“Hey, don’t cry. We are all men here,” Jayce joked, slinging an arm around her shoulder.
“Shut up.” Maize half-laughed half-cried.
“He’s not a bad guy,” Jayce said again.
“I’m not sure what he is.” A tear cascaded down her cheek, and she swiped it away. She’d never felt the way she did toward Christian, and that alone scared her more than anything. The more she gave him, the more he took when he left.
Jayce and Hugh exchanged a look over her head.
“What?” Maizie lifted her head higher.
They exchanged another look but didn’t respond.
“Maiz, can I talk to you?” Christian’s deep, familiar voice sent chills coursing through her body at lightning speed.
How does he do that?
He stood a few feet away from the truck with his hands in his pockets looking vulnerable. Or did he look guilty?
“You want us to stay?” Hugh asked.
“Yes. This won’t take long.” She hopped off the truck and walked the two feet to Christian. He shuffled his feet and eyed the guys behind her.
They better be giving him dirty looks.
“Can we go for a walk?”
“No.” Maizie planted her feet and folded her arms.
Christian let out a deep breath.
“Maizie, I. . . I’m sorry. There’s really nothing I can say to make this better, and I won’t try to make excuses.”
“Then don’t.”
He nodded. “I know. I was an idiot.”
“Finally we agree on something.”
His head jerked up. “Thanks for being honest.”
Maizie looked back at Jayce and Hugh, who gave her a thumbs up. “You were right. The two of us only create more problems.”
“No. That’s no—” He took a step closer, but Maizie placed a hand on his chest.
Wow, it’s hard beneath his shirt.
“Are you really dating Rob?” His jaw flexed.
“Of course not. But I don’t know why you care when you have a girlfriend.”
Christian shoved a hand through his hair. “We aren’t together. I had no idea she was coming this weekend. You should have stuck around for the end,” Christian said then grimaced at what that sounded like.
“To watch you two make out?” She wrapped her arms around herself.
“No. To hear me tell her it was over.” He looked at her, begging her with those blue eyes to believe him, but Maizie refused to be so forgiving of them this time. “Maizie, can we please stop playing this game?”
“What game?”
