Read Don’t Deny Me: Part Two for Free Online

his.”
    Alice petted his shoulder. “It
should
be awkward for him, then. If he’s going to be a jerk.”
    “He’s kind of always a jerk,” Jay said with an embarrassed laugh. “That’s part of his charm.”
    Alice sighed and gave him another hug, but ended up laughing along with him. She squeezed him. “Is it worth me telling you to dump him?”
    “You’ve known me longer than that.” Jay leaned into her embrace. “But I don’t want to wait for him to break it off with me, either. The rest of my weekend is kind of ruined, anyway. Can we get out of here?”
    Alice hesitated. It was Saturday morning by this point, but she hadn’t planned on leaving until Sunday night. She’d been looking forward to another two days and one more night to spend with Mick.
    “Please,” Jay said.
    And, with a sigh, Alice agreed.
    * * *
    Mick waited until lunch time to ask Bernie where Alice was. He thought maybe she’d slept in, or gone off to town with Cookie. Something, anything other than that she’d up and lit out without bothering to tell him she was going. But when noon ticked around and still no Alice appeared, he had to know.
    “Jay wasn’t feeling well, so she took him home.” Bernie offered a bottle of beer, but Mick shook his head. “She left me and Cookie a note. Sorry, I should’ve mentioned it earlier.”
    “Nothing serious, I hope.” Dayna had a platter of deli meat and cheese in both hands. She’d been on the way to putting it on the dining room table, but paused at Bernie’s explanation.
    Paul, who’d been setting the table with flatware, put in, “He had a case of the vapors.”
    Dayna laughed. Mick didn’t. Bernie smiled briefly, but without much humor. Cookie came out of the pantry with some bags of chips, and lunch carried on without more on the subject. If Paul felt the loss of his boyfriend at the table, he didn’t show it. He spent his time charming Dayna and Cookie with stories about his world travels. They didn’t talk about Jay at all, nor about Alice.
    She hadn’t left Mick a note explaining her late-night escape. She hadn’t left him a message, either, though the cell service out here was spotty enough that even if she had, he wouldn’t get it until he was closer to home. He checked his phone anyway, dialing in to his voicemail just in case there was something there. Nothing.
    And nothing all day, though he tried not to think about it too much. Still, he felt her absence too keenly to ignore it. At the lake, during dinner, the games they played after. He thumbed a text or two to her, but suspected they didn’t reach her. Either that, or she wasn’t answering him, and the thought of that was worse than the fact she’d ducked out without telling him.
    Sunday morning, Mick made his excuses about wanting to avoid traffic and a heavy workweek ahead, and got on the road by 9:00 A.M. Bernie’s place was two and a half hours from his place, but only an hour and a half or so from Alice’s. He’d never been to her house, but she’d sent him a funny card in the mail a week or so ago. They’d been doing that, sending each other notes and cards. He’d had flowers delivered to her, too. He remembered the address.
    It wasn’t until he was pulling into her driveway that it occurred to him he should have called first, in case she were still in bed. Or not home. Or had snuck out of Bernie’s house without telling him because she never wanted to see him again. But it was too late, he’d been impulsive and now here he was. He had two choices—get out of the car and knock on her door and tell her there was no way he could last another day without being inside her. Or, he could be responsible and respectable and not a creepy stalker sex freak and go home.
    Mick got out of the car.
    * * *
    Alice had been up since dawn, too wired and anxious to sleep any longer. She and Jay hadn’t gotten home until six yesterday morning, and she’d managed to keep herself awake all day so she didn’t throw