She turned to look up at Erik with cold eyes and said, “I’ll be outside.”

Both men watched as she made her way to Audrey, probably to say goodbye. Phillip was shaking his head with a stupid grin on his face.

“You’re stupid, dude.”

“Why is that?” Erik asked, taking a swig of his beer.

“Because that girl is not only smoking hot, but also real. You aren’t going to meet another girl like her. She doesn’t deal with your shit, she is a nice person, and even though you are a complete dick, she still has those girly feelings for you.”

Erik shook his head, wishing he could put his fingers in his ears and sing out, lalalalalala.

Knowing he couldn’t, he said, “She doesn’t have any feelings for me.”

“She has more feelings than you could ever fathom. Like right now, even though you just cut her down to size, she is still looking over at you, longingly.”

Erik was about to protest that statement and prove Phillip wrong, but when he glanced over at Piper, he found her watching him. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and while her face and body said she was pissed, her eyes said something totally different, that she was hurt. How did he not catch this before? He had ignored that she had real feelings for him. Looking down at the ground, he muttered the only thing that was on his mind: “What am I going to do?”

Phillip chuckled. “We all know what the old Erik would do, but maybe a new Erik is in there?”

Erik rolled his eyes as he looked up at Phillip.

“What if he isn’t?”

“Then our sweet little Piper will be heartbroken. I think she knows that there is a chance that will happen, but I also think she sees right through you like I do.”

“What does that mean?” he snapped. “What do you think you see?”

“I see a decent guy who is hiding behind this dick-ass attitude. You aren’t a dick, you just act like one to keep people away, and I’m telling you, I don’t think she is the one that you need to keep away from.”

Okay, Phillip was starting to piss him off.

“How do you know? When the hell did you become so f**king philosophical?”

Phillip laughed. “Whoa, buddy, this is coming from your friend, remember? No need to be an ass. I’m just telling you the way I see it.”

“Well, maybe the way you see it is bullshit,” Erik snapped, before downing his beer. “Maybe it isn’t, and that’s why it’s bothering you.”

Erik paused mid-swig and then slammed the bottle on the table, before wiping the corner of his mouth.

“Yeah? Well, f**k you.”

With that he turned and started for the source of his problem. Then he heard Phillip call out, “Nice talking to you, Erik. Love ya, buddy!”

He cringed as he finally met up with Piper at the door.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said simply as she turned and went out the door.

Erik followed behind her, pissed as hell because maybe Phillip was right and Erik didn’t like that. Once the valet brought the car around they both got in.

As they reached the highway, he turned down the music and asked, “So why were you mad?”

He felt her eyes on him as she said, “When? Before or after you made the comment about leaving in three months?”

“We both know I’m leaving, so I don’t understand why that would make you mad.”

“It makes me mad because you seem happy about it. I’m sorry that I am so f**king terrible to deal with, and that you hate your life because of me.”

She was f**king crazy!

“Did I say that? No, all I said was that I would be gone in three months. Stop jumping to conclusions.”

“So you are happy?”

“Fuck no, I want my life back!”

Looking over at her, he found her crossing her arms across her chest with a huff.

“Just like I said,” she muttered, and he wanted to kick himself in the balls.

He hated to hurt her, he didn’t want that, but he couldn’t seem to think around her. She jumbled his mind and things just flew out of his mouth without much thought. He knew that was the wrong thing to say, it wasn’t nice and also not the entire truth, but that was him trying to push her away. That was the way he was programmed. He pushed people away, and maybe that was a good thing. He would never be that man for her, so why tell her what he was really thinking or feeling when he could mask it with what he had been telling females his whole adult life?

When she didn’t say anything else, he turned the music back up and wanted to scream in frustration at how f**ked-up his feelings were. He wanted to wrap her up in his arms and apologize for being a douche, while the other part of him wanted to keep saying mean things just to keep her away. What was wrong with him? Was he mentally f**ked-up?

“What’s the shit about you loving me?” he found himself asking once they got close to Sweetbriar.

“Excuse me?”

“I heard Audrey say it. Is it true?”

Piper laughed and shook her head.

“Like I would ever admit that or deny it. I’m done talking to you, Erik. Completely and utterly done with you. We are going to get through the next few months and that’s it if for no other reason than I stand by my word.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Don’t. I don’t give a shit.”

“Piper,” he said softly, “stop. We can be adults about this.”