Not Broken: The Happily Ever After(10)

“Sure, what time?”

He gave a broad grin. “Six?”

“Okay.”

His warm hands were on my cheeks, and I instantly braced for impact. He’d wanted to kiss me moments ago; I saw it in his eyes. The look was still there. His six-foot-five frame loomed above me, and I mentally counted to ten, trying to not let my rising anxiety gain too much momentum.

Malcolm leaned down, resting his forehead against mine. His eyes were closed. He didn’t speak. He simply held me there, taking slow, controlled breaths. I watched him and waited. Taking my own controlled breaths as I worked to keep myself in check, and prepare for what would come next.

Being this close, I focused on his features for the first time in a long time. My eyes went to his lips first. They had a natural rosy pink hue that stood out against his warm bronze skin tone. His lips. Full, soft lips that kissed me yesterday. I recalled the tickle of his beard against my skin. He kept it close cut, but the fine hairs on his top lip had brushed against mine. His dreads were braided back, a style he adopted in the summer months. He and Macy shared the same honey brown hair color as well as the same eye color.

No denying Malcolm was a handsome man, but I’d learned the hard way, not all pretty faces could be trusted.

After maybe a minute, he kissed my forehead and stepped away. He gave a half grin. “I’ll see you at six.”

I nodded my agreement. When he reached forward to open my car door, I flinched. The smile left his face, and he looked down at the ground with a subtle shake of his head. He stepped away.

I climbed into my SUV. “I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah, okay,” he replied before shutting my door.

In my rearview mirror, I could see him standing in the driveway, watching my car as it drove away.

“What are you doing, Calida?” I asked, gripping the steering wheel tighter. “You’re making things worse that’s what!” I continued to scold myself.

Needing a moment to collect myself, I drove to the first parking lot I came to. I whipped into a spot near the back, threw the car into park, and then let out a long frustrated scream. I wasn’t ready for this; I should have told him that. Instead, I told him to put in an offer on a house. A house he expected me to live in with him.

If I had just opened my fucking mouth, yesterday or today, I wouldn’t be in this mess. I’d been doing okay. I’d been holding it together. But in one day Malcolm had managed to throw my delicately constructed life out of balance. Head resting on the steering wheel, I concentrated on taking slow breaths to calm myself.

A tap on my window startled me. I looked over to see a sweaty guy with a stack of flyers in his hand. He held them up, pointing to show they were coupons for a car wash. I shook my head. He shrugged then went off to put the flyers on the windshields of the other parked cars.

Malcolm kept touching me. Why wouldn’t he? It’s what normal people did in relationships. He’d wanted to kiss me. But he didn’t. Then I flinched when all he was doing was opening my door. He looked so hurt by that.

I covered my face and took a deep breath, attempting to shove all those feelings back where they belonged. I held up my hands and stared at the slight trembling. Opening and closing them a few times, I willed myself to calm before continuing to my parents’ house.

∞∞∞

When I arrived at their Druid Hills home, just when I thought this day couldn’t get any worse, there was Dorian’s car. She’d been coming to visit them more often. Our relationship had changed. She remained a snarky bitch more times than not, but I no longer let her walk all over me like I used to. Most of the time.

However, she proved useful when things came up with Jokobi Enterprises. I had no idea what to do with Seth’s company. I’d been an interior decorator, so dealing with acquisitions and whatever else that place did was way out of my league. My head hurt simply thinking about it, and I had zero desire to try. There’d been enough on my plate with trying to care not only for Shawn, but also myself. That was the hardest of all the tasks.

Mom had encouraged me to call Dorian since corporate law was her specialty. I’d expected her to shoot me down, but surprisingly, she’d been happy to help and had kept doing so on a somewhat regular basis when things came up. However, in true Dorian fashion, she disguised her nice acts behind insults, saying that without her, the board would swindle me out of my shares because I didn’t have the brains for business. Once a bitch, always a bitch. But that was Dorian, and I expected nothing less from her.

I pulled down the visor and checked my appearance in the mirror. Through the makeup, I noticed the dark circles under my eyes. I looked tired, but sleeping on the floor after drinking a bottle of wine would do that to a person. Although, these days I always looked tired, so I couldn’t really use that as an excuse. Reaching into my purse, I pulled out my compact to add more concealer under my eyes. Once I was satisfied all dark circles were hidden, I flipped the visor back in place and climbed out of my car.

Dad opened the door wearing a huge grin. “Hey, baby girl,” he said, hugging me. “What brings you by?”

I laughed. “Um, I don’t know, Dad. Maybe to pick up my son?”

“Now why would you do a thing like that?”

I followed the sound of Shawn’s laughter and Mom’s voice toward the back of the house. Dorian was playing with Shawn, tickling him, and his giggles filled the space. There were bags sitting beside the fireplace. More stuff, she was always buying him stuff. Dorian still hadn’t apologized for her horrid behavior toward me over the years, so it was her strange peace offering. Clothes, toys, more books, all more than he could ever use. I’d recently given away two bags of clothes he’d outgrown before he got a chance to wear them.