Page 111 of Arranged To Be Mine

“Yeah.” I took another bite of the sandwich because it was easier than looking at them. “So I left. Told her to figure out who she was and call me when she did.”

“And she hasn’t called,” Micah said. It wasn’t a question.

“Nope.”

Drew was quiet for a moment, processing my info dump. “Do you want to be with her?”

“Yeah,” I admitted. “I do.”

“Then why are you sitting here getting wasted instead of fighting for her?”

“Because she doesn’t want me!” The words exploded out of me. “She made that pretty fucking clear. I’m a distraction. A complication. Something that gets in the way of her precious career.”

“Is that what she said?” Callum asked. “Those exact words?”

I thought back, trying to remember through the fog. “Yes. Basically.”

“That’s not the same as saying she doesn’t want you.”

“Close enough.”

“No, it’s not.” Drew leaned forward again. “It sounds like she was scared. Overwhelmed. She’d just had a huge professional moment, found out she missed an important meeting, and was probably spiraling. People say stupid shit when they’re panicking.”

“She called us fake,” I said flatly. “That wasn’t panic. That was her telling me exactly where I stood.”

Micah shook his head. “Or it was her trying to protect herself. Push you away before you could hurt her.”

I stared at him. “Since when are you a relationship expert?”

He smiled. “Grace tried to push me away a dozen times before she finally let me in. Some people, especially people who’ve spent their whole lives building walls, don’t know how to handle it when someone actually gets past them.”

The Darcy that drank beer while eating pizza had been real. I knew she had been. That version of her was something I knew few others got to see. She’d trusted me enough to let me see her all raw and natural.

“So what am I supposed to do?” I asked, hating how defeated I sounded. “Just show up at her door and hope she doesn’t slam it in my face?”

“Basically, yeah.” Callum shrugged. “Look, maybe she tells you to fuck off. Maybe she says she never wants to see you again. At least then you’d know where you stand. You could start actually healing instead of sitting here marinating in whiskey and self-pity.”

“Wow. Thanks for the sympathy.”

“You don’t need sympathy. You need a kick in the ass.” He grabbed the empty plate from my hands. “Right now, all you’re doing is churning up doubts and regrets. That’s not helping anyone, least of all you.”

Drew nodded in agreement. “Go talk to her. Tell her how you feel. If she rejects you, at least you tried. But if you don’t even try, you’ll spend the rest of your life wondering what might have happened.”

“You’re blowing up your whole life over what might have been a simple bad day,” Micah said. “You’re fucking up your career. I heard one of my actors talking about how his lawyer bailed on him. You. You’re the lawyer that bailed. People talk. Do you really want to destroy your career over this?”

I wanted to argue. They didn’t understand. But the truth was, they understood better than I probably did. They’d all been through their own version of this. They’d all found their way to the other side.

“I’ll think about it,” I said finally.

“Good.” Micah stood up, stretching. “Now drink some water, take a shower, and go to bed. You stink. I thought it was the house, but it’s you.”

“You’re a dick.”

“I’m honest. Seriously, you’ve got some funk.”

They stayed for another hour, making sure I drank enough water to offset some of the alcohol, forcing me to eat another sandwich. When they finally left, Callum paused at the door.

“For what it’s worth,” he said, “I think she’s into you. She just doesn’t know how to handle it yet.”