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She slid back into the apartment, the door never opening wide enough for me to see his face. But that was probably for the better, I might have had to march my butt out there and throw a few choice words his direction if I had.

“You okay?” I asked as I walked over to her and pulled her in for a hug.

“Yeah.” Her ankles wobbled and I did my best to hold her up. “I think I’m done for the night. I’m not drunk, but I know if I stay up, I’ll keep going.”

“Okay, I’ll sleep in the spare room.”

“No. I just want to be alone.”

She was turning and walking away from me before I could say anything else about the matter. Her bedroom door closed with a soft click and I stood there for a long beat wondering what I should do.

I had a good idea that she was not only angry, but embarrassed. If I were her, I’d want to be left alone, too. So I cleaned up the mess we had made from dinner, gathered my stuff, sent Brand a text saying I was on my way to the compound, then left after double checking that the door was locked behind me.

What a mess. I felt so bad for Laurel and I hated that there wasn’t a single thing I could do to fix this.