Where We Belong (A Touch of Fate #1)(48)

"She tried to kiss me." Her eyes widen and she grins.

"She seems bold, I like that!" she says excitedly.

"Yeah, well, I screwed it up," I reply.

Avery's eyebrows rise and she looks at me amusingly. "How on earth can you screw that up? It's really easy, Ty. The girl you care about tries to kiss you...you kiss her back. What did you do?" she asks with a laugh.

My eyes lock onto hers and I stare at her condescendingly. I don't need this. I don't need some chick telling me what I did wrong. I'm not an idiot, I know what I did was wrong. Sitting quietly, I take a few more bites, determined not to have this conversation. Fuck this...this is chick shit, and there's no way in hell I'm going to sit around and gossip about my feelings.

Avery continues to stare at me. I'm able to stay strong for a few seconds, but her questioning gaze is unwavering and it pisses me the hell off.

"Fine," I blurt. "If you must know, I pulled away from her!"

Avery sets her sandwich down and tilts her head to the side. I hate it when women do that shit; it drives me crazy.

"Why?"

"Because she has a boyfriend," I reply sharply, instantly regretting my harsh tone. Sitting back in her chair, she crosses her arms over her chest. I keep shoving food in my mouth, hoping like hell it will keep me from talking.

"Did she tell you she has a boyfriend? Have you actually met him?" she asks, scrunching her brows.

Shit.

"Well, no—" I answer slowly, contemplating the possibility that I've completely misread every f*cking thing that has happened. No way.

"Then how do you know she has a boyfriend?"

I've had enough. Tossing my burger onto my tray, I glare at Avery. "This conversation is over. I don't want to talk about Harley, and I don't need you telling me how to—“

"Whoa!" she says, cutting me off. I snap my mouth shut, pissed that she interrupted. "Listen, I'm sorry I upset you. That wasn't my intention." Her voice softens, and she rests her joined hands on the table. "But I'm a woman, and I think you've got this all wrong."

I don't have this all wrong, but right now I'm so damn tired of thinking about Max that I just need her to finish what she wants to say so I can get the hell out of here. "Fine. I'm listening. Then we’re done talking about this."

She nods her head, a small grin playing at her lips. "If this Harley is as wonderful as you say she is—and you're an incredible person, so I'm sure she is—then there is no way she would ever cheat on her boyfriend. Therefore, if she tried to kiss you last night, then I'm about ninety-nine-point-nine percent certain that she doesn't have a boyfriend. So you need to pull your head out of your ass and get your girl before someone else realizes how amazing she is and snags her up!"

With that, Avery stands and tosses her plate in the trash. She walks to the door and then turns back to me. "And do me a favor, when you do get the girl...grovel like hell for pulling away from her last night, because I can't even imagine all the insecurities that must have caused."

Fuck. The look of embarrassment that washed over Harley's face last night pops into my head and I rub my hands over my face roughly, trying to get that image out of my mind.

What if Avery is right? What if Harley doesn't have a boyfriend and I was wrong? That would I've been wasting my time and worrying for no reason. All I know is that this has to end. I either need to know she's single and beg her to give me another chance, or I need to meet Max and see for myself that I really did f*ck things up five years ago.

Tomorrow. I'm going to get through this shift and then this ends tomorrow.



"THANK GOD THIS DAY is over." Grabbing my stethoscope, I drop it in the bag with my scrubs. I always bring a change of clothes to change into before I go home. Tossing my bag on the table, I walk over to the coffee pot. It’s way too late in the evening for me to be drinking coffee, but I need something.

"I know, right?!" Avery says, shedding her lab coat. She looks completely exhausted and her eyes are still mildly puffy as though she’s been crying off and on throughout the day.

"You okay?" I ask, handing her a cup of coffee.

She grabs the mug and takes a few sips, her eyes trained downward. "I will be. It's just been a shit day and I really don't want to go home, and...hey—" She looks at me hopefully. "You wanna go grab a drink somewhere?"

Fuck. No. All I really want to do is go home and crash. Looking down at my watch, I see that it's ten o'clock. It's been a long day and I'm exhausted, but I can tell that Avery doesn't want to go home, probably because she'll spend the rest of the night thinking about that family.

"Sure," I answer. "Let's go have a drink."

"Great. Thank you," she sighs, patting my arm as she walks past me to drop her cup in the sink.

"But just one," I say, pulling my phone out of my pocket. "My friend, Levi, owns a bar a few blocks away. Let me call him and see if they're out."

I hit ‘send’ and Levi answers almost immediately.

"Hey! I was seeing if you were going to be at Blue tonight. I was thinking about coming out for a drink or two," I reply.

"I'm actually here now, you should come on up," he answers.