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He doesn’t explain himself. He rounds his desk and leaves.
Cole
My day spirals into chaos from the moment I walk out the door, and keeps spiraling. It’s three o’clock when I make it back and Lori walks into my office. Ashley follows. “There’s a man on the line that says he has information on that professor you’re representing. Says he’s a reporter speaking off the record.”
I pick up the phone and answer the call. “Cole Brooks.”
“He’s innocent,” the man says.
“Who am I speaking with?”
“I’m not going to give you my name on the phone, but I’ll meet you.”
“What is this about?” I press.
“I got a lead on the real killer,” the man says. “Enough of a lead to give you your reasonable doubt.”
“Why would you help me?” I ask cautiously.
“Because I gave the lead to the police and they haven’t followed up.”
My gut says he’s telling the truth, but I want to look into his eyes and see the evidence. “When and where?” I ask.
He gives me a location, a bar of some sort, and a time. I disconnect and stand up, glancing at my watch. “I have a meeting and now drinks with an informant. Whatever you have to update me on has to wait.” I grab my briefcase and leave. I know it’s cold. I know it leaves Lori wondering what the fuck is on my mind, and well, welcome to my world as it relates to her. I’m giving her what she wants. She was all in, my ass. I’m all in. Or I was.
As for trust, she has none for me. I paid her bill. To her that means I hold something over her. To her that means I can’t be trusted. I saw her apartment. I must want her to live with me because of that. It can’t be because I love her. She doesn’t trust us, even more, she doesn’t trust me.
Lori
Cole doesn’t come back to the office. He also doesn’t call me and tell me about the reporter or what is going on with the case. I leave the office alone and I go home to my apartment alone. I tell myself this is what I asked for. I wanted space. I told him so. He’s doing what I asked, for once. Okay, he did what I asked a lot.
I eat a TV dinner and try to work on a paper I have to get written. Alone. This is what I wanted. Only it isn’t. I just wanted Cole to understand the word “no” and yet really, everything he has done for me, has been generous and worthy of the title Prince Charming.
I’ve never been so confused in my life.
I stare at my phone, willing it to ring or buzz. I pick it up a half-dozen times to text him but anything I have to say, can’t be said on text. I consider going to him, but what has changed? How do I know what is real and what is not with Cole?
Cole
I lay in the bed alone. I used to enjoy that word. I fucking hate it now. This is what Lori wanted, only she didn’t have the common courtesy not to leave her floral perfume all over my bed. Even my damn pillow smells like her. I sit up and grab my phone from the nightstand to call her, but toss it across the bed. She said she wanted space. I’m overwhelming her. My money fucking overwhelms her. If I overwhelm her, we aren’t on the same page, because I can’t get enough of her. I need to step back. This is going to affect my work and I have people’s futures in my hands. I need to step back, like she has.
I walk down the stairs and sleep on the couch.
Chapter fifty
Lori
Iwake up Saturday morning, alone again, without Cole.
I hate that word now: Alone.
I hate that feeling now: Alone.
I force myself to shower and I dress in my most comfy pink and black sweats with a matching tee, just trying to feel human. I’ve just started on my school work when my mother calls to invite me to coffee with her and her new man. I, of course, eagerly accept and hurry to meet them at the coffee shop. Turns out that Joe is handsome, charming and he really seems to care about my mother. I spend hours talking with them both, listening to them finish each other’s sentences, and when my mother and I return home, I’m feeling good about what she has in her life.
That is until she delivers the shock I can’t expect.
“I’m moving in with Joe,” she announces.
