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"I doubt she wants to speak to me. In fact, after how she reacted to seeing me tonight, I highly doubt she'd have anything good to say to me."
John was silent. "You can't just let this go, Beau."
Beau glared at his friend. "What do you want me to do, John, huh?"
"At least try."
"Look, just forget about it, okay?" Beau's hand curled into a tight fist. "Forget we saw her. She clearly doesn't want to talk to me."
John grunted once then fell silent. And that was how the rest of the drive home was. Beau was quietly seething and John was trying to ignore him. By the time they got back to John's apartment, Beau had had time to think about things—about Vee and their relationship, about how she reacted to him tonight, and as John parked the car, he came to the conclusion that he couldn'tnotsee her again.
8
Evangeline placedher keys on the table in the entranceway, shut her apartment door behind her and slumped against the wood.
"Fuck."
Perhaps not her most eloquent use of words, but Beau had always had that effect on her.
"Fuck, fuckity, fuck!"
Bang, bang, bang.
Vee looked across at her living room wall. "Sorry, Mrs. Crocker," she called. Her neighbor was damn near blind, but her sense of hearing was ridiculously good. She was also a devout Catholic and abhorred swearing just as much as she abhorred people taking the Lord's name in vain.
She stripped as she wandered into her bedroom, shucking off the smell of spilled liquor. Left only in her underwear, she flopped back onto her bed and let out a breath. She didn't want to admit she was rattled, but she was. Seeing Beau was like seeing a ghost from her past—one she thought she'd buried long ago.
Goddamnit, he'd looked good. His shoulders had broadened, his arms more defined with long, lean muscles. She hadn't wanted to notice them. She had wanted the anger that always seemed to be there to surge. It had, really... briefly. But as soon as her hand had touched his skin, she'd felt it melt away again. She'd never been able to stay angry at him for long.
God, she was tired. Normally after working a shift, she couldn't wait to get a shower and sleep it off, but she found herself too tired for even that. Instead, she just lay there, trying her best not to think about Beau.
It wasMonday morning when she was jerked awake to the sound of her door buzzer.
"Fuck off," she mumbled, burying her head under her pillow.
But whoever was pushing her buzzer was pretty damn insistent.
Bang, bang, bang.Mrs. Crocker's opinion on the noise was made known, and with a groan, she sat up. Walking to the intercom on the wall by the door, she pressed the button and snarled, "What?"
"Vee? It's Max."
"Uh-huh," she replied, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand.
"You said you wanted to start running in the mornings?”
Had she said that? Fuck, it was only seven AM. She buzzed him in, unlocked the door, and went to look for some clothes. By the time she got dressed, Max was standing in her living room, looking like he'd had eight hours of solid sleep. Bastard.
"You forgot, didn't you?"
"Fuck you," she replied, grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge.
"Aren't you just rainbows and sunshine in the morning." Max's drawl was amused.
Evangeline swallowed her mouthful of water. "Fuck off."
He laughed. "Let's go. Gigi's watching Erin this morning, but she needs to go into work by nine."
She smiled to herself. Max had become so much more domesticated since Gigi had moved in. She scooped up her keys and removed her solitary house key, slipping it down into the pocket in her bra to keep it safe.
