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“No, baby. I’m not going to be the reason that you don’t get everything you’ve ever dreamed of in life. You deserve to get married. You deserve the wedding of a lifetime. I’m not going to hold you back and have you hating me years down the track. I won’t.”
“No,” she sobs. “Don’t. Please.”
I let out a breath and bring my finger up to her chin, gently raising it until those green eyes lock onto mine, knowing that what I’m about to say is going to be what seals the deal. “What about kids?” I ask her. “I see it in your eyes when you look at Sara’s belly. You want a family of your own. You want to be a mom and raise your beautiful babies, so desperately that thought of never getting to meet them tears you apart.”
Understanding dawns in her gorgeous green eyes, and she looks at me in horror, seeing this just as clearly as I do. We’re not compatible, not anymore. “You don’t want them?” she questions, fear shining in her eyes.
I shake my head, knowing just how much I’m breaking her. “No, Bri,” I murmur, my fingers brushing over her soft cheek. “I don’t.”
“Ever?” she asks, her lips trembling as her grip loosens around me.
With a nod, I confirm her worst nightmare. “Ever.”
Agony shoots through her eyes, and she looks at me with complete betrayal, her heart in pieces on the ground between us. She pushes up off me and stands in the center of the room looking like only half the woman I know her to be. Bri crosses her arms over her chest, closing herself off from me with furrowed brows, trying to take it all in.
I get to my feet, having no fucking idea what I’m going to say as she remains silent, just staring at me, and fuck, I want nothing more than to run to her and take it all back.
Bri wipes at her red eyes before finally finding her voice. “How could you let us go on for two years knowing that we could never work?” she questions, that broken tone destroying every last shred of goodness within me. “Why would you let me fall in love with you? What kind of monster does that?”
I walk to her, making sure she completely understands what I’m trying to say. “I’m sorry. I was fucking selfish. I thought you knew that I didn’t want those things. I thought we were happy and content living as we were. I knew you thought about marriage and children as a possibility, but it wasn’t until last night I realized just how important those things were to you. We’ve never had that conversation.”
“Yeah,” she scoffs. “Because I was too fucking terrified of scaring you away. I thought you’d get there on your own.”
“I want to give you the world, Bri, but this . . . I just can’t. You’re not going to be happy living in a world where you don’t get to be someone’s wife or mother.”
She looks away, and I step right into her, gripping her chin and forcing her gaze back to mine. “As much as it kills me to say, if it means that you need to be with someone else to get everything you deserve and want out of life, then that’s what’s got to happen. I need to bow out now and let you have that chance.”
Bri stares up at me, and I watch as her walls start locking into place, knowing this might be the last time I ever get to see inside. She’s reached her emotional threshold and has taken just about all she can handle. “You’re telling me I’ve spent the last two years falling in love with the wrong man?”
Fuck, that hurt. But yeah, she’s right.
I don’t respond, but she doesn’t need me to, she sees the pain all over me. She’s always been so stubborn, always needed to get the last word, and with that, she delivered the final blow, taking me out in one fell swoop.
Bri holds my stare for a moment longer, the silence between us like knives straight through the chest. Then all too soon, she presses her lips into a hard line and nods, finally accepting what will be. And with that, she collects her phone off the bedside table and disappears through the door, leaving me a shallow, broken shell of the man I used to be.
Chapter 5
BRIANNA
After rushing down the stairs in nothing but Carter’s dress shirt, I barge my way through every damn door until I find the one person who could possibly give me any sort of comfort right now.
Fuck. Why is this house so damn big?
I need to get out of here. Where the fuck are you, Bobby?
I wipe my sore eyes, but it’s useless as another tear streaks down my face. I can hardly breathe, the wretched sobbing now uncontrollable. Fuck, I’ve never felt so broken, so hollow and empty. How is this happening? Hell, why is it happening? We were so fucking happy. Not even twelve hours ago, he was taking me in the guest bathroom outside his sister’s wedding reception. He was supposed to be my forever. Carter Waters is my soulmate, and I know that with every fiber of my being.
