Smiling, I say, “Baby, you look gorgeous.”
“Thank you,” she says softly as she drums her fingers on her phone.
“Not trying to say that you need to go anywhere to look like that, but . . . do you have plans or something?”
She nods. “Going out to dinner.”
“Yeah?” I walk up to her. “Need me to go get dressed quick?”
Looking away, she shakes her head. “No, I’m, uh, I’m going with someone else.”
I’m about to take a seat next to her when I pause mid-stride toward the couch. “With someone else? What do you mean by that?”
“Just a friend,” she says, clarifying.
“Oh . . . okay.”
But she continues to avoid eye contact, which unnerves me. After her confession last night, things have felt tense. She’s been very quiet and not her normal, bubbly self. We haven’t fought, and she didn’t even attempt to have sex with me this morning like she always does. Sure, it put me on alert because that didn’t seem normal, but before I left for the gym, she walked up to me, completely naked, and dropped to the floor, pulling my shorts down with her. She held me against the wall and sucked me off, not letting me pull away but instead making me come in her mouth. Afterward, I lay her across the couch, spread her legs, and propped them up, only to dive my head between them. I played with her nipples and watched her come all over my tongue until she was completely satisfied. I reveled in having the taste of her on my tongue all goddamn day.
But after, her texts were short.
Her communication was vague.
And now, well . . . now, it seems like she’s avoiding me.
There’s a knock on the door, and before she can get up, I say, “I’ll get it.”
“Eli, it’s fine, I can,” she answers as she struggles slightly to get up.
But it’s too late. I’m at the door before her. I open it, and the minute I see the bouquet held by the man I absolutely despise, my vision turns completely red.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I ask.
Remi smirks at me. “Hornsby, I should be asking you the same thing. Isn’t this where Penny Lawes lives?”
“It’s where we both fucking live,” I seethe.
Penny’s hand touches my back as she moves to the side of me. Remi’s eyes go to her stomach, widen, and then he looks back up at us. “Well, looks like we have some catching up to do.” He chuckles and hands her the flowers. Before she can take them, I swipe them out of his hand and toss them on the floor behind me.
“Eli,” Penny scolds, but I don’t care.
I turn toward her and say, “You’re not going out with this motherfucker.”
Her eyes narrow on me. “Eli, that is not your decision to make.”
“The fuck it’s not. You live with me, Penny. We’re having a baby together. That is very much my decision to make.”
“I live with you because we’re having a baby together, and we’re having a baby together because of one drunken night. You have made that quite clear that that’s all we are.”
I can feel Remi’s eyes on me as he listens. “We’re more than that.”
“Are we?”
“Yes,” I say, pulling on my hair. “And to hell if you’re going out with him.”
“I’m not going out with him. We’re catching up because we’re friends and he’s in town. It’s that simple.” She steps forward, and I grab her hand.
When her eyes meet mine, I quietly say, “Don’t do this, Penny. Don’t do this to me.”
Her eyes search mine, and for a second, I think she’s going to stay with me. Then she says, “I’m not doing anything to you, Eli. You need to own your own reaction, here, that’s all.” And then she snaps her hand from mine and walks out of the apartment with Remi at her side.
Eli: She hasn’t come back yet. It’s been two fucking hours, and she’s not home.
Posey: I don’t know what you want me to say.
Eli: Tell me what the fuck she’s doing.
Posey: Surprisingly, I don’t have a homing device hooked up to her leg.
Eli: Don’t be a fucking dick.
Posey: Well, what the hell am I supposed to say? Am I supposed to feel bad for you? Because I don’t. She told you several times how she felt, and you did nothing. This is on you.
Eli: I know . . . I know it is. But I don’t know how to fix it.
Posey: Seems pretty easy to me. She told you she wants to be your girlfriend. She wants to be loved. The writing is on the wall.