Page 58 of Ruin

“Why are you wearing that dress?”

“Seriously? That’s what you want to say to me? If you had bothered to return any of my texts today, you would know exactly why I’m here.”

“You’re here with him, in that dress, to punish me for not answering your texts.”

I let out an incredulous laugh. “You think I went out with him to spite you? You are such a fucking narcissist,” I snap. “And you came here why? To ‘take what’s yours’? Please. All you had to do was answer a fucking text! My dad said he talked to you, and I thought you left me—”

“Bullshit,” Tommy snarls. “Lorenzo has made it no secret that he doesn’t want me around you. If I was going to let that stop me, I wouldn’t have had my dick in your throat the other night.”

My jaw drops and I turn away, looking out over the parking lot, cheeks flaming. “Nice. Very nice. It’s not your dick that I needed today, Tommy. I needed you to just be there for me, and you weren’t. Two fucking days!”

“I called you when I saw that I missed your texts. You didn’t answer.”

I frown and look at my phone. There are six missed calls from Tommy about an hour ago. We were probably in the tunnel. Fuck.

“I missed those,” I say hoarsely. “But that’s not the same as ghosting you for two days, Tommy.”

“Don’t be such a child. I was cleaning up our place, turning my shitty little bachelor pad into something that you would feel comfortable in, and I lost track of time. You know how I am, how sometimes time goes by quicker than I realize when I’m focused. It’s not personal, and it doesn’t mean I’m fucking leaving you.” Tommy’s jaw tics.

“Wait—you were cleaning up ‘our place?’ We don’t have a place together, Tommy. This is what I’m talking about!” Fury erupts in my veins, and I’m suddenly shaking with anger instead of cold.

“When I need something from you—like time and space to think things through, physical intimacy, or my best friend to talk to when my dad threatens to disown me—you can’t give it to me because what you need is more important. Yet somehow I’m the asshole!”

Tommy looks pained. “I was trying to do something nice for you, Gi. You didn’t find me at dinner with another woman.”

I throw my hands up. “No, you were just doing what you wanted. You didn’t even ask me if I wanted to move in with you—and by the way, Tommy, moving in when we haven’t even slept together yet is another fucking example. I wanted to go slow, date, let things progress naturally, but I give you a blow job and suddenly we’re fucking roommates?”

“Don’t do that,” Tommy growls. “What happened with us the other night was so much more than that, and you know it or you wouldn’t care that I missed your texts.”

“That’s what I thought, too! So when my father fucking hit me today and told me he’d disown me if I see you again,I thought my man would help me through it, but you were too busy doing whatyouthought was best for us instead of what I needed.”

“He fucking what?” Tommy’s voice is deadly, and his fists clench.

“You say you want me to be your forever, Tommy, but when I needed you, you weren’t there. You can’t get mad at me when I then have to figure things out on my own.” My voice snags on a sob.

Tommy closes the distance between us, and cups my face. “No, I said youaremy forever. Fuck everything else, baby. I’m here now. Tell me exactly what happened.”

My phone buzzes. It’s Antonio.

Everything okay?

Yes, sorry. Girl drama.

Okay. Let me know if you need me.

Tommy lets his arm fall to his side when he sees who I’m texting. The rain is falling harder now, and I cross my arms over my chest, shivering, as tears pour down my face. He pulls off his hoodie and holds it out to me, and I scoff, shaking my head.

“I have to go, Tommy, and I want you to leave. I am actually here for a reason, and it has nothing to do with fucking anyone else and everything to do with protecting us.”

He shakes his head, clenching his jaw. “You’re not going back in there tohim.”

“I am, Tommy.”

“There’s no fucking way I’m letting you go back in there, Gi. He doesn’t get to touch you—” He reaches out to touch my shoulder strap and I slap his hand away.

“It’s not about that! I need information, and he’s the only one who can give it to me. I don’t have time to explain. Just please, let me do what I have to do.”

“So he can help you figure things out but I can’t?” Tommy snarls. “Are we back to you just wanting to fuck me but be with him?”