Page 89 of Fallen Rook

Utter silence resounded on the other end.

Groaning, I massaged my eyelids. “But I guess I do now.”

“Oh my God, it’s gonna take me forever to catch you up on Love is Blind. We need to start tonight.”

I didn’t know if he was laughing with me or at me. But I was certain I was too ass-whipped to actually negotiate a better situation for myself.

“Anyway,” he carried on. “All those things still don’t mean we’re boyfriends, just that we’re getting along.”

“We can’t stay away from each other.”

“We stayed away from each other for two whole weeks just fine,” he countered.

I tossed my head to the pillow and pinched the bridge of my nose. “Why are you doing this?”

“Getting back at you for all the times you made me chase your grumpy ass, mainly,” he singsonged.

“Do you want to be together?”

He swallowed audibly. “I think so.”

Fuck. We were not in the same headspace. I didn’t think I wanted to be with him. I knew. In fact, my brain had very little to do with that decision. It was another organ that led the way.

“And do you want to be exclusive?” A lump the size of Ohio lodged itself in my throat.

“Fuck yes. Hands off my man.” He chuckled. “So…you finally admit to stalking my Instagram?”

“You had no business flirting with that fuckboy,” I growled, fresh anger drowning all my senses.

“Relax, I didn’t even answer his DM.”

“So who the fuck is Chris?”

“Some made-up dude I conjured on the spot to make you mad,” he purred. “I knew it was you. No one is unhinged enough to call me so late at night.”

I sat back against my pillow and took a ragged breath. Oxygen hit the bottom of my lungs for the first time in two weeks.

“Where are you, anyway?” Enzo asked. “That it’ll take you an hour to get here?”

At the mention of my coming to him, I sprang into action and started putting my clothes on. I’d come up with an excuse for my hasty departure tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow, I’d do a lot of things.

But tonight, I’d have Enzo.

“Staten Island. Stayed with my grams a bit.” I shoved my bare feet into my shoes.

“Oh. Is she okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. I just needed some time away from the city. Listen…” I was already stumbling down the hallway, fumbling with my keys, leaving the duffel bag with my stuff behind. “I’ll be there in about fifty minutes.”

“Sounds good.”

“But…”

“Yeah?”

“Stay on the phone with me while I drive.” That was when I realized I was using a landline. It forced me to hang up on him for the duration of seventeen seconds, which I found abnormally and disgustingly difficult to endure. I went back to the guest room, grabbed my old phone I’d never bothered trading when I got a new one, and pushed out into the crisp winter air of the night. I called him again as I unlocked my car and slipped inside.