“And here you are, being happy about that,” Steven said drily. “Being ‘fine.’”
He shrugged. “I never said I was fine with it. I said it was over, and that’s fine. There’s a difference.”
“She’s as miserable as you are,” he offered. “If that changes anything.”
“It doesn’t,” he said, his throat thickening with some unnamed emotion he preferred to ignore, thank you very fucking much. “She doesn’t love me, and she’s better off without me in her life. End of story. Drop it.”
Steven cocked a brow. Mark kind of wanted to punch him. “If you say so, man.”
The door swung open, and two cops came in.
Mark stiffened because, sure enough, one of them had curly, long red hair. “Fuck me.”
Daisy came running in, her face etched with concern. She scanned the room until she saw him next to Steven, and then pressed a hand to her chest, the relief she felt at seeing him standing on his own two feet quite tangible.
He knew that feeling all too well.
He’d experienced it in the street…right before he broke up with her.
She locked eyes with him, face pale, and it felt like the knife that had been sticking out of his chest twisted painfully to the left. Her hair was down, and it was a little frizzy. There were big bags under her eyes, like she hadn’t been sleeping well, and she looked like she just saw a ghost. She was more beautiful than words could describe.
It hurt to see her.
Physically fucking hurt.
“Tell me, Matthews.” Steven leaned in, lowering his head so no one else could hear him. “Does that look like someone who doesn’t love you?”
Mark stiffened, shoving his hands in his pockets because if he didn’t, he might rush across the room, grab her, shake her, kiss her, toss her over his shoulder, carry her home, and never let her go. He might try again to ignore all the reasons they didn’t make sense, and that wasn’t fair. Or smart. And yet…
Tim nudged her, and she broke off eye contact. Mark lowered his head, rubbing the back of his neck, and turned to Steven. “If we have to pair off, go with her, and I’ll go with Tim. Please. I can’t be trusted to be alone with her right now.”
He arched a brow. “Sure, man. Whatever you say.”
“Thank you,” Mark said, a little surprised at the immediate agreement from the other man. Maybe Steven wasn’t as bad as he thought.
The pair approached.
They stopped directly in front of them, and her familiar perfume washed over him. Without warning, one of the nights she’d spent at his place popped in his head. They’d just made love, and he had his face buried in her hair as they attempted to fall asleep. He’d breathed in deep and commented on how good she smelled.
She’d shyly told him it was a scent she made herself at a store.
They’d kissed an
d fallen asleep wrapped in each other’s arms.
That unwanted memory hurt even more than letting her go had.
“Are you guys okay?” Tim asked, his voice low. “Anyone hurt?”
Steven shook his head. “We’re fine. Right, Mark?”
Mark nodded, but didn’t speak.
He was too busy trying not to look at Daisy.
Two more cops bent and helped the suspect to his feet, carting him off.
Tim cleared his throat. “We’re going to need to take your statements. Separately. One of you will come with me, one of you will go with Officer O’Rourke. Mark, can you please—?”