Page 79 of Homewrecker

I wiped beneath my eye again. “Why are you out here?”

He stopped in front of me. “Why are you out here?”

“I needed air.”

“Okay.”

“I’m fine.”

“I didn’t ask.”

I looked at him. “Then why did you follow me?”

“Because you walked out looking like you wanted to either cry or slap that woman.”

I laughed and he stepped closer. “What was that back there?”

My stomach tightened. I wanted to say.. Gabby stopped speaking to me because I spent three years fucking a married man.

Instead I folded my arms. “Someone who obviously wants me to stay living in my past.”

Nash looked toward the building. “Fuck her.”

I blinked. “What?”

“Fuck her.”

A laugh escaped me. “Nash.”

“I’m serious. She wanted to get under your skin.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Blair.”

“What?”

“She complimented you for five minutes and then found the exact place to stick the knife.”

I looked down. Before I could stop myself, I said, “Maybe she had a reason.”

Nash studied me. “Maybe.”

I looked up.

He shrugged. “She still didn’t have to do it tonight.”

He didn’t know enough to decide whether Gabby was right or wrong. He just knew she’d tried to hurt me.

He opened his arms. “Come here.”

I hesitated then stepped into him. His arms wrapped around me and I closed my eyes. I immediately felt like shit because Nash was comforting a version of me he didn’t fully know.

His hand moved slowly across my back. “Don’t let those bitches see you sweat.”

I laughed against his chest. “Did they teach you that in grad school?”

“First semester.”