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“When you add all that together with how worried you were, no—not worried—bloody terrified you’d never see her again…” When he teared up again, I nearly did as well. “Anyway, you overreacted. Given everything you’ve done for Bex over the years, what you’ve done for her in the last few days, I’m angrier with her for not allowing you to apologize.”
“Perhaps it’s justified,” I muttered.
“Yeah? Even if it is, I can’t believe she’s going to walk away from twenty years of you being her damn knight in shining armor.”
“Maybe she needs time.”
“Of courseyou defend her.”
“Kai, I love her. I always have.”
“I know you do. You know what else? She loves you too. She’s just too fucking scared to do anything about it.”
“Because of what I said?”
He shook his head. “No, because you’re all she’s got.”
“You’re not making sense. Iloveher,” I repeated.
“Who, besides you, has ever shown Bexli what love is? Her dad? Her mum? Her arsehole brother?”
I shook my head and closed my eyes. “I don’t know what to do.”
“I do.”
“What?”
“Come to the pub with us. All the guys are going.”
“Z?”
Poseidon scowled. “He’s not one of the guys.”
“Ares?”
“Yeah, Ares. Come on, you can’t avoid him too.” He leaned forward. “Listen, Cay, let us say thank you. Let us take some weight off your shoulders tonight. You’ve been carrying far too much lately.”
“All right. I’ll go, but only for a pint. Then I’m coming home to sleep.”
“I’ll bring you myself.”
I didn’t believe him any more than he believed me.
We hadthe pub to ourselves for the first couple of hours. Then the regulars started pouring in. I’d known everyone in the place my whole life. While most were friends, there were a few, like Bex’s dad and brother, who thought the Traces were a bit full of ourselves, but I never paid them any mind. Yeah, we were bloody rich, but we weren’t arseholes about it. We’d employed almost half the town of Shere at one point. Maybe we still did. I leaned up against the wall when I felt the room tilt. God, was I an arsehole because I didn’t know?
I studied the almost-empty pint in my hand. I lost count of the number I’d had. Too damn many.
“Get over here, Cay. You’re up.”
“You can’t seriously expect me to throw darts,” I muttered, walking over to where Poseidon waited for me.
“I have a score to settle. You’re up four to one. Since you’re pissed, maybe I’ll be able to beat you.”
I picked up the first dart, tried to focus on the fuzzy target, and threw.
“Bloody hell!” Poseidon shouted. “He’s absolutely badgered, and he gets a bullseye. I give up.”
“Thank God,” I muttered, knowing I couldn’t throw another one and hope to hit the target at all.
