“Yes, you did. And then Isaac answered your phone and told me you didn’t want to talk to me and that I should never call you again.”
She hesitated. “Isaac answered my phone? When?”
“A couple hours after I saw you kiss him.”
“I didn’t kiss him! He kissed me.”
“Well, you didn’t stop him!”
“I didn’t get the chance. You punched him before I could retaliate.”
Now Eric hesitated. “You didn’t want him to kiss you?”
“No. I love you, you f**king idiot. Why would I want to kiss another man?”
Eric panted heavily, a mixture of anger and confusion and joy. She loved him. Sure, she had called him a f**king idiot, but she loved him. He almost believed her, but the hurt of the past few days made him hesitate. “If you love me so much, why did you hang up on me?”
“I would never hang up on you. Never. I wanted you to call, so we could work things out.”
“Then why didn’t you call me?”
“Isaac made me think that you didn’t want to talk to me.”
Eric’s fists clenched. “That little weasel.”
“Did you really call me after our fight?”
“Yes. Like I said, I called you around a thousand times.”
“I think I would have noticed if you called a thousand times, Eric. You never called me. Not once. I even slept with my phone so I wouldn’t miss your call.”
“Maybe there’s something wrong with your phone. I called you, Rebekah. I did.”
“There’s nothing wrong with my phone. I’ve used it several times today.” She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and flipped through her missed calls. “There’s nothing from you,” she said. “A bunch of calls from an unknown number, but not a single call from you.”
“That’s weird. Let me try now.”
He took out his phone and dialed her number. The screen lit up, but there was no sound. Her display said caller unknown.
“Answer it,” he said.
She answered. “Hello.”
“That f**kin’ jerk,” Eric grumbled into his phone.
“What?”
“Don’t you get what he did?”
“Who?”
“Isaac—who else?”
“What?”
“He changed my ringtone to silent and my name to caller unknown. Programmed it right into your phone.”
Her eyes widened. “What? Why would he do that?”
“To get rid of me.”
“I can’t believe he’d do something like that!”
“Believe it.”
They stared at each other for a long moment.
“I love you, Rebekah.”
“I love you too, Eric.”
They were standing next to each other talking on their cell phones. “Bye.”
He disconnected and then flipped through the messages on his phone. “Did you send me this?”
She read the saved text on his screen: Fuck you, ass**le. I never want to see you again. She shook her head, her eyes filled with tears. “That’s horrible. Don’t you know I’d never say anything like that to you? I love you so much. The past five days have been pure hell.”
Eric wrapped her in his arms and drew her against the length of his body. “I can’t believe how sneaky that guy is. I want to wring his f**king neck.”
Rebekah shook her head. “I’ll talk to him. He’s my best friend. He must have a good reason to do something like that.”
“Yeah, he’s a selfish prick who wants you for himself. That’s his reason.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about Isaac anymore. Kiss me,” she whispered. “Please, Eric. Kiss me and never stop.”
Eric drew her against him and captured her lips in a searing kiss. She clung to him. He could taste her tears as she rubbed her lips against his desperately. “Let’s never fight again,” she murmured into his mouth.
“Agreed.”
“And if we do, we talk about it face-to-face right away. No phone calls.”
“Agreed.”
“I love you,” she said.
“Agreed.”
She laughed, and he smiled. He stroked her hair away from her face and kissed the tears from her cheeks.
“Why aren’t you wearing the jewelry I gave you?” he asked. It had been another thing that had slashed at his soul every time he looked at her.
“I took it off before we went to the shelter. I thought it would be pretty tacky to wear something that expensive in front of people who have nothing. And then I got so busy helping make dinner when we came home that I forgot to put it back on.”
“That’s all it was?” he asked.
She nodded.
He kissed her deeply. “I thought it meant we were through.”
She shook her head, breaking their kiss, but only for a brief moment. “Let’s go back to your place,” she said.
“What about your guests?”
“You’re the only guest that matters to me.”
“Shouldn’t we confront Isaac?”
“I’ll talk to him later. Right now I don’t want to even think about him, much less look at him. I’ll probably punch him in the nose.”
“I’d like that.” Eric lifted her into his arms and continued to kiss her as he carried her to the car. “They’ll come looking for us if we don’t tell them we’re leaving.”
“I’ll call them while you drive,” Rebekah said.
He opened the door to Rebekah’s car and slipped her into the passenger seat. “I hope you have keys.”
She flipped the visor down, and a set of keys tumbled into her lap. “Drive like a maniac. I want to get you in bed as soon
as possible.”
He had no problem fulfilling that request. While he navigated the streets, Rebekah called her mother. Eric tried not to let her argument bother him, but it did.
“I didn’t call you to discuss this, Mother. I called to let you know that I left with Eric, and I didn’t want you to worry.”
Eric caught snatches of her mother’s tirade. “I raised you better than this… acting like a little slut… I can’t believe you’d just leave Isaac here by himself… You’ll be lucky if he ever speaks to you again…”
“He’ll be lucky if I don’t cut his balls off with a rusty knife.”
Eric chuckled. He caught the flash of Rebekah’s white smile in a streetlight. “I’ll be by tomorrow to pick up my stuff. Tell everyone good-bye for me.”