Secrets, Lies, and Summer Skies

Chapter Twenty-Two

"Mark!" There was no hiding the surprise in my voice. "What're you doing here?"

A quick glance down at his hands answered the question. A pizza box was in one and a four-pack of beer was in the other. I should've been happy that it had saved me a trip down to the kitchen, but a small voice told me I should be wary of Mark. The way he leaned against the doorframe and the hooded nature of his gaze gave away that he was drunk. That, and he stank of beer.

"Thought you might need something to eat."

Mark stepped into my room without invitation. He took a moment to look around and, deciding that my dresser was the best place to set the food down, he dropped the box atop it and accidentally shunted a few perfume bottles onto the floor. Fortunately, none of them broke, but it didn't stop me from holding my breath until he stepped away from the furniture, fearful that he might wreak havoc and I'd need to clean up the mess.

Rather than take his leave, Mark sat on the edge of my bed with no regard for my personal space or privacy. He picked up one of the shredded photographs and took a moment to inspect it, squinting at Trey. After selecting a few more, he soon noticed a pattern with regard to who I'd torn from the photographs.

"Ex?" He asked. When I nodded, Mark observed, "Looks like a jackass."

"He cheated, so, I guess."

I didn't see a reason to lie. Just because I'd left Trey it didn't automatically mean that I'd started sleeping with Grayson. I mean I had, but there was no way Mark would make that connection. As far as he and everyone else was concerned, I was single, and still bitter about finding Trey and Anna in bed together. I could even summon the angry indignation people expected me to have if needed. As Grayson had observed, just because I didn't want to be with Trey anymore, it didn't mean I couldn't still be angry about the way he'd treated me. No one in their right might would be immediately okay with having been cheated on.

"So, that's why you didn't want to go on a date," he surmised. "Dealing with a broken heart."

I pressed my lips together to keep myself from correcting him. If that would make Mark feel better about being turned down, then fine. I could live with it. It was easier to explain than the truth.

I shrugged. "Yeah, you know... Felt a little too soon."

The silence stretched on awkwardly between us and Mark showed no signs of getting up and returning to his colleagues. I didn't know the polite way to tell someone to get out of my room. I knew all the impolite ways, of course, but I was wary of offending someone who worked with Grayson. If I'd known more about their relationship and levels of familiarity, I might have been more inclined to order him out. However, while lacking that insight, I could only hope that he'd remove himself and I'd be spared the risk of offending someone Grayson was close to.

Mark picked up another photograph. One that I'd yet to modify to my liking. In one clumsy motion, he tore clean through the middle. Something about the way he stared at Trey's smiling face before he screwed the glossy image into a ball and dropped it to the floor set me on edge.

Mark did nothing to reassure me when he held up the half which bore my smiling face, the ripped edge against his cheek. "Isn't that better?" he asked.

I swallowed hard, uncertain whether he meant that Trey was out of the picture, or that my face was beside his. In short, the answer was no. In fact, it was weird as hell and almost made me miss my cheating ex. At least he'd never been a creeper. He'd been a lot of other awful things, but I wouldn't have stayed with Trey so long if he'd behaved the way that Mark was.

"Well... Thanks for–"

"Guys like this piss me off," Mark said. "They don't appreciate what they've got, and they treat women like trash."