Daniel looked at Nathan, returning the glare. “My car is the maroon truck, if you need me.” He nodded at me, walking away.

“What was that?” I slapped Nathan’s chest.

He watched Daniel walk away, tension radiating from his body. “Who was that?” he asked, not looking at me, still keeping his eyes on Daniel. Was he jealous?

“Just a doctor I work with in the ER.” I replied, getting angry with his caveman response.

“He wants you.” He looked back at me like he wanted to ask me about him. I had a feeling Daniel might have a thing for me, but I was always skeptical. Go figure, Nathan would pick up on that in the one minute they talked.

“Does it matter anymore?” I asked, wanting to see how far he was going to go.

He looked back at me with possessiveness in his eyes.

“Anymore? What is that supposed to mean?” he asked, scooting closer to me until we were flush against each other.

“You know what I mean. I think you lost the right to know anything about me. You guys made it abundantly clear that nothing would move forward between any of us.” I pulled at the anger that was always constantly just below the surface of my emotions. How dare he become possessive when he left me like a dirty secret and then thought it was ok to text me like nothing had happened? I pushed him back so I could get into my car.

“Jane, please,” he pleaded. “We have a lot to talk about and I’ve been dying to see you, to tell you everything. We all have.”

“I think you’ve lost that chance, Nathan,” I said, feeling shaky with all the emotions running through my head.

“I know we fucked up. Just hear us out, please. If you don’t like what we say, you can leave, but don’t shut the door on us and what could happen with us,” he said, as I was about to pull the door open. I froze.

All of us? My heart was tearing apart. I knew I deserved to be treated better, but I think I would always regret not trying or at least seeing where this might go. Each of the men called to me even though Aiden and I hadn’t had sex, but I felt that connection. God, I craved it. The disdain I saw in his eyes on Saturday was the bucket of water I needed to snap me out of my delusion.

“I can’t.” Opening the door, I started the car and left before I decided on anything. I didn’t trust myself, especially when the ache became too much.

* * *

Olive Juice