Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 39756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 199(@200wpm)___ 159(@250wpm)___ 133(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 39756 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 199(@200wpm)___ 159(@250wpm)___ 133(@300wpm)
Stephen rocked back as if Ehren had hit him. His wide blue eyes were glassy, and his face had become even paler. Good. Stephen needed to hurt as much as he was hurting.
He turned quickly and marched to the front door. He needed to get out of there now. Staying only made him weak. Space between him and Stephen was the thing he needed, even if the pain only got worse with each step away from him.
As he was closing the door behind him, he swore he heard Stephen say, “Ehren, I’m so sorry.” But he slammed it shut. He couldn’t stay. He needed to get away from anyone who didn’t trust him.
On the doorstep, he paused long enough to shove his feet into his sneakers. Only when he hit the sidewalk did he pull up the Uber app and call for a ride.
A choked sob broke from his throat, but he locked that shit down fast. His heart was not breaking. He had not fallen in love with that lying bastard in only two short dates. It was clear that none of that shit he’d experienced with Stephen had been real from the start. Or at the very least, it was all masking what he really thought about Ehren.
He checked the app again and cursed softly to himself. Ten minutes to be picked up. Ten minutes felt like an eternity. He didn’t want to be stuck waiting out there when Stephen left for work. Did he have to appear to be an even bigger loser?
But maybe this was him. Or his lot in life. He’d said horrible things about Stephen, but maybe this was the type of guy he attracted. Getting stood up by Dave was the tip of the bad-ex iceberg. Dave was an accomplished liar, but Ehren had always been able to see through Dave’s lies.
That was what made Ehren feel worse. He’d believed all the shit Stephen had been shoveling. Stephen had made him feel precious and special. He’d felt fucking cherished, like someone other than his parents actually gave a damn about him.
But no, in the back of Stephen’s mind, he’d been wondering if Ehren and his family were all criminals.
Was this worse than believing Stephen was working with the bastard who had robbed his apartment?
Yeah, this definitely felt worse.
At long last, the Uber driver picked him up at the end of the block. Ehren huddled in the rear of the clean Honda Civic and kept his eyes on his phone, even though he couldn’t really see the screen through the blur of tears. After a few grunts, the driver figured out that he didn’t want to make small talk.
No, Ehren just wanted to focus on forgetting he’d ever met Dr. Stephen Sands.
Chapter Seven
Stephen sat behind his desk with an exhausted sigh. It had been a long, miserable week. His patients hadn’t been too bad, but keeping the mask in place for ten hours a day, pretending everything was okay was draining.
Nothing was okay.
It felt like it was never going to be okay again.
Which didn’t make any logical sense. He’d known Ehren for just a few days. They’d had two dates. But it was as if his heart had been squashed in his chest and all that was left was a pulpy lump that could give only the most pathetic little beat.
Over the past five days, he’d spent most of his free time replaying their last conversation in his head. How could he have been so egotistical? So fucking high-handed and callous? Ehren was very right about him. He should have talked to him first about contacting Ed and Kairo for help. They should have talked about it, and he should have left the choice in Ehren’s hands.
All he wanted to do was apologize. He’d tried once more via text, and then in a phone call. But the text went unanswered, and the call went straight to voice mail.
When he wasn’t mentally replaying his disastrous decisions, he was worrying about whether Ehren was safe from the man who was stalking him. Had the police followed up with him? Had they caught the robber?
The worry was making him insane to the point of driving past Ehren’s building each night on his way home from the office even though it was out of the way for him. He never let himself go up, but he’d become a borderline stalker, and this shit needed to stop. He needed to pull himself together.
It didn’t help that he hadn’t heard a single peep from Edison and West in Turkey yet. Of course, he hadn’t a clue as to how long it would take them to dig something up. He probably should have told them to stop looking, but if they had a potential lead that could clear up the questions surrounding Ehren’s real stalker, Stephen couldn’t say no to that information.