"You still love her."
Not a question.
"I'm never going to stop, Colt." My voice comes out destroyed. "That's the problem. I can walk away. I can tell her we're done. I can mean it with every fiber of who I am. But I'm still going to love her. Every single day. For the rest of my life. And there's not a damn thing I can do about that."
He takes the bottle.
“Fuck, brother. It almost makes me believe what Gianna said when she was here.”
I nod.
"Then maybe the question isn't whether you love her. Maybe it's whether you trust her," he says.
I stare at the east fence. At the horizon that Paulie used to watch.
"I don't know anymore."
Colten nods.
"I'm here," he says. "Whatever you need. I'm right here."
I take another drink. The bottle is getting lighter. The pain isn't. I don’t know if it ever will anymore.
"Just sit with me, Colt."
"I'm not going anywhere, brother. You know that."
I rest my head back against the wood and close my eyes. Replaying the moment my Harper kissed her husband.
I can't save her.
I don't know if she wants me to.
And I love her anyway.
That's the thing about love that Gianna got wrong. It isn't a weakness. A weakness is something you can fix. Something you can train out of yourself, patch up, move past.
Love is a wound that never closes.
And Harper Jones is mine.
CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
Harper
Ten Days Later…
My fingers hover over Ace's Instagram story. I don't click it. I can't. Instead, I stare at his post from ten minutes ago.
He hasn't blocked me. So that's something.
Shirt off. Smiling with Seven next to him. I don't know why, but I scroll through the comments. So many women. All thirsting after him. And I don't blame them. He is panty-melting. The most handsome man I've ever seen.
And me? I'm rotting in bed for the second day in a row because I feel like death. All I want is Ace to hold me and tell me I'm okay. But I'm seriously starting to think I'm not. I can't eat. I can't sleep through the night. The stomach cramps are insane.
Emma thinks I'm stressed. She's worried about me. Hell, I’m starting to worry about myself.
Hudson thinks I'm being dramatic and is making me go back to work today.
