Mia laughed. “Yeah, what were you even thinking by asking him? Especially when it comes to women. He’s never had a serious relationship. He just wants hookups with hot models.”
I blinked, thinking about what happened at his house and at the bar the other night. Was that all it had been with me, too? Had he just been bored or horny or both? I tried not to think about that. Plus, I wasn’t here about Jordan anyway.
“I hate to intrude on your time together,” I said quietly. “But, I was wondering if…I was wondering if…”
They both looked at me as if I were having some kind of seizure. It felt like I was.
I cleared my throat. “Mia, could I talk to you for a minute?”
Mia’s features registered slight surprise and she glanced at William. He frowned and looked at his watch. “We have five more minutes of our breakfast…” he began.
“Oh, I don’t want to cut things short.” I tried to disguise my disappointment.
Mia pushed an opened box toward Adam’s cousin. It had fruit and yogurt and a pastry in it. “William, could you do me a favor and spend those last five minutes putting this on Adam’s desk? He’s going to be in soon. I left before him so he wouldn’t think I was following him on that damn motorcycle, even though I wanted to.”
William shook his head. “I still don’t understand why he bought it.”
“Neither do I.” She sighed. “If he’s already made it here in one piece, tell him I’ll be over in a few.”
William rose, picked up his trash and disposed of it. Then he took the box of food and said goodbye to Mia.
Mia sent me a curious glance as I watched William go and then straightened in her seat. I bit my lip and turned to her. My heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was going to lift out of my chest and fly away.
I briefly relived that moment three months ago. We were at a charity event at Adam’s house, and Cari and I had stood on the porch scoping out Adam—her favorite activity—remarking how he was chatting up a swimsuit model when his girlfriend was nowhere to be seen.
Come to find out, Mia had been inside, probably trying to find the courage to make an appearance. At that point, no one had seen much of her since she’d gotten sick and she was probably self-conscious about her looks. Our thoughtless remarks had only made the situation worse, I imagined.
“Uh...”
“I know what you’re going to say,” Mia said.
“You—you do?”
She nodded. “You don’t need to.”
“I do need to. I’ve felt like crap since the day of that party…”
She folded her arms across her chest. “Because I overheard you?”
I blinked. “Yes. That was part of it. But also because it made me feel really crappy to say those things.”
Her mouth quirked. “Makes sense. I assume people who talk like that are doing so because of their own issues.” She held up a hand. “I’m not perfect, either. I’ve done my fair share of hating.”
“Mia, I’m really sorry. You were so sick, and—it just wasn’t right for us to be talking like that.”
Her mouth thinned. “Apology accepted. You don’t have to feel bad anymore.”
I took a deep breath and let it go, somewhat but not fully relieved.
“I want you to know… well, sometimes it’s really hard to stand up to that crowd, you know?”
She nodded knowingly. “Cari is a bit of a force of nature.”
“She honestly scares the crap out of me.”
Mia laughed. “I think she scares the crap out of everyone.”
I smiled and then sobered. “It’s always been hard for me to stand up to people. When I was younger, I was the one people picked on. I know how that feels. I’m—I’m sorry. I’m sorry that it felt easier for me to go along with them instead of going with what felt good in my gut.”
Mia tilted her head, looking at me as if noticing something new and different. “Huh, and all this time I thought you were just like her.”
My face heated and I shrugged a shoulder, looking away. “You had a right to. That’s how I was acting.”
Mia frowned. “Don’t be down on yourself. Chalk it up as a lesson learned. Yeah, it was a shitty thing to say, and yeah, you girls ogling Adam twenty-four-seven was annoying, but I know you can’t help yourselves. He is damn hot.” She ended with a smirk.
I laughed. “He is hot. But he’s yours. So no more ogling from me. I can’t speak for the others though.”