Roommate Arrangement (Divorced Men's Club #1)(47)

My lips twitch. “Lee?”

“Is that his name?”

“You really expect me to believe you forgot it?”

“I didn’t forget. I just don’t care enough to remember.”

“Of course.” I tilt my smile toward the floor.

“Wait. Why are you calling? Where is he? Did he do something?”

“Do something? Like what?”

“I dunno. Upset you or something? Because you don’t need to change for him. You shouldn’t be changing or improving for anyone, especially a douche like him.” Payne hiccups a laugh. “Did you see the gold clip on his blazer? Who does he think he is, a fucking sea caption?”

Caption? Payne is way more than tipsy. It’s sort of adorable. “Can I tell you why I called now?”

“If the sea captain hurt you—”

“He didn’t,” I assure him before he can go off on another rant. “But the date blows. Can you call in like five minutes with an emergency?”

Payne snorts. “Why can’t you tell him you’re not interested and leave?”

“You must underestimate the number of awkward situations I’ve sat through.”

“You need to learn to be more assertive.”

“Sure. Of course. But tonight, can you?”

“Call?”

“Yes.”

“With an emergency?”

“Exactly.”

“There’s no way he’ll believe that.” Payne burps loudly, and it’s in this exact moment I have to question my taste in men.

“Yeah, but it’s not like he can call me on it, can he?” And with any luck, he’ll think it’s Payne being overbearing again.

“Yeah, not doing it. I promised I wouldn’t interfere again.”

“Come on, Payne, please?” I inject a little flirtiness into my tone, feeling bolder since he’s been drinking. “I’ll thank you later.”

His hum is gravelly and reminds me of what he sounds like when he comes. “How exactly?”

“Make the call and find out.”

There’s silence for a moment, and I’m so worried Payne has passed out.

“Maybe.”

“Uh, what?” I laugh, because this isn’t a “maybe” type scenario.

“I will maybe call you.”

“Can’t you just give me a yes or no? Preferably a yes?”

“If I call, you get your excuse and can blame someone else instead of telling poor Lucas—”

“Lee.”

“—the truth, and then, what? Continue to string him on for the rest of your lives? Or I give you the opportunity to be assertive and tell him you’re leaving.”

“You give me way too much credit.”

“Nope. I give you the exact right amount of credit, which is a shit load more than you give yourself.”

“I can’t do it.” I inhale deeply and confess, “I didn’t even want to come on this date at all, but I couldn’t say no when he asked.”

“Wow. Can’t wait to be there for your wedding day.”

“Payne … I can’t. I really can’t.”

“Fine. Then I guess you just have to hope I’m a nice guy.”

I smile. “I know you are.”

“Someone’s about to be sorely disappointed, then.” He hangs up before I can respond, and I’m left staring at my phone. Does that mean … is he not going to call?

Fuck, I’ve been gone too long to call him back, so I fire off a text on my way back to the table.



Me: Please don’t let me down.





DMC GROUP CHAT





Payne: He’s not home yet.

Art: Beau?

Payne: Yes. Beau. Beau’s not home. Why isn’t he home?

Orson: Ohhhh boy.

Payne: What? What’s oh boy?

Griffin: To be fair, we warned you.

Orson: I don’t think he needs “I told you so” right now.

Payne: WHY ISNT HE BACK?!

Art: Do we really need to explain to you what’s happening when a date goes late?

Payne: Duck off Beau’s not like that.

Payne: Suck.

Payne: FUXK.

Payne: I give up.

Orson: Have you been drinking?

Payne: Just a little.

Orson: A little what?

Payne: Bottle.

Griffin: Now are you going to admit you like the guy?

Payne: I … WHY ISNT HE HIME?

Art: For someone who owns a brewery, I have a very low tolerance for drunk people.

Payne: Shit I think that’s him, what do I do?

Orson: I suggest you don’t demand to know where he’s been.

Griffin: Especially because you probably won’t like the answer.





19





Payne


It’s close to midnight when there’s finally noise in the hall outside. I’ve been turning my decision not to call Beau over and over in my head, questioning whether I actually made the right choice.

I wanted to be his knight in shining armor, but I also know that Beau is going to keep getting himself into these situations unless he can learn to say no.