AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Even with the slightly gray skies, the walk is pretty picturesque. A man with a dog is in the distance, with the Golden Gate bridge as a backdrop. I can tell already that Zooey is loving it. She snuggles her face in close to my chest as we walk.
“This is everything I ever wanted,” she admits. I can’t help smiling at her.
“You don’t ask for much, do you?”
Her smile seems forced now. “I didn’t think so. Until this morning.”
I sigh. As nice as this is, it’s hard to ignore the events that brought us here to this moment. I can’t forget the look on Lawrence’s face. I can’t forget the intense anger I felt toward him. I can’t forget how much he hurt my girl. I could have killed him in that moment. I hold Zooey close and kiss the top of her head. He can’t hurt her anymore.
“Don’t even think about that bastard,” I tell her. “He’s not worth a second more of your time.”
Zooey looks up at me with sad eyes. “How can you say that? He’s your best friend.”
“Was my best friend.”
“He still would be if I hadn’t ruined things for you…”
I stop in my tracks. Did she really just say that? I cup her face in my hands and look intently into her eyes. Her naivety about how I feel is endearing, and it’s stirring the need inside me to have her. I want her right now, but I know it’s not the right time. “Babe...listen to me. You didn’t ruin anything. If our friendship can’t survive this, then I don’t want it anyway. You’re everything to me, okay? You’re worth so much more than the shitty friendship we had. He clearly doesn’t care about me, so that’s it. I refuse to give any more of my energy to him. And so should you.”
Zooey tries for a smile, but fails miserably. This was never going to be easy, but I can tell she’s going to find it almost impossible to let go of everything that has happened. “It’s just hard, Wes. I lost him once, all those years ago when he walked out on my Mom. And now I just think I should have just given up on him. I didn’t know that it was possible for your parents to be bad people. Do you see where I’m coming from.”
I nod. I totally get it. She’s still got that childlike tendency in her, where she’s desperate to see the best in people. How can she not, when she spent years convincing herself that it was okay that her Dad abandoned her? She tried to give him a second chance, even though her guard was up, and now he’s thrown it back in her face, acting like she’s the one who broke her own heart. He finds it impossible to see that he’s in the wrong. It makes me sick to my stomach. How did I never notice these awful qualities in him before?
“I could kill him for what he did to you,” I growl. “That man doesn’t deserve you.”
“I thought he had changed…”
“Some people don’t change,” I snarl. The very thought of him right now is producing enough anger to make me see red. “He’s always going to be a piece of shit. I don’t care if he was my best friend. I don’t care if he’s your Dad. We don’t owe him a thing. We’re better off without him.”
Zooey reaches out to touch my cheek, looking pained by this entire conversation. I can see that she cares far too much about this entire situation. I can see her resolve breaking already. I can tell she wants to go back and apologize for the way she reacted. She’s desperate to rebuild bridges with the man who has caused her years worth of pain. But up until now, she hasn’t had a real man in her life to show her what she’s worth. I’m going to be that man.
“What about you?” she asks me gently. Even when her heart is breaking, she is looking out for me. This girl has a heart spun from pure gold. “What about the company? He has no right to take all that from you.”
I sigh. Losing my job was a kick in the teeth, admittedly. Lawrence thinks he can just snap his fingers and remove me as a partner in the company, and he’s probably right. He’s the kind of man who is prepared to win, even when he should lose. He will have prepared for a fight in the case of us facing a scenario where we couldn’t work together anymore. I can guarantee he’s thought of a million ways to crush me, because behind his laughter and parties and fake smiles, he’s a manipulative snake. I should have seen this coming. Maybe I did and I just pretended not to.
