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He pinched his lips into a tight line, a contemplative look furrowing his brows. Then he declared, “Imogene told me about the game he used to play.”
I pulled away, a chill rushing through me. “Game?”
“Hide-and-seek.”
“What did…” I swallowed hard. “What did she tell you about it?”
His jaw twitched, vein throbbing in his neck. He quickly picked up his cupcake, closing his eyes as he drew in several deep breaths.
Something about the image of Lachlan Hale, all six-four and impressive muscle, holding a cupcake to suppress his anger endeared him to me even more.
Despite my insistence earlier today that I’d never be able to allow anyone into my heart.
But I had months ago.
I knew it.
Lachlan knew it.
And, best of all, Nick knew it.
“Imogene mentioned he’d make her hide from you just to see your reaction. To terrify you.”
I should have known Imogene would remember more than I’d hoped. She was young when Nick’s crimes made headlines. But the memories she did have were the foundation of her childhood. She may not recall the tiny details, but she remembered the big picture.
And this game was most certainly the big picture.
“She knew what he was doing hurt you, but she was too scared to say anything.”
He blew out a small laugh, shaking his head in disbelief. “It took a fourteen-year-old kid for me to realize what really happened today. The purpose of all those questions. I was so angry at you for not seeing this was just a way for him to manipulate you that I didn’t see the truth.”
“And what truth is that?”
“That I played right into his hand, too. Imogene said something that hit me.”
“She did?”
He nodded. “She said Nick doesn’t ask any question he doesn’t already know the answer to. So his little game earlier… It was his way of trying to manipulate you. To push you to your breaking point so you’d snap.” His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down in a hard swallow. “And me.”
I whipped my eyes to meet his. “What?”
“It was his way of trying to manipulate me, too. To push me to my breaking point so I’d snap.”
He set his cupcake back down and held my hands in his. “Do you remember what you used to do at night when Imogene was little? After he played one of his games?”
I nodded, blinking back my tears. “I’d always crawl into her bed.”
“And what song would you sing to her?”
I choked out a sob at the fact she remembered. “‘Smile’.”
“Exactly. So consider this my version of crawling into bed with you and trying to assure you that, no matter what that bastard attempts to throw at us, I’m not going to give up on you. On us. That’s what he wants. He may have won the battle today…” He moved his hands to my face, “but I’ll be damned if I’m going to stand by and let him win the war.”
“I shouldn’t have said—”
He shook his head, cutting me off. “Who cares if you don’t think you can trust anyone right now? Or give anyone a piece of your heart? I’ve never backed down from a challenge. And I won’t back down from this one, either. Even if it takes me every day for the rest of my life, I’m going to prove to you that there are good people in the world. And that, even though I may have my faults, I’m one of them. That you can trust me. And maybe, in time, that you can love me, too.”
He brought my face closer to his, his breath warming my lips. “I’m so bloody sorry for what I said,” he murmured against me. “Please, Julia… Let’s start again.”
