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Riley giggles. “I think it’s cute.”
A strangled noise escapes from the back of Mali’s throat, but I’m too fixated on the door opening and Laiken walking through it. The fact that she’s even in the same room as Riley right now has me feeling like I’m going to die. It’s too fucking close. She needs to be a thousand miles away from her, not in the same room.
Looking like she’s been crying, Laiken walks up to the bar. “Can we talk?”
I take a deep breath, knowing this is going to break me…and her. “Not right now.”
My tone comes out clipped. Dismissive. And I can barely look her in the eye when I see her wince.
“Please? Just for a minute?” she begs.
I’m so frustrated it has to be obvious to everyone in the room. “I said no.”
I walk out from behind the bar and go over to clean up one of the tables, trying to put some distance between us, but she follows me.
“Hayes,” she presses. “It’s just a couple minutes of your time. Don’t I deserve at least that?”
Spinning around, I glare at her in a way I haven’t done since the first night she showed up here. “I fucking said no! I know you haven’t heard it a lot in your life, princess, but it means leave me the fuck alone!”
She recoils, placing her hand over her chest as her eyes fill with tears. “You don’t mean that.”
“Actually, that’s the first fucking thing I do mean.”
Each word that comes out of my mouth physically pains me to say, but I know I need to make this believable. More than anything, I need to convince her that we’re done.
“But why?” she starts to sob. “I thought we were getting better. You said we’d be okay!”
“I lied,” I say with a huff. “You were right. Idon’tlove you anymore. How could I after what you did to me? You expect me to forgive you for that? No.”
Her bottom lip is trembling, and the tears in her eyes make me need to physically restrain myself from reaching out to her.
“Go ahead and cry,” I tell her. “You’ll get no sympathy here. You did this shit to yourself.”
I go to walk away, but she’s so insistent, she tries one last time. “Don’t do this. We can fix it!”
She grabs my hand and I rip it from her grasp, knowing if she touches me, I’m going to cave. I’ll make it too obvious that I don’t mean a single word coming out of my mouth.
“You’re not fucking listening!” I scream. “I’m not in love with you anymore! The only thing I want is for you to get the fuck out of my life!”
Standing there, looking at me like I’m a fucking monster, she doesn’t move. And I need her to move.
I need her to get the fuck away from Riley.
“Go!” I roar, pointing to the door.
She chokes on a sob as she turns around and runs as fast as she can out the door. Mali walks around the bar and goes to follow her but turns to look at me first.
“You really are a fucking prick,” she tells me. “I don’t care how much you beg for her back after this. I’ll make sure she never even gives you a second glance.”
“Good,” I spit.
She leaves with Laiken and I grip the bar top, trying to exhale all of my frustration. Lai is exactly where I need her to be—anywhere but here. Riley is dangerous, and after last night, there’s no telling what she might do.
“Are you okay?” Riley asks. “That was intense.”
I take a deep breath, letting it all out as a heavy sigh. “Let’s just say marriage isn’t for everyone.”
“Or it could just be that you’re married to the wrong girl.”
