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She’d rather be celibate than ever sleep with me.
Ouch. Why did that sting so bad?
She spun around and looked at me with wide eyes.
“Jesus, Sam,” Jason declared, though I could hear mirth underneath his scolding tone. “Do you have absolutely no filter? Super classy.”
Her face turned bright red, and her eyes darted around nervously.
“I-it was a joke,” she muttered, averting her gaze from me.
“Bullshit,” Jason scoffed.
Sam licked her lips and scratched at her cheek. The awkwardness in the air was palpable.
Deciding to take some pity on her, I said, “I want to talk to you. Alone.”
Before she could respond, I turned and stormed toward the back door of the bar. I didn’t look back, but I knew she was following me, likely reluctantly.
When I got outside, I kept my back to the door and took a few moments to compose myself while I waited for her.
I heard her step outside, and when the door shut behind her, I whirled on her.
“What is wrong with you?” I snapped.
She furrowed her brow. “What?”
“Why do you insist on being so difficult? On being so venomous toward me?” I ran my hands through my hair in an agitated gesture. “Christ, Sam, you’re driving me insane!”
“Are you serious?” she hissed, closing the distance between us so she could poke a finger in my chest. “I’m driving you insane? You come back after all this time and completely upend my life, andIdriveyouinsane?”
At that moment, it felt as though a dam were bursting inside me, and all the frustration and anger I’d been holding onto with her came pouring out. She appeared to be having a similar experience.
“I admit I made a mistake,” I growled. “I was a dick for leaving you after that night, but I can’t go back and undo the last seven years. I can only try to do the right thing now.”
“And what is the right thing, Ryan?” She poked a finger in my chest again. “Bulldozing your way back into town and ruining what Henry and I consider normal? You want to confuse and disrupt my kid’s entire life because you feel guilty? Screw you, asshole!”
“I’m Henry’s father!” I boomed. “I have every right to be in his life. You’re the one who kept him from me. You could’ve told me about him, Sam. I would’ve come back for him.”
“I know that!” she exclaimed, angry tears forming in the corners of her eyes. “I…I didn’t mean to keep him from you, but I was young and scared and stupid, and…and I made a mistake, I know that. But…but it was like you forgot I even existed.”
“That’s not what happened,” I insisted, my chest tightening at her despondent expression.
“It doesn’t matter!” she cried, full-on shoving at my chest with both her hands. “We can’t undo what’s been done. We can figure out a way forward for you and Henry, but that’s where things between us end.”
When she shoved at me again, I grabbed hold of her wrists to stop her.
“Sam, wait!” I bellowed. “I know you’re more than capable of living your life without me. Of raising Henry without me. But I don’t want you to!.”
“You selfish sonofabitch,” she cried, her tears breaking free and streaming down her cheeks. “I hate you! I want nothing to do with you! I want you to leave and never come back!”
I didn’t believe her. She thrashed against me, but I didn’t let her go, knowing she’d start swinging at me.
“That’s not going to happen,” I growled. “Not again. I’m not leaving, Sam.”
She stopped fighting my hold and glared up at me with her tear-stained face and eyes blazing.
“I hate you,” she repeated in a hiss.
