𝔸 𝕃𝕚𝕘𝕙𝕥 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔻𝕒𝕣𝕜𝕟𝕖𝕤𝕤 ➁

37. Assuage The Guilt - ✭RAE✭

I tuck my hair behind my ears as I wait patiently for the lift to arrive at his floor. It's an old industrial building, which means I'm currently in a giant freight elevator. As cool as this old vintage factory building is, it's also kind of creepy but I doubt someone as large and capable as Seth is intimidated by it. I, on the other hand, felt small and a bit scared. I couldn't imagine coming here all alone every evening.

Once I get to his floor I grab the strap and open the large gated metal door. When the outer doors are open they reveal a massive open space with concrete floors, bricks walls, and a vaulted ceiling. It's a studio apartment but it's huge. I spot Seth in the kitchen with his back turned toward me doing something on the counter top.

"Seth?" I call out as I close the doors behind me.

He peers over his shoulder answering me with, "hey, Raegan."

I walk toward him, hearing nothing but my heels clicking on the floor. "I missed you at the gallery today."

He lets out a curt laugh, "yeah, I bet you did." He turns around to face me, drink in hand, as he leans against his kitchen counter.

I look him up and down, noticing something off. "Are you okay?" I asked coming up alongside him in the kitchen. "You look a little..."

"A little what?" His features seem agitated, irritable.

"I don't know." I feel myself frown. "It's just something is different."

"Yeah, seeing my kind-of girlfriend with her actual boyfriend kind of threw me for a loop today." He runs his hand through his hair, pulling at the ends and blowing out a deep breath before letting it go. "All in all it's just been a rough fucking day."

I fidget with my blouse hearing the barely contained anger in his tone. "Seth, I'm sorry. I didn't know he was coming today. Liam told me he was moving to New York, that if I didn't move there things were completely over. The last thing I thought he'd do is show up to surprise me at the show. So, needless-to-say, I wasn't too pleased about it either."

"Well, he's your fucking boyfriend so I guess it's a good thing he showed up for you, right?" He takes a swig from his drink and then comes over to me. "He's a classy guy, so he's better for your classy event."

I feel my features contort a bit because his words seemed so blasé about the entire thing. "So, you are or you aren't upset Liam was there? I'm pretty confused by the tone of your voice, Seth." He shrugs. "Okay, well uh, that clarified a hell of a lot."

"I'm just glad you're here and not at your place fucking the daylights out of him."

"Jesus, Seth." I look at him incredulously. "What the fuck is wrong with you? I'm not going to go sleep with him when we're trying to figure things out between us."

"Well, I don't know that." Ouch. "We never really talked about what you could or couldn't do with your boyfriend so-"

"Stop. You need to stop calling him my boyfriend, Seth. I thought we were pretty clear that we were going to give this a chance, you and me. Why are you making it seem like..." I don't know exactly what to say. Almost like what's going on is some type of affair rather than two people seeing if they're compatible and can make a relationship work.

"Seem like what, Raegan?" He strokes the side of my body then moves to my rear, giving it a squeeze. That throws me off.

"Why are you calling me Raegan?" I pull away from his grip. "You never call me Raegan."

"It's your name, is it not?" He shrugs again and the fact he's calling me by my formal name and acting so whatever about everything is leaving an uneasy feeling in my stomach.