AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Don’t do this. Don’t give up on us without a fight.”
But I was fighting. I was fighting with everything I had against everything I wanted—him—so he could have his dream.
Collin’s lips flattened. “I don’t know what you think you’re doing, or what he’s promised you, but Martin isn’t a good guy. You can’t work here. Can’t be indebted to him.”
“It’s not a matter of choice, Collin.”
If I could choose, I would choose him. But I’d been building my life around a dream for a while now, and dreams weren’t sustainable in real life.
Tonight, that had to stop.
“This is just life,” I said sadly. And life sucked without a soundtrack playing in the background to make it seem pretty.
“I have some money saved.” His brows drew together. “And a contract with RDA, or we will as soon as everything’s finalized. I love you, Addy. I want you with me. I don’t think you get what you mean to me.”
I did, but he meant more to me, and it ripped me in two. I was torn between desire and love, but love won out. Love for him, for my sister, and for Barry.
“Come with me,” Collin pleaded.
He didn’t realize the battle was over, and that my loss meant he’d won. Not this skirmish, maybe, but the war overall. I had to believe he would eventually see what I was giving him, and what it had cost me.
“We can do this,” he said.
“No, we can’t.” I broke free of his embrace and stepped back, wobbling on trembling legs. “Did you forget what happened to my parents?”
“Your mom is ... was ... an addict.” His eyes narrowed. “Your dad abandoned you, is that what you mean?”
I nodded, but it hurt, hearing my life summed up in such accurate but bleak terms.
“My mom wasn’t always an addict,” I said. When Collin cocked his handsome head to the side, I continued, needing to get it all out. We were reaching the end. “My dad’s a professional musician. To make any decent money, he had to travel a lot, gone more than he was home. Dad had so many plans, so many grandiose ideas. He made so many promises before he left us that last time and never returned. It broke my mother’s heart. He broke ...”
My throat closed up and I couldn’t finish. He’d more than broken my heart. He’d damaged it so badly, I feared it couldn’t ever be repaired. Not even by Collin.
“I’m not your dad.” His eyes flared.
“I’m not my mother either, but I could be. I won’t let that happen. I have a choice, and this is me making it. I choose to stay, to make the best life I can here. I choose to let you go.” I swallowed, and my love for him spilled warm and wet from my eyes. “Get out of Southside. Be happy, Collin. Be successful.”
“Addy ...” His eyes were bright and shiny, like chrome wearing a sheen of rain. “Don’t do this.”
“It’s already done.”
I ripped my heart out and laid it at his feet. Bruised and defective, it wasn’t worth much, but it was all I had to give.
Desperately needing to flee, I spun around and almost ran into Martin’s big bodyguard. Startled, I jumped back.
“Miss Footit, are you all right?” He swept his serious gaze over me before aiming it at a spot over my shoulder.
“Yes, sorry I almost ran over you.” With a deluge in my eyes and very little hope that he hadn’t overheard my conversation with Collin, I ducked my head and tried to move around the bodyguard, but he blocked me.
“Yikes.” I put my hand to my throat. How could a guy so big move so fast?
“He upset you,” the bodyguard said after another stern look over my shoulder. “I’ll have a word with him.”
And by “a word,” he meant he would pulverize Collin.
“No.” I grabbed the bodyguard’s arm, which felt like bulky steel wrapped in scratchy polyester.
“Miss.” His gaze as steely as his arm, he glanced down at my hand and then met my gaze. “I don’t like people touching me.”
