Chapter 0162
I didn’t want to wait to apologize to Dylan so while everyone else was eating, I stepped to the side to shoot off a quick text.
Dylan. I’m sorry. I’d like to talk if you would be willing.
Knowing how I had hurt him earlier, I didn’t expect a reply, much less an agrecable one. So when my phone started buzzing with a phone call, I nearly jumped out of my skin.
Maria quickly ushered me into her room to talk. She recognized this time, I guessed, that I needed more actual privacy than the bathroom could provide. Though I still had no doubt that those girls were all *listening by the door.
Accepting the call, I brought the phone to my ear.
“Dylan?”
“Are you with him now?” Dylan asked. His words were slightly slurred, like he’d been drinking. “Is he there. with you?”
“No,” I said. “I’m at Maria’s.”
He laughed a little, bitterly. This was a darker side of him. His usual upbeat banter was entirely gone.
This was all my fault. I’d hurt him, and now he was drinking, I had to fix this.
“Dylan, I’m sorry
“You were the one to invite me on the date, Hazel.”
“I know=”
“Yet you went with him.”
Softer, I replied, “I know. I’m sorry.
“Tell me why.”
I didn’t have a good reason. Dylan was a wonderful guy smart, funny, successful, handsome as sin. But…. Logan was the one my heart ached for.
Swallowing down my pride, I told him, “You deserve better than second–best.”
A long moment of quiet sat between us. Then he sighed loud and low.
“I’m really sorry,” I said again, seeing an opening here. My heart ached with how much I hurt him.
“I get it, Hazel. Just…” His tone had shifted now, away from snappy and defensive to something more defeated. “Give me some space and time, alright? I’ll come around eventually, but give me a minute to lick my wounds.”
“Okay.” That felt like the least I could do.
Although, then another thought hit me. Did this required space mean that I would have to find another lawyer? I had no idea how far along Dylan was in my divorce proceedings.
1/2
+25 BONUS
Chapter 0162
“Dylan?”
“Yeah?” The telltale clink of ice against a glass told me he had gone back to drinking. Maybe this wasn’t the best time to ask my question, but I wanted to be certain before he disappeared from my life for a while.
“About my divorce…” I started.
My phone made a noise. I pulled it away from my face enough to look at the screen, which showed the call had ended.
Dylan had hung up on me.
“Right..” I said to myself. I knew it wasn’t a good time and I barreled on anyway. He was drinking too. Well, I supposed it wasn’t urgent to know about the divorce right now. It could wait a few days.
I tucked my phone into my pocket and opened the door. Megan, Maria, and their two roommates were parked on the other side of it, their ears pressed to where the door had been. Now suddenly without it, they immediately stood and tried to look innocent.
Rolling my eyes, I told them, “You are all the worst.”
They just laughed.
Maria waved me toward the kitchen island. “Come eat before your food gets cold.”
Dylan shifts his gin around in the glass, ice cubes clinking on the sides. He still held his phone in his other hand, the screen now showing his contact list. Hazel’s name was right there, front and center.
He thought of deleting her, but he held himself back. If he wasn’t helping her professionally, he would have. As it was, and as unethical as it was, he was working for her.
Although she didn’t seem to care about ethics. Or, at least, Logan didn’t. Or he wouldn’t be pulling his secretary into a relationship.
Dylan opened a text to Logan. They hadn’t really spoken in a while. They used to be such good friends. The last text was when Dylan had called Logan an idiot He wished he could take that back now. Maybe it had been that text that had finally woken Logan up to the gem right in front of him.
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