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“Hayden?”

Reid’s voice was an instant anchor, tugging me back from the storm of currents throwing this way and that.

“Reid, I need to talk to you,” I croaked, my throat thick with emotion. “Please.”

“I’ll be there in ten minutes, honey,” she said. “Can you wait for me?”

I nodded before remembering she couldn’t see me. “Yeah, I’m at my house. Not in the city.”

“That’s okay, I’ll be there soon, okay?”

I clung to those words, hoping the seconds that separated Reid and me would slip away like water sprinting down a window in the rain.

Hoping I wouldn’t fall to pieces before Reid got here.

Chapter twenty-three

Three Steps Back

Frankie

Thenextfewdayswere…

Hard.

I dragged an invisible weight with me wherever I went, my back bowed under the force of rejection.

Hayden had done more than just reject me.

She’dusedme.

And then told me I was nothing special.

“Are you sure you’re doing okay?”

I glanced up, forgetting for a moment that Nikkie had asked the same question no less than five times.

“Great, yeah,” I muttered, turning back to the shelf I was stocking.

Anything to keep my thoughts from spiraling.

“Right, and I’m the king of Fairyland,” she scoffed, grabbing me by the shoulder and turning me to face her. She plucked the last few cans out of my arms and set them down.

“You would be,” I muttered, trying to reach around her to take the cans back. She stepped in front of me, blocking my way. “Nikkie, please let me do my job.”

“Where’s Vanessa?” she countered, ignoring my half-plea entirely.

“She had stuff to do.” I sighed. “And I needed something to do with my hands.”

“Frankie, what’s going on?” she pressed, but I didn’t want to tell her.

Shame bubbled in my gut, hot and uncomfortable. “Just… didn’t sleep well, I guess.”

“So your solution was picking up more shifts?”

I narrowed my eyes at her and she smirked.

“That’s right, I called June,” she said haughtily. “She told me you’d offered to cover for her while she’s planning for the wedding.”