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My chest constricted. A sudden pain speared my heart. Megan was still talking but I couldn’t listen. “You really think Miri will be okay? You’re sure it’s a good team? If anything happens to her… to the baby…”
A sharp antiseptic odor filled my nose and made my eyes water. Exhaustion slammed into me. My shoulders slumped. Heat pressed behind my eyes.
“Hey,” Megan said softly. “Come here. It’s okay.”
Her arms wrapped around my shoulders and she pulled me into her soft embrace. She patted my back. The familiar scent of her pineapple chapstick filled my nose and, for a moment, it gave me comfort in the memories of when things had been good between us.
A cough sounded overhead. I drew away from Megan to see Gabe and Skylar. Gabe beamed in a dazzling display of white teeth. Skylar stood behind him, her arms folded across her chest. Her gaze moved between Megan and me and she frowned.
“Miri’s fine. It’s all fine.” Joy shone in Gabe’s emerald eyes. “Do you want to come and meet your new nephew?”
Chapter 29
Skylar
Reece wore a tired, faraway expression as he drove us through the dark city. We’d left Gabe and Miri at the hospital. I couldn’t strike the memory of how he’d looked holding his tiny nephew. Warmth had lit his normally stoic face and he’d held the baby with so much love and care. I’d never met a man like him—so powerful and commanding when he needed to be, but also so soft and loving.
But it had been tainted by the fact I’d seen her.
Her smile had been polite, but her condescending gaze had roved over my hair and tattoos. I could spot disapproval a mile off. She’d looked at me the way Sean’s parents always had. Jealousy gnawed at my gut like a sickness. Reece had introduced me as Miri’s friend. Of course he wouldn’t want clever, perfect Dr. Megan to know that we were more than that. Or were we? We’d had sex. Did it mean anything to him? How could it?
Megan and Reece looked perfect together. She was prim and stuffy and full of long words too. That was the kind of woman that suited him. What did he even see in me? He was so buttoned up and starchy. He needed someone posh and refined like Megan, not a purple-haired loudmouth covered in tattoos and piercings. Nobody would place us as a couple. We were two pieces of a jigsaw that didn’t fit together. He’d told me he had a crush on me since school. He wanted to have sex with me. But was that all this was to him?
“Back to the Beaufort?”
Reece’s voice rattled through the stillness.
I didn’t want to go back there. It was lonely and boring. It made me feel adrift and lost at sea. “Will you stay with me?”
I’d tried to keep my voice light, but it came out shakier than I’d intended. I’d asked him to come to me so many times. It was always me chasing him. It always hurt so much when he said no. How many times could I take his rejections?
He cleared his throat. “I can’t. I’m sorry. I can’t leave Mum on her own in the house.”
“Miri said you have nurses on call overnight.”
“We do, but it’s been a long day.” He spoke in a low, composed voice, but he wouldn’t look me in the eye. “Besides, Mum is desperate to hear from me. I can’t wait to tell her everything.”
Disappointment made my throat tight. He didn’t want me. Another rejection. Silence swirled between us again as the night flashed by outside, neon lights flaring in the darkness.
“Megan seemed nice. The two of you look… good together.” My voice cut the silence. It sounded strange and faraway.
“Looks can be deceiving.”
“You were hugging.”
His voice held level. “I was worried about Miri. Megan was comforting me.”
“Are you getting back together with her?”
“You don’t need to be jealous of Megan.”
“That’s what Sean used to say to me. You don’t need to be jealous…”
He frowned but didn’t speak. He was doing that annoying thing where he left a long silence so I’d be the one to spill my guts as usual. Irritation made me stiffen in the chair. Fine. If he wanted me to spill my guts, I’d give him both barrels. I folded my arms and words poured out of me, hot and angry. “You don’t tell me anything. I ask you questions and you change the subject. You won’t let me in, even though I’ve told you every single tiny detail about my life and about the way I’m feeling. I don’t know what this thing is between us. Is it just sex? Do we have to stop now? Is there any way we could ever be together and it would feel okay for you? Because I know you’re going to leave me, and I can’t bear that. I need you too much.”
I clamped my mouth shut, biting my lip until it throbbed like a pulse. Sudden heat pressed behind my eyes. I hadn’t been enough for Sean and now I wasn’t enough for Reece. He’d go back to his ex. I had to end this now before he hurt me.
Reece flexed his fingers around the steering wheel and pressed his lips together.
