Page 21
When?
Laney:
So now you’re ignoring my messages?
My thumbs flew over the screen, my reply coming faster than my mind could manage. Anger sat heavily in my gut as I typed out my explanation. When I paused to remember exactly what happened and what was said, I inadvertently gave myself enough time to slow down. This wasn’t what I wanted. I had an inkling he might feel similarly, but after having spent a few months getting to know Delaney, I came to realize that he was too stubborn to say what he wanted the first time.
I dialed his number, reminding myself of the intention behind the phone call.
He answered snappily. “What do you want?”
A heavy wariness wrapped around my voice. “Why are you picking a fight with me, Laney?”
As expected, he denied it. “I’m not.”
Sighing softly, I refuted Delaney’s claim. “But you are. We haven’t spoken to each other in a few days, and this is how you decide to initiate a conversation?”
“Whose fault is it that we haven’t spoken in days?”
Instead of going round and round, I simply replied, “I don’t want to fight with you.”
“No one is fighting!” he argued.
“Then what is wrong with you?” I bit back, my patience wearing thin.
Delaney sounded absolutely petulant when he responded. “You. You’re what’s wrong with me.”
Settling back on the couch, I dragged my hand over my hair, pulling my curls out of my eyes. Weight sat on my chest, making it difficult for me to catch my breath. “Look, I’m sorry I didn’t call for a couple of days.” As I explained, I stumbled over my words. “It was—I had—”
“Listen to me because I’m probably not going to say this again. At least not outside of a heat cycle.”
“You’re in heat?” I mumbled, “No wonder.”
“I’m going to pretend like I didn’t hear that, which is definitely in your best interest.”
“I’m listening…” I trailed off.
“Ican’tstopthinkingaboutyou.”
The weight on my chest evaporated. I sat up, my brows pinching together. “Huh? Slow down. I can’t understand you.”
Delaney inhaled deeply and, on the exhale, slowly repeated himself. “I can’t stop thinking about you, Eli.”
My smile was bright and exceptionally loud. “I understood you the first time. I just wanted to make sure I understood you correctly the first time.”
“You’re an asshole,” he griped.
The voluntary revelation, while shocking, did for me what days of deep breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, and journaling couldn’t, making the pit my family pushed me into easier to climb out of. I tried to stifle my laughter, but it bled into my voice. “You like me, though.”
“Maybe,” Delaney admitted. My shock turned into something tender, something gentle when he murmured “I miss you” in a soft voice.
Truthfully, I wasn’t sure where I stood with him. I could make the case that he felt something towards me, based on the amount of time we’d spent together, and our physical chemistry, but I knew that not everyone held sex in the same regard that I did. Hell, there were occasions when sex meant nothing to me other than the opportunity to get off with an attractive person. I couldn’t read into behaviors that I didn’t always read into for myself. Hearing that he missed me gave me a bit of certainty that maybe I wasn’t in this by myself. “I miss you, Laney.”
His swallow was audible. “Eli?”
The way he said my name pulled my stomach muscles taut, my pulse quickening. “Yeah?”
“Can you come over?”
