Page 99 of Crash and Burn

"It's just so hard," I said. "Seeing him every day, having it rubbed in my face what he did... I don't know how much longer I can do it," I confessed to her.

As if saying the words out loud had summoned him, I heard Grant shouting my name from across the room, sounding alarmed.

"LIZ!"

I turned to find him making a beeline straight toward me.

Jessie took a casual sip of her Champagne.

“I’ll leave you to it,” she said. "Stay strong."

"Jessie—!" Before I could protest she'd already taken off, leaving me alone when Grant finally stopped in front of me. I took my own flustered sip of Champagne to compose myself.

"You're leaving?" he asked, eyes wide and slightly breathlessly from his quick sprint.

"I'll stay for the whole show," I told him, confused. "Why, is there something happening later on?"

"You're leaving Sin and Tonic?" he clarified, his tone tinged with panic.

I frowned.

"Where did you hear that?" I asked.

"I overheard Mason telling Evan you were thinking of leaving," Grant said in a rush. "Going back to school or something. Becoming a paralegal like your mother wanted."

I crossed my arms over my chest defensively, nearly sloshing my drink all over myself.

"What does it matter to you?" I asked.

His jaw twitched and I had to wonder how tightly he was clenching his teeth.

"So it's true?" he asked. "You can't—" He stopped short and ran a frustrated hand through the hair at the back of his head. He met my eyes head on, unwavering. "You can't leave."

"Why the hell not?" I replied, getting testy now.

"Because you— I—" His breath caught.

"Use your words, Grant," I snapped. "If there's a reason why you don't want me to leave Sin and Tonic, then just tell me."

"I don't want to lose you," he said.

My eyes narrowed. As much as I had given lip service to Jessie about wanting to heal and move on, the anger inside me was still fresh.

"You already lost me," I shot back. "You choose that Alana girl over me. Remember?"

His eyes burned with desperation.

“I left her,” he blurted out. “I told her a few days ago I couldn’t be with her. I kept trying to tell you, but you didn’t want to talk to me.”

My eyes went wide.

I hadn’t known that. I wanted to ask why. I wanted to know what had happened.

But did it matter in the end? He may have broken up with her now, but he’d broken up with me in the first place.

"You don't get to have a say in what I do anymore,” I said. “If I want to quit my job and do something else that's my decision."

Grant stared at me, as if in disbelief.