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“You gotta relax. The shit you said? That was seriously fucked up, brother. Just give her time. She’ll come around. Piper isn’t like this. She’ll call you, and shit will get straightened out,” Eli put in.

Eli didn’t know. He hadn’t seen her face when she’d told me that we were a mistake. Or when she’d handed me back my ring and just let it drop between us like it meant nothin’.

After Piper shredded me, Kase had to drag me away. I kept hopin’ she’d throw open the door and laugh as she explained it was all just a really fuckin’ bad joke.

I believed her every time she’d told me she loved me. That she needed me. That she’d never leave me.

I could tell, from a fuckin’ mile away, which women were connivin’ and tryin’ to blind me with biker bitch snatch like I was fuckin’ dumb. They wanted to use me for my money, my name, my dick.

But that wasn’t Piper.

She’d never been an act. She wanted and loved me for me.

Didn’t she?

Fuck.

“Dude, you gotta chill. All the pacing is making me dizzy.” Kase pulled out a bottle of scotch and some glasses from the bottom drawer of my desk.

I kept it in there for bad days.

And since Piper came into your life, how many days have you had to dip into it? How many nights have you worked yourself to exhaustion and then drank yourself to oblivion before crashin’ on the couch in the break room?

Yeah, that’s what you have to look forward to again.

I stared at the dark amber liquid in the heavy tumbler. Liftin’ it, I side armed it at the wall and watched the light reflect off it as it exploded into worthlessness.

As incredibly expensive scotch dripped down the wall and soaked into the carpet, I knew I had to go.

“I gotta get the fuck outta here,” I growled, reaching for the door as Kase blocked it.

“Give it time. Nothing good will come from you going over there when emotions are so high.”

“It’s not that. Okay, it’s notjustthat. I’ve gotta get outtahere.” The whole place smelled like her. Her fuckin’ pictures were coverin’ the wall. All I could think about was the shit we’d done on the desk, what she’d done under it… “I can’t fuckin’ breathe. I won’t go to her. I just gotta get out of here.”

Kase moved, allowin’ me to throw the door open.

I started for the garage when I turned towards the break room.

No, Piper’s kitchen.

I’d often make any excuse to come back here and watch silently from the doorway while she baked, shakin’ her ass and singin’ louder than she realized. Sometimes she’d be curled up on the couch with her legs tucked under her as she sketched a design. Her focus was so intense that she didn’t notice me starin’, astonished all over again that she was mine.

Or so she’d said.

A roar left me as I stalked into the break room. Grabbin’ anythin’ I could, I threw it, breakin’ it like she broke me. I reached out to snatch up the next thing, only to come up empty-handed.

As I stood in the middle of the destruction, I saw my life without Piper.

An empty fuckin’ mess.

“Uh, sorry to interrupt.”

I glanced to the doorway and saw Rachel.

“Hey. I just…” She looked around, her lips tipping up slightly. “Have you seen Chloe? She isn’t returning any of my texts or calls. I thought maybe you might know.”

“I’ve got no fuckin’ clue.”