When I'm Gone (Rosemary Beach #11)(27)

Cordelia let out a hard laugh and wiped at the tears streaming down her face. “So the woman willing to give you everything isn’t good enough. You want the one holding back, is that it? God, I hate men! You’re all *s!” Cordelia yelled the last bit. She pointed at me. “You will regret this. When you need me, you will regret this. All that hot sex we had was fantastic, and you know it. You will want my * and my ass again, and I won’t give them to you. This is it, Mase. You’ve had your last chance.”

I didn’t have a response for that. I watched her turn and stalk back to her truck and climb inside. I closed the door and hoped she kept her word and that this was indeed it. I couldn’t do this anymore and be nice about it. I hated hurting her, but she was pushing it.

My phone started ringing, and I looked longingly at the coffee in the pot. I really wanted that coffee. Frustrated, I reached for my phone. Why didn’t everyone leave me alone? Dammit, I wanted a quiet morning.

Harlow’s name lit up the screen.

“You OK?” I asked, anxious that something was wrong. She never called this early.

“I figured you’d be up already. Grant just told me something before he left for work that he heard yesterday that I thought was interesting news. I wanted to share it with you.”

I was almost afraid to listen. She was up to something. I could hear it in her voice. Whatever information she had, she was enjoying it a little too much. “It’s seven in the morning, Harlow. I’ve just gotten up, and I need coffee,” I grumbled as I went to pour myself a cup.

“Drink your coffee, grumpy. I can tell you all the information I have while you drink it.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, only half listening to her. I was more focused on the hot liquid in the mug in front of me.

“Thad—you know, Woods Kerrington’s friend—has been giving Reese a ride to and from work all week.”

This was her news? Rolling my eyes, I walked outside to enjoy my coffee. “Already know that,” I informed her.

“Oh. Well, do you know that he asked her out yesterday for this weekend, and she said yes?”

My hand paused in midair, the mug poised before my lips. What the f*ck? “Reese is going on a date with Thad?” I asked, as I lowered my mug, still not sure that was what I had just heard. Reese was nervous with men. Thad was a player. I’d seen the dude in action. He was exactly the kind of guy I knew Reese didn’t like to be around. How the hell? “Who told Grant this?” I asked, waiting for the punch line. This had to be a f*cking joke.

“Thad. He asked her when he took her to work yesterday morning, and she said yes. Grant said he looked like a little boy who’d been given a shiny new toy. He wanted me to talk to Reese about Thad. He’s kind of a man-whore, you know, and Grant doesn’t want him to hurt Reese. But I figured I’d call you. Since you’re friends with her, maybe you could call her and give her a heads-up.”

She was so full of it. She knew this would piss me off. Harlow knew me too well. Like hell was Reese going out with Thad. If she wanted to date, then by God, she was gonna date me. “Thanks. I need to go. I’ll talk to you later.”

“OK, well, you will talk to her, right?”

I almost laughed at her fake concern. She knew good and well that I wasn’t about to let that date happen. “I’ll talk to her,” I said, before hanging up the phone.

I slung back the coffee and let it burn my throat. I had to make a call to get a flight and then call Major to get him to take over everything I was abandoning to make sure Thad kept his playboy hands off what was mine.

Reese

Why had I said yes to Thad? Sure, he made me laugh, and he was nice, but I didn’t want to go out with him. I wasn’t sure how to say no, either. I didn’t want to be rude. He had been so helpful all week, and after the first awkward day, we seemed to fall into an easy pattern.

Luckily, I didn’t need to work today, so I didn’t have to face him. But I would have to tomorrow night when he showed up for our date. It had been on the tip of my tongue to tell Mase last night, but something had held me back. Just because I had a crush on Mase, that didn’t mean the feelings were mutual. Even if he liked to know when I was in my pajamas, that didn’t mean he wanted to see me in them.

The idea made my cheeks hot.

Stop it, I scolded myself. I had to think about what I’d agreed to with Thad. A date. A real date. With a rich, attractive guy. Oh, no. What had I done? I couldn’t do this.

Jimmy had been planning on me going on a double date with him tonight until the shooting. Then he’d left, and now he wasn’t coming back until Sunday. I had talked to him two nights ago. When I realized he wouldn’t be back for the double date, I had been relieved to get out of it. Then this had happened.

Mase would call me tonight. Should I mention it? Probably not. He didn’t tell me when he had dates. Did he date? What if he’d been on dates lately? If he was dating, he got home early, because we talked at least by ten every night.

I looked down at my tank top and cutoff sweats and sighed. They really were worn out, but they were soft and comfortable. Women in Mase’s world wore expensive silk and lace. I didn’t own anything remotely sexy to sleep in. Until Mase, I hadn’t desired anything like that. He had changed a lot of things. Maybe he was even the reason I’d said yes to Thad.