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“Fine. You don’t have to leave Charleston, but you can’t stay here. What if Trevor wants to come back to the house after our date? It would look shady if I had another man here, don’t you think.”
My brain wasn’t firing on all cylinders yet without any coffee. “Why are you really doing this?”
“I don’t know what you mean, Ben. It’s been fun, but now it’s over. I did as you and Evan asked and read his stupid letter. Now it’s time for you to leave. I don’t know how much clearer I can make it.”
Fury engulfed me as I dressed. My hands shook in my anger. I damn near ripped my shirt as I shoved my arms inside it.
“Nice story. But I don’t buy it. I’ll leave your house. I won’t fight you there. But if you think for one second I’m leaving town, then you don’t know me.” There was something off about this whole situation. I couldn’t put my finger on it.
“You can do whatever you want, Ben, as long as it’s not here.” She didn’t change from her immovable stance.
What the fuck happened since last night to change her mind like this? She wasn’t acting like the Moira I knew. We screwed each other like animals. I had her nail marks on my ass. And she wanted me to believe she suddenly had a change of heart over the last five hours? I didn’t buy it. “And what about the stalker? You can’t honestly say that you’ve forgotten about him.”
“The police are handling it. Although, I appreciate your assistance in getting the local police involved. I’m sure Detective Freemont will catch him.”
Before I could fully process the morning’s events, I was outside straddling my bike and staring at her house, feeling as if I’d just gone through hell week all over again within about fifteen minutes.
“Goodbye, Ben.” Moira shut her front door, and the lock clicked. She had locked me out of her life.
I didn’t know what to do. So I did the only thing I could do. I called for reinforcements. “Roman, I need a place to stay.”
“She kicked you out already.” Roman chuckled.
The jab was too close to home. “Can I bunk with you, or does Liam or Owen have a place I can crash at for a few days?”
“Yeah. My place would be easiest. I’ll text you the address. Just tell them at the gate you’re visiting me, and they’ll let you in.”
“Got it.” I drove away from Moira’s but didn’t feel good about it. Something had her spooked. There was no way she had a date. I knew her. Today was the first time she’d lied to me. But I couldn’t quite put my finger on why.
I drove down the highway, replaying everything that happened between us over and over again repeat, trying to determine if there was something, some little nugget that would clue me in to the disastrous morning. But I came up empty.
At the Joint Base, I showed my identification and got directions from there to Roman’s place. Being on base was as familiar as breathing to me. It was being out in the real world that was jarring. Life on base made sense when the rest of the world didn’t.
Roman’s place was in one of the many townhouses at the end of a cul-de-sac.
I pulled my Harley into his driveway. Before I cut the engine, he opened the front door and came strolling outside in a black wife beater and gray basketball shorts.
“So, what did you do to piss her off?”
“I wish I knew. Everything was fine before we went to sleep.” I eyed the mug of coffee in his hands. “I’ll give you twenty bucks for a cup of coffee.”
“I’ll do you one better than that. I’ve got donuts,” Roman said and waved for me to follow him inside.
I grabbed my bag and strode in behind him. The townhome was fully furnished with deep-seated brown leather couches in the living room and a dining room with a pine dining table. There was also a half bathroom right off the front door. “It’s nice, what you’ve done with the place,” I said, trailing him into the kitchen. I damn near groaned at the full pot of coffee and box of donuts on the ivory countertop.
“Help yourself. How do you take your coffee?” he asked with the pot in his hand as he pulled a mug out of the cabinet.
I snorted at the question. I hadn’t added anything to my coffee since before basic training more than eighteen years ago. “Give it to me black.”
“Figures.” Roman poured me a cup and handed it over. Then nodded for me to take a seat. “So Moira kicked you out this morning.”
Taking a seat with a sigh after I snagged a chocolate frosted donut, I grimaced. “Yeah. I can’t seem to wrap my head around it. She wasn’t acting like herself this morning at all. And I can’t think of anything I did to warrant her dumping me out of the blue like this.”
Roman leaned back in his seat. “Easy. She got spooked. You two have been getting real close, real fast. It might be she’s worried about how you feel about her or how she feels about you.”
“Maybe.” But I didn’t think that was it.
“Look, the way I figure it, you’ve got two plays. Either you go all in, tell her how you feel, the whole nine yards. Or you chalk it up to one hell of a fun week and move on.”
