AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I shook my head. “I’m sorry.”
His left hand moved to his chin to rub the scruff on his jawline. He was so focused on the information I’d just shared that he didn’t notice my stare.
He still wore his wedding ring.
He still wore it.
He paced for a moment, rubbing his bottom lip with his fingertips, his eyes glazed over in a haze. “Thank you for sharing this with me.” He came back to me, both arms crossed over his chest again.
I’d expected more. I’d expected an embrace…a kiss…something.
But he continued to stand far away from me, treating me like a stranger.
“I miss you.” I felt the tears form behind my eyes. He used to be all over me all the time, and now I realized how special that was. He’d made me feel loved long before he’d said it. He made every other guy in my life feel like a damn joke.
His eyes hardened at my admission, locking me out and throwing away the key.
“I love you?—”
“You don’t get to do that.”
My body gave an involuntary flinch at his savagery. He had been barbaric to me during our last conversation, but I’d let it go because I knew he was more than his coldness in that moment. But it looked like that coldness was here to stay.
“You only believe me because you caught him red-handed.”
“I didn’t catch him red-handed. I heard him say something unrelated?—”
“That he’s conspiring to kill the man you love. Smoking gun.”
My eyes flicked back and forth between his, hating the abrupt change in our relationship, the rift that couldn’t be healed. “I’m sorry that I didn’t believe you, but you must understand how complicated of a situation that was for me?—”
“It’s not complicated.”
“He’s all I’ve ever had. Do you have any idea how this will destroy me?” The tears broke free. “That the man I thought I could trust, no matter what, destroyed my marriage and hurt the man I love most? I haven’t even had time to process this because I rushed straight here after I found out, because I care more about you right now.”
His gaze was still hard as steel, showing he felt absolutely nothing.
“Please…give me another chance.”
He looked away, staring at the wall for a few seconds before shifting his stare to the floor. “Your father gave me a choice. You or my parents. I chose my parents, but I somehow lost both of you. That man has single-handedly ruined my life, and I had to tolerate that destruction alone. I jumped through endless hoops to earn you, but when I finally trusted you enough to tell you the truth, you left me.”
“What did you expect me to do? He’s my father. You just said you picked your own father over me?—”
“It would have been one thing if you just didn’t believe me. But the fact that you left…” He shook his head. “The fact that you abandoned us when I’ve never once abandoned you…tells me everything I need to know.”
The tears continued to drip down my cheeks. “You should have told me sooner?—”
“What difference would it have made?” Now he started to yell again. “It would have made no difference—at all. Because you’re blinded by your stupidity. If your father told you to jump offa bridge, you would. You’re a fucking puppet with an invisible string. I looked your father in the eye and told him I loved you—and he still ripped us apart. He shot my father in the arm. You’ll never understand how it feels to know that your parents despise you. I begged him to come clean with you and even told him I would help repair your broken relationship, and he still said no. And the fact that he still hasn’t told you, even now…” He shook his head. “Shows me how little he respects you. How little he cares for you. You’ve known from the beginning that you were my whole world, and you threw it away.”
I sobbed. It was all I could do.
“I’m done,” he said simply. “We’re buried in too much shit now.”
“We love each other?—”
“Loved.”
“Loved?” I forced myself to stop crying. “I see your wedding ring…”
