Page 77 of What I Like About You

“Honey, this little hissy fit is not nothing,” he informed her, coming around the corner fully. “Last I saw you, we were on cloud nine, looking every bit a woman in love. Care to tell me what about the last eighteen hours changed that?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“It does if I’m going to have to put up with this all the way back to Atlanta!” he snarked. “So, what is your problem?”

“Everything,” she answered, finally letting the tears flow.

“The speed you just went from ‘nothing’ to ‘everything’ is giving me whiplash. Do you need to have a herpine?” he asked, using the term he coined in college for needing to sit and stew about something. Zara couldn’t remember how he’d even come up with the term, but at this point they’d been using it for so long, it’d stuck.

“Tripp and I had a fight.”

“No shit!”

She glared at him. For as much as she loved him, right now his ‘tude was not helping matters.

“Everything is all fucked-up!” She wanted to find the words to express everything she was feeling, but she couldn’t. Nothing she could think of adequately conveyed just how upset she was and why. How could she explain that her heart was breaking over something as simple and complicated as their lives not aligning?

“Okay, let’s go to the living room, get a drink from the minibar, and talk this through,” Antwan said, taking her hand and leading her to the big plush couch in the common area of their suite. He grabbed them both a spiked seltzer from the fridge, popped them open, and handed her one. She took a long sip, hoping the alcohol might help calm her down. The cool liquid felt good against her warm insides, but did nothing to give her anger any kind of immediate relief.

“Now, how about we start from the beginning,” he said. “I can only assume since it was requested of me to provide a change of clothes at the wee hours of this morning, that last night ended with him ripping that ice-blue beauty off you and spending the rest of the time ravishing you beyond all belief.”

“Yes, we had a fabulous night, filled with fabulous sex, and then had a fabulous morning in the shower! Followed by a fabulous moment with the Atlantic and the Caribbean! But you know what, it doesn’t matter!” she word vomited before chugging the rest of her drink. “Know why it doesn’t matter? Because he won’t get over himself long enough to even consider that I have a life too!”

“What exactly did he say?”

“Doesn’t matter. What matters is that it was a mistake. This whole thing was a huge fucking mistake. I never should have heard him out. I never should have let him back into my life!” Her tears were coming faster now, and she couldn’t wipe them away quickly enough. She could feel her body heave as she fought off the sobs. A breakdown would not solve anything.

“Zara, you do not mean that,” Antwan scolded her.

“I do!” she shouted. “I do. You know what? I’ve always wondered what it would be like to fuck Tripp Sutherland, and now I know. So I can go back to Atlanta with that knowledge, live the rest of my life knowing that yes, he is indeed a fantastic lay. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to pack. I cannot leave here soon enough!”

“Girl, that is not how you feel, so don’t even say those words to me. You have not spent the last ten years not-so-secretly in love with this guy, only to reconnect with him and then call it a mistake!”

“I need to pack,” she repeated, pushing up off the couch, knowing full well she would regret her words later. But for the life of her she couldn't get a grip on her feelings right now. She was too all over the place and just needed to scream.

Zara was halfway to her room when suddenly there was an intense banging on the suite door. Her heart stopped, and her stomach felt like it could fall out of her at any minute. She didn’t even have to open the door to know who it was. There was only one person it could be.

Tripp.

And she was sure he heard every word.