“Pepper Sinclair?”

“Yes.” I poked her shoulder. “Thass her. How did you know?”

“She’s on his client list on the agency website.” Her lips turned up in a wicked smile. “I’m going to bury these two.”

Something in the back of my mind told me that maybe I should tell Cara not to. That if Grace were around, she probably would. But Grace wasn’t around, and I was really drunk. And hell, I wanted Cara to bury that fucker for what he did to Skylar.

So I smiled back. “Get ’em, tiger.”

“Don’t you worry about a thing.” She put away her phone and had to steady herself on the bar again. Apparently she wasn’t that sober. “I’ll make him pay.”

I stumbled off my stool. “I should go home. My kitten needs me.”

“Let me get you a ride.”

“No.” I waved my hand and almost knocked myself over. “I’ll just walk. Iss not far.”

“Gavin—”

I started toward the door. “I’m fine. I’m always fine. I’ve got this.”

25

Skylar

The blank screen mocked me with its emptiness. I didn’t know why I was sitting at my desk staring at my half-finished manuscript. It wasn’t like I was going to be able to write. For one thing, there was no Gavin sitting behind me, somehow lulling my brain into a state of relaxed creativity.

For another thing, no Gavin at all.

I’d been miserable since we’d talked this afternoon. Thankfully, Dad was at work and Mom was out, so I’d come home to an empty house. I’d been able to cry in peace. But even a good, hard cry hadn’t completely cleansed me of my misery.

I often used writing to help me cope with my fears, but it wasn’t working to help me cope with this, whatever this was.

Because honestly, what was wrong with me? Gavin hadn’t broken up with me. There hadn’t been a relationship in the first place. Maybe I was subconsciously projecting hurt from Cullen onto this situation. I didn’t know why I’d be doing that, but it made a little bit of sense. More than me coming home and ugly crying because a guy I was friends with and had slept with once wanted to back up and stick with being just friends without the sex.

I even understood. I wasn’t ready for a relationship, so why couldn’t Gavin and I just press rewind and go back to where we were last week? Just friends who liked to hang out. That had been fun. What was wrong with that?

It wasn’t what I wanted. That was what was wrong with it.

Only, I wasn’t sure what I did want.

Actually, when I thought about it—really thought about it—that wasn’t true. I did know. It was just very unlike me to want it.

I wanted to be friends with Gavin. And I wanted him to fuck my brains out occasionally.

Rushing in to a serious relationship was probably not the best idea. But Gavin didn’t want a serious relationship either. He’d said he wasn’t boyfriend material—which for the record, he was, I had no idea why he thought he wasn’t—but I wasn’t looking for a boyfriend anyway.

I always played it safe and right now, I didn’t want to. I wanted to be a little reckless.

Ginny’s words came back to haunt me, as they often did when she was trying to push me out of my comfort zone. If you don’t go after what you want, you probably won’t get it.

She was right.

My phone rang, but I didn’t recognize the number. That was odd. I was going to ignore it, but a little spark of curiosity made me pick it up.

“Hello?”

A woman’s voice was on the other end. “Skylar?”

“Yes.”

“Hi, this is Cara. We met… sometime, I don’t know. I got your phone off Gavin’s number. That’s not right. I got your number off Gavin’s phone.”

“Um, okay?”

“He’s drunk and trying to walk home from the Caboose.” She paused and her voice shifted to a loud whisper. “I’m drunk too.”

“Is he okay?”

“Oh yeah, you know how guys are. But he left and I thought maybe you could go find him. Make sure he gets home okay.”

I was already on my way downstairs. “Yeah, I can do that. Do you need a ride, too?”

“No, I have a ride coming. This is my fault, so I’ll make it up to you. I have a great massage therapist who does in-home appointments. He has magic hands. Do you want a massage?”

“That’s okay, you don’t have to do that. I’ll see if I can find him. Thanks for calling, Cara.”

“You’re welcome. I’ll get your massage later. No, I mean I’ll text you later.”

“No, you don’t—”

But she’d already hung up.

I grabbed my coat and went out to my car, wondering why Cara had called me of all people. Although she’d sounded pretty drunk.

Had he said something to her about me?

There was no way to know, but a sense of resolve shored up my courage. Whatever her reasons for calling, I was going to make the most of the opportunity.

I was going to do what Ginny said and go after what I wanted.

Although maybe I’d do that tomorrow. Having a conversation with a drunk Gavin probably wouldn’t work very well.

He wasn’t hard to find. I drove to the Caboose and found him lying on the sidewalk right next to where he’d been when I’d hit him with my car. He was on his back with his knees bent, his feet flat on the ground. The dark street was empty, so I just stopped in the road and opened my door.

“Gavin?”

His face turned toward me. “Sky?”

I got out and knelt beside him. “What are you doing on the ground? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I’m walking home.”

“You’re not walking anywhere. You’re lying on the sidewalk.”

“Am I?” He lifted his head and looked around. “I think I got tired.”

“Come on. I’ll take you home.”

“Thass so nice of you,” he said, his voice slurring a little. “Why are you so nice? And so pretty. You’re beautiful.”

I laughed. “Can you get up?”

“I think so. It’s very spinny.” He sat up and rubbed his face. “Sky, I have to tell you something.”

“Yeah?”

“I drank too much.”

“I know. Come on, let’s get in the car.”

“Iss not my fault.”

I helped him to his feet and made sure he was steady. “It’s not a big deal.”

“Cara wanted to do shots. I don’t like her.”

“You don’t? I thought you were friends.”

“We are. But I don’t like her that way.” He laughed, like he’d just thought of something amusing. “Did you think I took her out on a date?”

“I don’t know, I didn’t really think about it.” I ushered him into the passenger seat. “She just called and said you were trying to walk home.”

“She called you?”

“Yes. Are you going to fall over?”

Leaning back against the headrest, he closed his eyes. “I don’t think so.”