“Just go,” I say again, trying so hard to hang on to my anger so I don’t feel anything else. More precisely, those pesky feelings I am more determined than ever to bury. Because Jack is right. If Sawyer really did feel that for me—why didn’t he say anything? “Please leave.”
Those two simple words soften Sawyer’s expression. “I’m sorry, Anastasia.” Then, he turns and leaves the shop.
I stare after him, hating that he’s leaving even though I pushed him away.
Way to go, Anastasia.
Chapter 5
Sawyer
A large fist slams into my jaw, and pain radiates up through the side of my face. I fall backward, hitting the ground with such force that it knocks the wind from my lungs. Still, the hit is nothing compared to the one I took from Anastasia this morning.
The pain on her face isn’t something I’ll forget anytime soon. The brokenness in her expression as she uttered that single word: please. I’d wished for more of the fire. The anger. Because those are so much easier to deal with than her pain.
Had she loved Jack that much? Did the idiot seriously walk away just because she wasn’t ready to be married? How is that fair? Not everyone moves at the same speed. And Anastasia is worth the wait.
“Sawyer! Dude, come on!” Ryker, freshly back from his bodyguard assignment for Knight Security out of Maine, crosses the mat quickly and kneels at my side. “You have to at least try to block the hits.”
I spit my mouth guard out, breathing ragged from the sharp pain shooting through the side of my face. “Distracted.”
“Clearly.” He straightens, then reaches down and tugs me to my feet. “Was it really that bad?” The fact that he’s already heard about it shouldn’t surprise me. Garrison probably had him and Weston on a group call the moment he and Katelyn left dinner.
But that doesn’t mean I have to take the bait so easily.
“What do you mean?” I ask, feigning innocence.
He eyes me, annoyed, as he takes a drink from his water bottle.
“Fine. The idiot just walked away from her. Can you believe it? He pulled out of the driveway late last night and hasn’t been back since.”
“Can’t say I blame him,” Zane adds from the sidelines.
“How can you say that? She’s your sister!”
“She is. I don’t like that she’s hurting, but I saw the little moment of eye contact you two had after he proposed. What guy would want to compete with that?”
I stiffen. Surely that brief moment didn’t carry the weight he’s suggesting.
Even as I try to shove it aside, though, there’s a flicker of hope that grows in my chest. “You’re telling me that, if it was you and Tessa, you would have just let her walk away?”
“No,” he replies. “But I wouldn’t have waited over half a decade to say something.”
Ryker chuckles. “Man, Cap. I may have been the one who clocked him, but you’re coming in with the hard hits.”
“Like he said, she’s my sister. I want what’s best for her. Are you what’s best?”
I truly wish I had an answer for him, but I’m not sure. We come from two completely different worlds. I have no idea who my dad was, and my mom gave me up when I was five. I barely remember her, but I do remember not being enough. I spent more time in juvenile detention centers than I did in foster homes, and have a record with more stains on it than I care to admit.
Is that why I haven’t moved forward with Anastasia? Because secretly, I don’t think I’m what’s best? Jack would have been. From what he said about his family, they were a good group. He has a steady job.
I have my shop.
On paper, he’s the far better choice. So why does the thought of her actually saying yes make my chest ache? Who knows, maybe they’re just taking a quick break so she can think it over.
Maybe he’ll be back. And she’ll be sporting a diamond ring and a new last name before the end of the year.
“Don’t spend too much time thinking on it this time, Cable Guy.” Zane taps the ropes separating us. “All right, I’m headed to go get my wife for the festival. See you guys there?”
