Perfect Fit - Brenda Jackson [28]
The first thing Sage wanted to do was to go to the apartment and pack her things, grateful that Mr. Poole had given her the day off. She had made a decision to remain at the hotel an additional night or two until she decided where she would go. She was tempted to take Rose up on her offer to stay with her until she got straight, although doing so would hurt her parents if she moved any other place than home. In her frame of mind, she really didn’t care how her father felt about it. Her main concern was her mother’s feelings.
A half hour later Sage frowned when she pulled into her apartment complex and noticed Erol’s car, which meant that he had not left for work yet. Inhaling deeply, she brought her car to a stop. There was nothing she had to say to him. She wouldn’t talk to him. She wouldn’t even acknowledge his presence.
She had barely placed her key in the door when it was snatched open.
“Sage! Where the hell have you been! I’ve been worried sick!”
Sage’s forehead wrinkled for a second, immediately recalling that she had broken up with Erol yesterday, so what was his problem? After what he’d done, she didn’t owe him an explanation about anything, especially her whereabouts.
She met his gaze with a glare of her own, ignoring the fact that he looked as if he hadn’t slept all night. As far as she was concerned, he had made his bed, so he could very well lie in it, even sleepless.
“I came to pick up some of my things,” she said frostily, moving around him to enter the apartment. She passed through the living room and headed straight to their bedroom. He followed close behind, right on her heels.
“Sage, we need to talk about this.”
“There’s nothing to talk about, Erol,” she threw over her shoulder and kept walking.
“Don’t you think you’re taking this to the extreme? I borrowed money from my folks to pay our bills for this month. And they said I didn’t have to pay them back until we were back on our feet.”
Sage turned so quickly she almost collided with him. “You wouldn’t have to pay them at all if you hadn’t done what you did,” she said sharply. “You just don’t get it, do you? It’s trust you can’t replace, Erol. I’d like to see you borrow that from your parents.”
His lips tightened in a grim, straight line, and he folded his arms over his chest. “And you’re willing to throw five years away just because I screwed up this one time?”
“Yes. All it takes is one big screwup. In this situation, it’s not what you did, but it’s how you did it. You knew how I would feel about it and did it anyway, without any consideration for my feelings. That tells me that you didn’t give a damn about how I felt. You thought only about what you wanted, your own selfish greed.”
His expression was regretful. “Okay, I was wrong, and I admit it. I should have told you when I had the chance.”
“Yes, you should have.” She then turned away and continued walking. When she got to the bedroom, she closed the door behind her.
* * *
She would be fine, Sage kept telling herself as she continued to pack, using the extra luggage she had. She was thankful that Erol hadn’t come into the room and had left her alone. Like she had told him, there was nothing to discuss.
She had talked to Rose before she had begun packing. Rose had again assured her that she could stay with her for a while and that she would leave work and meet Sage at her apartment at lunch to help move her stuff in.
When Sage left the bedroom, pulling her luggage behind her, out of the corner of her eye she saw Erol sitting on the sofa in the living room as she passed through. She couldn’t believe that he was glaring at her, actually pissed off that she had broken off their engagement and was moving out. When she reached the door to open it, she glanced over her shoulder at him. “I’ll be back sometime later today with some boxes to get the rest of my things.”
With nothing else to say, she left.
Sage had barely made it up the walkway to her parents’ home when her mother opened the door with a worried look on her face.
“What’s going on, Sage? Why didn’t you sleep at your