Messy Love(39)

“Listen, I get where you’re coming from, but I need to see Marissa.’’ My voice, rough, sounded tight to my ears, but nowhere near the biting edge, I swallowed back. The woman was already against me; I didn’t want to alienate her more than she already was.

“What for?’’ she asked, her words harsh. While she had looked pretty mousy and chipper the other day, I wouldn’t give much chance to my balls if I stepped foot at InkSpired now. “Do you want to mess with her even more than you already did? She’s better off with you far from her.’’

“Wait!’’ I blurted before she could hang up, my burning need to talk to Marissa more intense than the urge to snap at her and make her shut her little mouth with my usual sharp tongue. “Fucking wait.’’ I exhaled down the phone and then checked the locker room. When I made sure nobody would hear, I put my elbows on my thighs, my face in my hand and pushed the cell harder against my ear. “I messed up, Sophie. Don’t you think I know that?’’

“I have no idea, you see. All I know is that you’re a lousy human being and lousy human beings don’t deserve to get close to someone good like Marissa.’’

“Can’t say you’re wrong,’’ I mumbled and sighed. “But good people deserve an apology. That’s all I want here.’’

“I don’t see why I’d help you ease your conscience, Wyatt. That’s on you.’’

“I’m just asking for Marissa’s address.’’

“Don’t you have her number?’’

I straightened up and scratched at my temple, begging for all the patience I could muster up, which realistically wasn’t a lot. My damn stomach knotted with the urge to shake Sophie through the phone, but something held me back. Maybe it was because I was torn up over my fuck up with Marissa. Maybe it stemmed from the guilt that drowned me for my mother. I didn’t know what it was, but it held me back and made me feel all kinds of fucked up.

“Just forget it,’’ I mumbled and hung up without waiting for her to say something else.

There I was, sitting on a damn hard bench in the gym’s locker room, my phone in my hand and my eyes trained on the fucking picture of my adoptive family, the only family that counted, taunting me there inside my opened locker.

I was a mess, and I couldn’t blame it all on Marissa this time around.





MARISSA


“You should have heard him, Mar,’’ Sophie went on, talking so fast I briefly wondered if she broke down on her coffee ban. Six months ago, she had started drinking tea instead because of what kind of effect coffee had on her. At seeing her, I wasn't sure tea was that much better.

“Have you had any coffee this morning?’’ I asked as I bit into an apple after finishing cleaning the station I worked on with Kam on the last touches for a huge back piece for a biker who, while looked scarily mean, happened to be a whining bitch once the needle touched his skin.

“What?’’ She blinked behind her thick-framed glasses and then shook her head. Her ponytail swiveled behind her head, doing a great impersonation of a pendulum. “I won’t ever drink coffee again. Some people swear off tequila, I swear off coffee. Why?’’

“You sound a bit hyper,’’ I answered around a mouthful of apple and then threw the core in the trash of the office next to the desk. I leaned against the sturdy furniture and crossed my arms over my chest, my frown apparently permanently etched on my face since the debacle with Wyatt.

“Don’t you care about what happened yesterday?’’ she countered swiftly, ignoring my words and focusing instead on the thing I’d rather ignore and forget.

“You told me over the phone last night already. Wyatt called. Big deal. Let’s move on now, please,’’ I replied and forced myself not to cringe at saying his name, something that would only betray how bad I still felt. I fished my phone from my jeans and checked the time. “We have to go back to work anyway. Your appointment for a nipple piercing is in ten and Kam wants me to work with him on his next client.’’

“Alright, but at least tell me if you’re going to answer when he calls you,’’ she said, following me out of the office when she should be staying inside to prep for her appointment.

“He won’t call,’’ I blurted and turned around, glaring at my friend.

Sophie stopped abruptly, and her eyes widened at my harsh tone. I immediately felt like dirt for blowing my friend’s head because of an asshole. But she didn’t call me on it. Instead, she offered me a sweet smile and reached for my hand to give it a comforting squeeze.

“Sorry. I won’t pester you anymore, okay?’’

“Thank you, Soph. I… I suck.’’

“No, you’re hurting. I get it.’’ She pointed over her shoulder back to the office. “I better get everything ready for my appointment before Kam burst a fuse. Let the client in when she gets here, would you?’’

I nodded and watched her retreat into the office after she gave me one last sad smile that hurt me more than I already was. It was like putting salt on a wound. It burned and hurt like crazy, but at the same time, it was good. I hated seeing her sad, more so on my account for something this stupid, but I was also thankful for the kind of friendship she offered.