“I can’t fight alone, Dad. She’s in charge of her personal growth. I told her exactly how I felt.”
“Right before you broke up with and blocked her,” his mom retorted.
Dex raised a brow at Nick for telling their parents everything. Nick shrugged. “She’s been at my house every day for the last two months looking like someone stole her favorite toy.”
“Yeah, it moved to California.” That is exactly what Dex felt like, her toy. “What else do y’all want to talk about?”
“There’s that avoidance again. Look, I don’t know if you two were meant to be or not. I’m just saying you cannot figure that out in another state, especially if you’ve blocked her out of your life. Don’t you think the fact that she noticed she’s blocked means something?” his mom volleyed.
“If she is at Kalilah’s place every day, she’s not out learning about herself. If she was trying that hard to find me, she could virtually use any phone at her disposal. I’ve only blocked her phone number. Besides, I’ll be flying to Houston this afternoon.” They all looked at him with surprise coloring their faces. “According to my calendar, tomorrow is Kalilah’s due date, and I plan on being close by when my nephew jumps out of her body.”
Nick chuckled. “Of course, you’d have her due date in your calendar. I’m surprised you’re not trying to be in the delivery room. How can you like one sister and hate the other?”
Dex shook his head. “I adore one sister and am in love with the other. I just can’t do anything about how she feels about me. Adios.”
Dex disconnected the call before any of them could respond. They meant well, but this was not his shit show to fix. He drew his line in the sand, and not once did she try to cross it. He was not completely unreasonable, and for that reason, he unblocked her on everything. Not that he thought it would make a difference. He just wanted to prove to his family that he’d at least heard their bullshit.
Cayla lay in bed staring at the ceiling. After the initial two weeks of moping, she’d been on a self-discovery kick. Anything, to deal with the deep-seated pang of regret. No, pang wasn’t bad enough. It’s too brief, plus what she felt wasn’t sharp or acute. It was a full body ache. An all-consuming hurt deep in her soul that didn’t let her see sunlight. She was broken. Shards of who she was were spread out along the miles stretching between Los Angeles and Houston, like ashes of a loved one never to be found or glued back together again. Now, two months later, it was still hard to breathe.
She had to rebuild herself since what she thought she knew was not equipped enough to avoid this self-inflicted fifty caliber shot to the left side of her chest. He’d planned to propose. Her eyes watered again; apparently, two months of crying wasn’t enough to stop the tears. Damn her and her impeccable hydration practices.
When she’d returned, she’d avoided Felix just to save herself from the well-deserved steaming pile of “I told you so” followed by the lovely taste of crow for dessert. However, she’d forgotten that happy wasn’t always Nick’s natural state. She’d forgotten about the snippy man with no filter who always hung around waiting to get tagged back into the ring.
She’d also forgotten that the Sinclair siblings went out of their way to have conference calls. She did not expect that when she’d climbed out of bed after her two-week long mope fest that seeing her would ring a bell in Nick’s head, and the asshole would tap in again.
But when he’d opened the door and the usually jovial eyes turned thunderstorm gray complete with the lightening and everything, Cayla knew she was about to be put through a verbal wringer.
“In my office, now!” he’d growled. His posture and tone left no room for argument.
Kalilah tried to intervene, but Nick shut her down, and Cayla would swear on a stack of bibles that his aggression had turned Kalilah all the way on.
He dug into her the moment the door closed. “What in the fuck is your problem, Cayla?” he raged. “How could you give me shit when I tried to date your sister just to turn around and mistreat my brother?”
His arm muscles bulged when he crossed his arms over his MIT shirt. Cayla was emotionally drained and didn’t think she had the strength to fight with Nick. Luckily, Nick and Dex looked different enough for her to not feel like she was being yelled at by Dex. Although, Dex yelling would be a better alternative to silence. He’d blocked her on everything.
“I didn’t mistreat, Dex,” she whispered.
“Then what in the hell would you call what you did to him? Why else would have b
een told to make arrangements to send his shit to California?”
Cayla shot up to her feet. The room felt too small. Dex didn’t plan to come back to Houston? That knowledge added a brand-new layer of fertilizer to the shit she’d already felt like. How could he tell her he loved her in the middle of kicking her out of his life?
“I only said I wasn’t his girlfriend…”
“No, you denied being his girlfriend then scolded him for thinking it was possible. In a formal setting to boot. What in the hell were you thinking? And why would you not think you were his girl?”
“Because I wasn’t!” Cayla vexation was returning. “We’d never discussed it.”
“Fine. Tell me what the fuck you thought you two were. I’ll wait.”
Did he just Katt Williams her? Cayla eased back in the chair; she didn’t have an answer. Friends wasn’t the right word, friends with benefits downplayed their connection. “Lovers?”
“Get the fuck off the bullshit. You need to take ownership of your crap sometimes. You had sex with him, cared about his feelings and opinions, went on a getaway together, and was invited to be his plus one at the biggest event of his career to date. You were his girlfriend. Don’t tell me about the lack of a damn conversation like y’all are children. Did you want him to pass you a note and ask you to check “yes” or “no”? Or did you want to him ask you to go steady? Didn’t he do a shit ton more than the last idiot who called you his girlfriend?”
Cayla turned red like she was allergic to his words. “Nick, I’ve been over this enough in my own head.”
“No, you haven’t because you keep coming up with the same shit. There is a reason why you decided to disown him at that moment. Own it. There is a reason why you are still hiding behind the same stock answers. Own it. And there is a reason why you look like a pale, disheveled version of your usual self since he sent you back to Texas. That’s the part you really need to own. No one is this lost without a non-boyfriend lover who meant nothing beyond sex. Own your fucking shit, and stop playing with my brother’s emotions. Am I clear?” Dex said that to her once before.