That made Dex’s head snap up and meet his buddy’s eyes. “She did?”
“Yep. And when you weren’t there, she went back inside and gave her parents an earful in your defense.”
Dex stopped mid-stride and stood on the sidewalk. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m saying that you’re a dick. If you want, I can spell it slowly for you. D-I-C—”
“I mean about Michelle.”
“Well, I don’t know if you deserve to know, considering how you treated her.”
“How I treated her?” Christ, East was as bad as the women he hung out with. He knew all the ins and outs of his damn friends. But that didn’t make him an expert. Certainly not more of an expert on Dex than Dex was on himself. Yet here East was claiming he knew something Dex had completely missed.
Any other day, he would have told his friend where to stick his insight.
But Dex already knew East was on to something. Because deep down, he’d known he’d made a mistake with Michelle ever since she’d left last night. Hearing East say something only confirmed it.
“Her dad was ready to pay me for my services,” Dex said. “Do you know what that would make me?”
“Yeah, stupid. Because you know that’s not what Michelle wanted you for.”
“Oh, yeah?” Dex said, getting it all out there and hearing how wrong it all sounded with every word. “She wanted a good time. That’s it. She never had a claim on me, and I never had a claim on her.”
“Because you never made one,” East said.
Yeah. Wasn’t that the hell of it?
“We’re too different. From different worlds,” Dex said. “And she wants independence more than anything.” So taking him on as her boyfriend or any kind of commitment wasn’t likely. “Even if she does have feelings for me. Me pulling for her would just make her afraid all over again. Might even make her feel like a failure when she needs to know she’s anything but.”
East shook his head. “You’re too busy buying into your own bullshit to see that those worlds could co-exist if you wanted. Did you give her a chance to claim you? Give her a reason to? Did you offer more than your ‘good-time Dex’ sense of humor?”
No, he hadn’t. To any of that. But she’d come after him, tried to explain, and he’d shut her out. Because he’d assumed she was like the others. And he’d made that assumption from the beginning. He’d acknowledged and then igno
red all of the signs that proved she wasn’t like the other women. The signs that proved how right she was for him. The signs that proved…
“I love her,” he said. Maybe at first sight—maybe at first glare more like it. And he’d blown it. He’d seen how her face fell when her parents talked over her. They’d treated her that way her entire life, and she still had the courage to leave them and try to be something different. Something better.
He knew firsthand how hard she’d been working to gain her independence and a stronger sense of self. He’d just barged in and blindsided her. What was worse, he should have understood, because he knew what it was like to live a life based on expectations—how people expected you to be something so small that you never tried to be anything more.
Apparently East could see Dex was putting shit together, because he was smiling. “You know what you could do to really show her you won’t do anything to compromise her independence?”
“What’s that?” Dex said.
“Give her the chance to choose you. Or to reject you. Let her know she has the power. You’ll love her either way.”
His friend was right. Whether she still wanted him or not, he had to tell her the truth. He had to tell her that he loved her. That he believed in her. That she couldn’t give up on herself, not when she was so close. And, though he didn’t dare dream she’d say yes, that he hoped she wouldn’t give up on them, either.
“Can you start without me?” he asked East. “I need to make a call.”
East patted his shoulder. “You better be a hell of a groveler.”
East went inside the classroom, and Dex dialed Michelle.
It went straight to voicemail. “Michelle, we need to talk. I’m sorry. I’ll be back tomorrow.” He paused, gathering his courage. “I’m coming for you.”
First, he had to finish this damn class.
He shoved his phone in his pocket and stomped into the classroom. He put down his pack on the front of the table and glanced at the crowd. Maybe twenty people were there. He didn’t look too hard, just turned his back and started writing on the whiteboard. The sooner he ended this stupid training, the sooner he could get to Michelle.