Chapter 3

The blood drained from my face. I took two quick steps back and put some space between us.

That seemed to snap him out of it. He dropped his eyes, and something strange crossed his face.

"Sorry." He shoved his hair back off his forehead, irritated. "Just don't come here again."

"I don't want her seeing you. I don't want her finding out what we used to be."

"I won't."

It came out fast, and almost light. Nothing like the scratchy voice from a minute ago.

He looked up at me. I gave him the biggest, brightest smile I could manage.

"That was my bad. I crossed a line."

"I won't do it again, Cole. Don't worry."

His fingers twitched. He eyed me, suspicious. "You'd better mean that."

I nodded. No arguing, no explaining. I was quiet and agreeable in a way I'd never been with him, and I could tell it threw him.

Before he went back inside, he turned and gave me a long look.

I didn't look at him. I was already walking away.

For seven years, I'd always stood there smiling, waiting until he was out of sight before I left. Not this time. I left faster than he did. I practically ran.

I didn't turn around, but the bistro's front window was right beside me, and in the glass I saw him still standing at the door, rubbing his fingertips together, frowning like something was bugging him and he couldn't figure out what.

Then a sweet voice called his name from inside. The smile came right back, and he went in to her.

I walked to my car calmly. I drove home calmly. The whole way, I was fine.

Then I pulled into my spot in our parking garage, cut the engine, and the tears I'd been holding back the entire drive came all at once.

My chest hurt so much I could barely breathe.

I clamped a hand over my mouth. I wanted to swallow the sound back down. I didn't want to be this much of a mess.

It didn't help. The sobs squeezed out between my fingers anyway, loud and ugly in the empty garage.

Right then, I finally got it.

This wasn't some sick April Fools' joke. Cole meant it.

He had a new girl now. A new person to protect. And I was the idiot still stuck in the past, waiting for him to come back while everyone watched.

I cried until I couldn't catch my breath. I cried about how stupid I'd been. I cried about seven years.

Then the back window of my car exploded.

Glass burst everywhere, and my crying cut off like somebody had flipped a switch.

Through the blur, I saw a tall, furious-looking man reach in through the broken window, pop the lock, and pull me out of the car.

Rough fingers wiped at my face, clumsy and fast. Then a low voice said, "Stop crying. Your eyes will swell up, and then you'll be mad at yourself about it all day."

I tilted my head back and saw his face. My voice came out hoarse. "Theo?"

Theo Lennox. Cole's oldest friend.

"Aren't you in London? What are you doing here?"

"I was." He was already carrying me toward the elevator. His voice was as cool and even as ever. "Heard you and Cole broke up, so I came back. Your doorman said you'd just pulled in."

"What, you came to laugh at me too?"

"No." He glanced down at me, completely calm. "I came to catch you on the rebound."

That was not what I expected. I looked up at him, stunned. He was dead serious.

"You what?"

He carried me all the way up, set me down by my front door, and knelt in front of me. He wiped the last of the tears off my face before he looked me in the eye.

"Since you two split, a lot of guys are lining up for you."

"I wasn't letting somebody else get there first again. So I got on the first flight out."

"Margot, if you're looking for your next boyfriend, can you put me at the top of the list?"

My head was buzzing. Maybe it was a week of no sleep. Maybe it was everything I'd just let out in the garage. Either way, the world went black and tipped, and I fell forward.

The last thing I saw was Theo's face, panicking.

When I woke up, I was in a hospital bed with an IV in my arm. It was dark outside.

A spoonful of soup was hovering at my lips.

I didn't want it. I turned my head away.

A minute later, the soup had been swapped for a grilled cheese, cut into neat little triangles.

I wasn't hungry. I turned my head the other way.

Above me, he sighed. "If you don't eat, your blood sugar's going to crash and you'll pass out again."

"What do I have to do to make you feel a little better?"

"If I went and beat the hell out of Cole right now, would that help?"

He meant it. He was already getting up.

My head was pounding. I grabbed his arm and pulled him back down.

"It's not about him. I'm just not hungry."

I didn't want anything else to happen because of Cole.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw that look on his face again.

Seven years together. One week apart. That was all it took for Cole to turn me from the woman he loved into an enemy.

He'd walked away so easily, and I was left looking like a joke.

I forced the corners of my mouth up and kept telling myself to let it go. Stop being pathetic. Stop thinking about him. Stop hurting over him. But the ache kept spreading anyway, and all I could taste was something bitter.

I kept my head down. Then something was pushed between my lips.

A piece of candy.

I looked up, dazed. Theo was watching me like it physically hurt him.

The next second, he pulled me into his arms.

"Go ahead and cry," he said above my head.

"Cry this one out, then forget him. He's not worth it."

I pressed my face into his chest. My voice cracked. "I'm not crying. And I'm never crying over Cole again."

My pride had allowed me exactly one breakdown over Cole, and I'd used it up in that garage.

From now on, he could go his way, and I'd go mine.

When the IV bag was empty, Theo drove me home. Neither of us said a word the whole ride.

He walked me up the path to my tower, my hand still wrapped in his.

That was when headlights swept across us. A black car pulled into the drop-off loop right in front of us and stopped.

The driver's door opened, and Cole got out.

He looked at me first. Then his eyes dropped to my hand in Theo's.

And narrowed.