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2
Five
Conner
Declan was goneby eight o’clock, leaving without so much as a see you later. With him gone, Tess and I managed to push our way through more than half of the trucks before noon, neither one of us wanting to drag it out any longer than necessary. Regardless, if Tess doesn’t eat every couple of hours, she gets shitty, so I sent her to grab some food, so I won’t want to string her up by the end of the day.
Tossing my phone onto my desk I sit back in my chair and stare at my computer screen.
Thank you.
What the fuck does that mean?
Thank you for offering to pick me up and going with me to look for my drunk dad.
Thank you for fucking me.
Thank you for making me come so hard I lost feeling in my lower extremities.
I have no idea, so instead of trying to figure it out, I let it go.
And she’s not busy either.
It’s her lunch break. She’s sitting at her desk, picking her way through a Caesar chicken salad and playing Mahjong Titans on her computer.
Okay, so I might’ve hacked into the library’s surveillance system.
And installed spyware on her computer camera.
Don’t judge me.
It’s a well-established fact that I’m a stalker. I’m also a manipulative bastard, a condescending asshole and an unrepentant manwhore.
And a pathetic shitsack.
Let’s not forget that one.
Truth is, I don’t know why I did it. I told myself it was because I promised Ryan I’d look out for her and even though I’m the human equivalent of a dumpster fire, I keep my promises. That’s what I told myself when I hacked the library mainframe at 5AM but lying to myself is one of my favorite things to do, so who really knows for sure.
Like I said, introspection isn’t really something I like to indulge in.
Besides, it’s not like I’ve spent hours sitting here, watching her. I might be a pathetic shitsack, but I haven’t tipped into full-blown Declan territory.
Not yet anyway.
I can see her staring at her phone, trying to figure out what I want. Why I’m bothering her. It makes me angry because she started this whole fucking thing, not me. I’m not the one who waltzed in on designer heels, dripping in diamonds, and with the crook of a finger, started unraveling her goddamned life.
I was fine.
I was fucking fine.
Living my life.
Okay, so things weren’t all unicorns and lollipops, but I had it handled.
I had Tess. My family. My books. A few down and dirty tricks to keep myself sane. I didn’t need anything else. I’d learned to function without her.
And she destroyed it all in the time it took her to say three simple words.