Sweet Taboo

He chuckled and shook his head. “You think so? You’re strong, fierce, and driven. You seem every bit the woman I loved.”

I swallowed hard at his choice of words. Loved. Past tense. And my eyes watered up when he described me. DeSean thought I was strong. I blinked a few times to hold back the tears. I took a few deep breaths, hoping they would calm me down.

“Can we talk?” he asked sadly as he stared into my eyes.

This was what I wanted and feared all at once. I’d struggled too hard to get out of a bad situation with Trent. I had some kind of crazed stalker. I couldn’t do anything to worsen my situation, no matter how badly I wanted to be close to D. “Are you still married?” I countered.

His head hung. “Yeah. I am.”

I stood and gathered up my things. “Then no.” I took a few steps before whipping around for one final shot. “Oh, and it looks like you haven’t changed at all either.” Refusing to give him a chance to respond, I strode to the door.

Footsteps followed me. I sped up. Soon, he was practically chasing me to my car. “Tegyn,” he begged. “Will you just hear me out?”

I froze beside the driver’s door. There were only two other cars in the parking lot. With a quick glance, I realized both were occupied and everyone was staring at us. “I can’t do this right now. Not with an audience.” I sighed. “I wouldn’t do this at all, but I have to take this class. And I think I could actually learn from you.”

His brow furrowed. “What’s wrong, baby?”

I shook my head. “Not now.”

“Can I call?” He reached for me, but I stepped back.

I considered it for a split second, then I remembered how his voice affected me. “No. Text.”

A horn sounded. For the first time, DeSean took his eyes off me and scanned the area. His eyes narrowed and his hands fisted at his sides. “Good. I’ll text.” He huffed. “I gotta go.”

As I unlocked my door with the key fob and settled in behind the steering wheel, I saw him stalking over to a black car. The window lowered a crack, but I couldn’t really see who was inside, other than realizing it was a woman. Did I really want to know? I closed my eyes. Watching meant I cared, and I couldn’t right now. Maybe not ever. With a sigh, I started the car, backed out of the spot, and made my way to the road.

In my rearview mirror, I could see D glance up from talking to her to watch me drive away. His shoulders slumped while I tried to choke back tears.