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“About what?” I asked when she didn’t finish.

“You don’t want to hear about that.” She waved away my question as she fumbled with her door handle. She was in a rush to get away from me. But why? What could that movie have to do with anything? “I’m going to toss this and freshen up. Then we can get going again.”

The door slammed on my response.

But I went ahead and got myself cleaned up finally before climbing back in the car to find her already waiting.

She was far away again, though, and as soon as I turned on the car, she cranked up the music so we couldn’t speak anymore.

I focused on the road and promised myself that someday, I was going to get to the bottom of why she was so hot and cold with me.

Until then, I could just comfort myself with her closeness and the way that tug in my chest finally eased.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

[ “OMISSION IS JUST lying with better PR.”

— Hexes on my Exes - Episode 30]

Maggie

I can’t believe I almost mentioned a movie where the whole premise is that a woman working as a radio show host and is asked out by a caller, and she panics and makes her model neighbor pretend to be her instead.

It wasn’t exactly the same situation we had going on. But it wasn’t too far off. Radio shows, hidden identities.

I didn’t want that to be how he put the pieces together. I wanted to be the one to tell him.

I almost had.

After the orgasm haze cleared, I’d almost spilled it. But then it was like he sensed what I was about to say and didn’t want me to go on.

I lost my nerve then. I had been kicking myself ever since.

Another opportunity would come up. Until then, I needed to stop letting things get carried away between us.

So for the next leg of our road trip, I kept the music loud so we couldn’t keep connecting on a personal level. I was thankful when he turned into the parking lot of a hotel, knowing I could lock myself in my room and avoid him until we hit the road again.

My phone beeped as I was standing next to Silas, who had insisted on bringing my bags to my room and unlocking the door for me (though he fumbled with and grumbled at the keycard in the process).

“What was wrong with actual keys?” he mumbled to himself as he moved into my room.

Reaching for my phone, I saw Tess’s name.

I need a status update immediately. Unless you two are getting all glandular. In which case, I need an update directly afterward. I mean sweat still drying afterward.

“Tess?” Silas asked when I let out a snort of laughter.

“Yeah.”

“Did you two meet at the station?”

“No. I responded to a listing for a room for rent. When I showed up, she was sitting on the couch with greasy hair, red-rimmed eyes, and her hand sparking flames. I put out the fire, got her something to eat, and coaxed her into the shower. When I went to leave, she asked me where I was going. And I just… never left after that.”

“Was she depressed?”

“Sort of. Tess has had an on-again, off-again relationship for… a really long time. But that was the last-last time. I think she was really coming to terms with the fact that there was never going to be a future for them. She was down for a long time.”

“And yet she hosts a dating podcast.”