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“Why is your office stuff here?” He asks slowly, never taking his eyes off of me. I could lie, but he’ll see through that and it’s not really worth it.
“Because I no longer have an office… or a job,” I add quietly.
“Why? What happened?” He scoots a little closer and loops his arm between my stomach and my thigh, hugging my bent knee to him.
“It’s not important. I just lost my cool and said some things I knew would get me fired. It doesn’t matter though; I hated that company and I didn’t want to work there. This is probably the push I needed to look for something new.”
“Have you applied anywhere?”
“Nah, I was fired yesterday. Today, I haven’t really had the energy to start searching for a job. I want to take a week or two off and really evaluate what I want in life, because this isn't it.”
He nods his head like he understands where I'm coming from, but he doesn’t. There’s no way. Cord’s known what he wanted to do when he grew up since long before we met. He always wanted to play ball professionally and if he couldn’t do that, or when he retires from the game, he planned on working at Scott, Powell, and Coleman. He’s been trained since he was little to take over the business with Cici, Lochlan, Jo, and Mia, but only Cici works there so far.
“What do you want in life? A husband and a family? The perfect house with a picket fence? A cuddly yellow Labrador puppy?”
“At one point, yeah. Now, I think I want to be single and just enjoy my life and job.”
“But you always wanted kids.”
“Yeah, I did. But then life happened and I realized being alone is probably the better option for me.” I say softly, refusing to meet his gaze because I know exactly what I'm going to find. I’ll be staring into the eyes of the man I saw forever with, knowing I can't have it anymore.
Chapter 8
Cord
What the hell is she talking about? Macy’s always wanted a house full of kids laughing and playing. It was a dream of hers and one I planned on helping her grow into reality.
I wanted to see miniature versions of us running around and causing a mess. I dreamed of wrapping my arms around her and whispering how much I love her as our kids play tag or hide-and-seek in the backyard.
But for her to say she’s better off being alone? No way. I won't allow it.
“Listen, I'm not asking you to be my girlfriend again, but I wanted to talk to you about us.”
“There isn't an us.” She sighs and I feel it to my core. She’s given up on everything, just like Dad pointed out. She doesn’t think she deserves or can get the life she wants, so she’s letting go of all of it.
“Let’s be real. Wyatt and Charlie are going to end up together again. It’s not a question of when, it’s just how long they’re going to take to get there. I have a feeling it won't be long at all.”
“Not after they aired all their dirty laundry. She’s falling for him all over again, I can see it.”
Just like I wanted to do with you.
“Exactly. Which means we’re going to be around each other a lot. Cici’s my sister and your best friend. Charlie’s like a sister to me and she’s my coworker. Plus, soon she’ll be my best friend’s girlfriend again. There’s no avoiding each other.” I run a rough hand through my hair and try to maneuver this conversation carefully. “I want to be friends, Mace. Real friends, not this we barely tolerate each other shit. I want to be able to walk into a room and talk to you without any sort of bad feelings towards you or any tension making it weird for everyone around us.”
“And how do we do that?”
“I'm not sure, but I'm willing to try if you are.”
“And if I'm not?”
“Then chances are we both won't get invited to things with our friends. They’ll pick one or the other, but never both of us. Do you really want your friends to have to pick which one of us they should invite to things?”
“No,” she says softly. “I don’t want to lose Charlie and Cici too.”
“Things last night were… rough. I knew exactly where to poke to piss you off and I'm sorry for that. But you…” I sigh and scrub a hand down my face. I don’t want to admit any of this, but I have to. “You can't throw yourself into another man’s arms just to make me jealous, Mace. It fucking hurts to see.”
“It’s been four years, Cord. You shouldn’t be jealous anymore,” she whispers so quietly I almost don’t hear her.
“So, you’re telling me if we went to the bar right now and a beautiful woman was all over me, you wouldn’t get jealous?”
