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Damn it, Sam. Don’t do this.
She tried again. “Liam’s your best friend. You really think he’ll kick you to the curb because we had a fight?”
“He sure as hell isn’t going to appreciate me deflowering his baby sister. I promised him I wouldn’t t
ouch you—”
“Oh, get over that,” she snapped. “It’s a shield, and you know it.”
He closed his eyes and shook his head. “What do you want from me, Riley?”
I want you to love me back.
She didn’t say it, but when he opened his eyes and looked at her, she knew by the slight softening of his expression that he understood.
And worse, that he pitied her for it.
“Riley.”
She held up her hand. “Don’t. Just don’t.”
He opened his mouth to argue, but instead paced in a little circle. “So what now, we just drive back to the city in awkward silence?”
“Yes,” she said, pushing past him and yanking open the passenger-side door. “That’s exactly what we do.”
And they did. Five hours, and not a word or a glance between them. Riley held on good and tight to her anger. It was the only way to ward off her pain until she could get far, far away from him.
He didn’t love her.
The car ride was both endless and over too fast, and by the time he pulled up to the curb outside her apartment, the tension was thick enough to choke her.
And because she still couldn’t think of the right thing to say, she lifelessly lifted her hand for the door handle when his voice stopped her.
“Ri.”
She paused.
“I care about you. I do. I’m just not cut out for the happily-ever-after stuff. I tried, and failed. You deserve more.”
“Really? You’re going to try to spin this into the I’m-doing-this-for-your-own-good cliché?”
“What do you want from me?” Sam exploded, his voice finally losing its patient control. “You’ve already saddled me with a dog. What’s next? A wife? A baby?”
“That’s not even remotely fair! It’s not like I’ve been leaving Modern Bride magazines on your coffee table. I was simply suggesting that we attempt to have a mature, adult relationship for as long as we’re both feeling it.”
“Well, I’m not feeling it anymore,” he snapped.
“Just tell me what changed,” she said, grabbing his arm. “A few days ago I thought we were in a good place. You’re mad at me because I yelled at your mom? I overstepped. I get that, and I’ll call and apologize.”
“You weren’t wrong in the things you said to her, and the friend in me appreciates it, but that whole shit show was just the tip of the iceberg, and I’m not going to let you stick around and get pulled further in. You matter.”
“You’re breaking up with me because I matter? You know there’s no trophy for that, right?”
Her words were sarcastic and her tone fierce, but then a stupid tear escaped and ruined the whole effect. Sam saw it and his lips tightened before he reached out a finger and gently collected the tear, showing it to her.
“This is why, Riley. There’s one tear now, but the longer this goes on, the more there will be when we end things, and I can’t bear that. It’s time to get real about this.”
There were plenty more tears threatening to follow the first one, but not in front of him.
