus to Drake, shutting out the tirade that poured from Jacqueline’s lips. The blue eyes I wished to lose myself in slowly hardened again, and same as that first night we’d sat down to dinner as a family, I recognized the second he’d had enough.
Drake stood and tossed his napkin onto the table, making his wine goblet wobble when the linen hit it. “Dad. Jacqueline.”
She cut off abruptly, mid-rant with her usual transphobic bullshit at Drake’s gall to interrupt her let alone stand without excusing himself.
“Thanks for dinner, but I have to go. Preston?” He once more gave me his full attention.
I hopped up without a word, my own napkin fluttering to the floor as I hurried across the loft, our footfalls loud in the stunned silence we’d left behind.
“Jacqueline, my love,” I heard Devlin murmur behind me, but whatever he intended to say in order to calm Jacqueline’s ire silenced as I clicked their front door shut behind us.
We didn’t speak while trekking down the stairs. Didn’t even look at each other once we stepped into the night.
My car sat directly out front, waiting to whisk me to the safety of my real mom’s.
Drake stopped when he realized I didn’t follow, turning to face me.
“My ride,” I whispered, nodding toward the Audi. The shakes suddenly hit me as the adrenaline crashing through my system slowed. I swallowed hard, every inch of me aching for Drake’s arms, his warmth, the steady thrum of his heart beneath my ear.
His hands fisted at his sides as he glanced up at the three-story building towering over us. He returned his focus to me, his face once more unreadable.
“D-Drake?” I choked on his name, stepping closer as my eyes welled with tears.
Without a word, he spun on his heel and stalked off, his shoulders hunched.
I took an invisible boot to my chest, losing my ability to breathe.
For the first time since we’d met, Drake didn’t reach for me when I needed him. He’d given me his back rather than the comfort he was so damn good at offering. I’d been rejected with coldness when I needed affection and assurance that everything would be okay.
Perhaps in his world, things were downright peachy.
But those few, short minutes at Jacqueline’s dining room table promised I would be thankful in the weeks ahead that I lived in Boston rather than Manhattan. She would reach out though, heaping her disappointment in me atop my head.
