“Don’t fucking push me, Hayden,” I yell, infuriated. I’ve never been so angry.
“Or what?”
“Or you’ll find yourself fucking single, that’s what. I am not putting up with your fucking tantrums that have nothing to do with the subject we are even arguing about.”
Slam!
She slams the door in my face, and I lose control and punch it hard. It shudders as it nearly comes off the hinges.
“Hayden. You get out here right now!” I demand.
“Go away,” she yells, and I can hear in her voice that she’s crying.
My heart drops . . . she’s upset.
Adrenaline is pumping through my veins, and I drag my hands through my hair as I try to calm myself down. I begin to pace up and down the hallway.
What the fuck just happened?
6:00 a.m.
I’m beat. Didn’t sleep a wink all night, and I still haven’t seen Hayden.
God knows what the hell she’s doing in there.
I write on a piece of paper and put the note on the table near the front door.
Gone for a run,
Back soon.
Xo
I tiptoe out the door and close it behind me as quietly as I can. I get in the elevator and press the ground-floor button.
I need to see my brothers.
Twenty minutes later, the car pulls up to the curb, and I get out and walk. I pass a newsstand on the street and see that they have postcards. I pick two New York ones up. “I’ll take these, please,” I say to the salesman.
“Sure thing.” He bags them up and hands them over, and I put them into my inside pocket. I’ll send these to Eddie later. I’ve been sending him postcards from all over the world. He collects them.
Eddie would fucking love my apartment.
Speaking of which, I’ll call him now. I dial his number as I walk up the street. “Hi, Mr. Christo,” he answers.
“Hey, little buddy.” I smile. “What’s poppin’？”
“Nothing, on my way to work. Running late.”
I can hear that he’s walking fast.
“How was the flight?”
Infuriating.
“Good, good,” I lie. “What time you working until tonight?”
“Close.”
I roll my eyes. Why the fuck do they put a kid on the closing shift? I’ll never know. I glance at my watch to do a time check. “I’ll let you get to it. I’ll call you tomorrow?”
“Okay, sounds good.”
“It’s good to hear your voice, man.” I smile.
“You too.”
I hang up and cross the street and walk into the café to see Jameson and Tristan sitting at the back, and they both laugh and stand. I smile and almost run to them.
Thank god.
“Hey.” They laugh as they both pull me into a hug. “If it isn’t Romeo himself,” they tease.
I drop into the chair. There are three coffees sitting on the table. They must have been here for a while.
“How was it?” Jameson asks.
“Great, amazing. Incredible.”
Tristan frowns. “So what’s the emergency?”