Page 34 of Wounded Soul
Bastard.
He scrubbed his hands over his face and sighed.
That was that then.
Reaching over to the bedside cabinet for his phone, Ian’s heart leapt when he saw a message waiting for him.
From Jesse.
Guilt at misjudging him started to creep in, but it stopped abruptly as Ian opened the message and started to read.
Hey, sorry for leaving without waking you, but I think it’s better all around if I do this without having to look at you naked. I can’t see you again, can’t be with you like the last two times. Circumstances dictate that things can’t go any further between us, and it’s safer for us both if we stop it now before anyone gets too involved and hurt. Goodbye Ian.
Ian read the message a couple more times, then sat staring at his phone. Was it just him or was it a weird message to leave? Even though he’d thought he deserved an explanation for Jesse’s abrupt departure, the text itself just struck him as odd. Wordy, maybe? It made Ian feel that there’d been more between them than just sex, and that by Jesse ending it now, he was missing out on something great. Not a feeling he enjoyed, and it pissed him off that Jesse had caused that. Setting his phone down on the bed, he blew out a breath.
Fuck Jesse.
And fuck his ridiculous texts.Circumstances dictate. Who the hell talked like that?
For lack of anything better to do, Ian snatched his phone back up and texted Cate.
Hey, you awake?
The reply came back quicker than he was expecting.Well I am now, you arse. Some of us worked till late last night, remember?
Checking the time, Ian winced. It felt much later than ten past eight.
Shit, sorry. Didn’t realise the time.
You alone?
Yes, why?
Ian’s phone rang a second later, and Cate’s sleepy voice greeted him when he answered. “Why are you up so bloody early? I’m pretty sure you got less sleep than me last night.”
His sigh clearly gave everything away, because she didn’t even wait for him to answer. “Didn’t go well last night? From where I was standing, the two of you looked—”
“Last night was fine. Fantastic even. It’s this morning that sucks.”
“Oh.” Silence. Then, “He left without waking you?”
“Yep.” The whole thing still stung. “Then I got a text telling me... well, I’ll read it to you.” He put her on speaker, scrolled through for the message, and read it aloud. It sounded even more uptight when read like that.
“Wow. He sounds like an old romance novel where the hero has some deep dark secret that means he has to leave his love in the dead of night or they’ll both die.”
Ian barked out a laugh, smiling for the first time that morning. “I was going for weird. What the hell have you been reading lately?”
“Awesome books, which you with your narrow mind and lack of imagination would never appreciate.”
“Mhmm. Whatever.” He had imagination. “And I’m not narrow-minded.”
Now Cate laughed. “Yeah, I know, but you do lack the required mindset to appreciate the literary excellence of my fantasy books. Anyway, back to Jesse.” She sighed down the phone, sounding like Ian felt. “It is a weird message to send, but he struck me as a little eccentric for someone so young. Maybe he just likes to use a lot of words.”
“Maybe.” Not that it mattered, and he said as much. “The end result is, I won’t be seeing him again.”
“Huh.”
Ian frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
