The Heart That's Meant to Love You

Chapter 60: Mugs

Kieran opened his apartment door to the sound of Tawny's "Ki-ki, you're back!"

He regretted ever allowing her to stay at his place, but he hadn't had much of a choice. If he didn't owe Tawny so much, Kieran would never have considered housing her. But he did, so he had.

"You were gone for so long." Tawny latched onto his arm like an octopus wrapping its tentacles around its prey. "You didn't want to come back to me?"

Tawny's long lashes batted up and down convulsively. The pout, Kieran had come to understand, meant she felt lonely. Or something had threatened the status she assumed she had. Kieran didn't know which it had been, but clearly something had set Tawny off. Her clinginess had skyrocketed to new levels in a matter of hours.

"What's wrong?" Kieran asked, monotone and uninterested.

"Nothing's wrong. I just missed you." Tawny reached up on tiptoe to press a kiss to Kieran's cheek.

Kieran didn't buy the cute act she had prepared.

Tawny always had a complaint to make. He doubted this time would be any different. Kieran could only wait for the shoe to drop.

He didn't expect the shoe to weigh a couple thousand pounds.

"You must be thirsty," Tawny exclaimed, dragging Kieran toward the kitchenette. "Let me get you something to drink."

Yeah, something was definitely wrong. Tawny didn't offer help without ulterior motives. Had she taken out another loan? It had barely been two weeks since the last time. What could she possibly need more money for?

Kieran winced. Better to forget that question and move on. He knew what Tawny used all the money for.

Tawny scrambled around the kitchen, pouring a soft drink into a mug and hastening to hand it to Kieran.

Kieran didn't miss the matching mug in Tawny's other hand. Making a point? Why?

Tawny held up the cup with a grin. "Do you remember when we bought these? I was so excited."

Kieran remembered, all right, but he hadn't been a part of the shopping trip. Tawny had brought the mugs home all on her own and, because they were inexpensive and they had needed cups, Kieran hadn't said anything about the couple-y look. After all, he couldn't let Tawny down when he already owed her.

"Do you have a point?" Kieran asked suspiciously.

Tawny grinned at the mug in her hands like it was her most prized possession. "These are our mugs, right? You wouldn't let anyone but me use the couple mugs."

Truth be told, Kieran let other people use Tawny's mug of choice all the time. They had a grand total of three cups in the cabinet. What did she expect him to use? But, somehow, Kieran knew that Tawny would freak out on him if he didn't answer how she expected.

Since he couldn't promise anything, Kieran heaved a sigh and asked a question of his own.

"What's really going on, Tawny?"

Tawny's smile turned into another pout. "One of your groupies showed up today."

"One of my groupies?" Kieran wracked his brain, trying to figure out how someone would know his address. He didn't bring girls home, specifically for this reason.

"She said she had something to return to you," Tawny continued. "But don't worry. I chased her off."

Suddenly, the puzzle pieces clicked in Kieran's head. Only one girl, aside from Tawny, knew this address. And she indeed had something she would return to him.

Naomi.

Kieran's chest clamped tight, his lungs refused to inhale. Naomi had come, which thrilled him. But she had met Tawny.

"Something to return to me, huh?" Kieran managed to sound semi-normal when he asked it.

"A poor excuse, I know." Tawny rolled her eyes. "But it's okay. I took care of her."

That's what frightened Kieran. Somehow, Tawny and Naomi meeting hadn't set the apartment on fire. Kieran thought it might have more to do with Naomi's collectedness than Tawny's generosity. It still didn't make him feel good about the situation.

Kieran steeled his nerves, set himself up for dashed hopes come Saturday, and asked Tawny the only thing on his mind. "What did you do to her?"

"I showed her the couple mugs." Tawny giggled. "She left pretty quickly after that. Aren't I brilliant?"

Brilliant was not a word that Kieran would use to describe Tawny. Clever, perhaps. Manipulative, sometimes. But not brilliant. She had given him the short version of the story, he was sure. With Naomi's temperament the cups might have worked, but somehow Kieran doubted that a pair of mugs would send Naomi running. Tawny had definitely done something else.

Kieran mentally groaned, knowing he couldn't fix anything if he didn't know what had been done.

Fix it? Aren't you trying to end it? His own inner voice, so rational, knocked at the back of Kieran's conscience.

He couldn't keep both of them. Kieran knew that much. Professor McNally's admonitions echoed in his head like voices in a cave. Kieran couldn't have his cake and eat it, too. That's why he had to leave Naomi.

As much as he knew that, Kieran's actions kept leading him in the opposite direction. Sure, he could blame it on others things. The need to end things well. Procrastination. His competitiveness when it came to Oliver.

Petty jealousy, his conscience corrected him.

Kieran set aside the mug that Tawny had handed him, completely untouched. Thinking about Naomi meeting Tawny made him sick to his stomach. He had to force himself to make theright decision. He had to send Naomi back to her safe and sheltered world.

It would be the hardest thing he ever did. Because he desperately wanted to keep her.