Kiera gave me a sweet, nothing to worry about smile. She grabbed the phone from me, and I leaned against the counter. It might be rude, but I wasn’t leaving the room while my girl talked to her ex-lover. From the small smile she gave me, it seemed she understood that I wasn’t leaving.

Focusing on the phone, Kiera inhaled a deep breath like she was nervous. Was that because of me…or him? Letting the breath go, she brightly said, “Good morning, Denny.” He responded with something, and she laughed, then told him, “No, Kellan and I are up.”

Hearing another man make her laugh made a flash of something dark wash through me, but her comment about us being together—being a team—instantly dissolved it, and a devilish grin lifted my lips. By telling him we’d woken up together, she’d basically confirmed that we’d slept together. That shouldn’t have made me happy, but it did. She wasn’t hiding our relationship from him anymore, and while I would always feel guilty about her around Denny, at the moment, I was thrilled. Maybe him calling her wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

Denny said something that made her furrow her brow. “Miss what?” I mimicked her gesture and she shrugged. Whatever it was he’d asked her, she was mystified. He must have answered her, for her mouth fell open in surprise. “Did you call just to wish me good luck on my first day of school?”

Her eyes filled with tears, and my stomach clenched. I narrowed my eyes at Kiera. I knew I probably looked angry, but I couldn’t stop the reaction. He called to wish her good luck at school? Why would he do that? I mean, I knew they were friends, but this seemed like…more. And she was tearing up, like she was touched. They were bonding over the phone, and I was just standing there like an idiot, letting it happen.

It doesn’t mean anything. Calm down. Don’t overreact. Don’t say something stupid. Don’t do something stupid. Don’t fuck this up. It doesn’t matter if they’re bonding…he’s thousands of miles away. He can’t do…what you did.

That thought made me calm down some, but then Kiera swallowed a couple times, like she was too choked up to speak, and a sliver of anger and jealousy sliced through me. It was quickly followed by guilt, and then sadness. He still had a corner of her heart, and he probably always would.

“No, no, I’m sorry,” she said, shaking her head. “Yes, of course you should call me. And no, you didn’t miss it, and yes, I’m a little nervous.”