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“Lucy, wait!”
She’s standing still when I turn to face her, her eyes boring into me. “Have you changed your mind?”
Shaking my head, I take a tentative step closer but stop when she steps back.
“He hurt you because ofme, Luce. He raped you to prove he could still have you afterwekissed. I can’t…” I trail off, unable to get the words out with emotion clogging my throat.
Lucy’s tears start up again and she frantically wipes them away.
“Please let me do this,” I beg, my gaze never leaving hers. “I need to know I’ve doneeverythingI can to keep you and Katie safe.”
“But you’re leaving us. How is that keeping us safe?”
“Because he won’t come after Katie, and you never have to give him any unsupervised access. And you’ll never be alone. We may not be together, but I’ll never let anything happen to you.”
She huffs out an ironic laugh. “He still wins. If you do thishewins.”
I’m already shaking my head before she’s finished speaking because she’s wrong. So wrong. “No, Lucy, he doesn’t. He’llneverwin because he fucked up. He fucked up the best thing to ever happen to him, and if he doesn’t have you and Katie, he loses.”
“But he will have Katie.”
“No, he’ll get toseeKatie. On your terms. There’s a difference.” I take another step forward, and this time Lucy lets me.
“I hate this,” she whispers. “And I hateyoufor doing it, but I understand it, and I think I hate that even more.”
My face falls. I hate it too. “I’m so sorry, Luce.”More than you’ll ever understand.
“I know,” she whispers again. “But sorry doesn’t change things. Stay away from me at work, okay? I can’t do this if you’re constantly around.”
I inwardly flinch, but on the outside I’m stone. “Okay, Luce. Okay.”
With that, she rushes off toward the house, slamming the door as she goes.
I don’t know how I get home. I don’t remember driving, and yet I must have, because I’m now lying face first on my couch with tears in my eyes. Of all the shit things I’ve done in my life, that would have to be the worst, and I will never forgive myself for the hurt I caused, or forget the look of absolute loathing on Lucy’s face. I deserved the slap, and yet I didn’t even feel it. I feel nothing. I’m still numb. And maybe that’s for the best.
Two days later, I still haven’t left my house, and my voice messages are piling up. I know I’m letting the team down, but I can’t focus on that long enough to care. I hurt the one person I promised never to hurt again, so I deserve whatever life throws my way.Give it all to me! Make me suffer.
Banging starts on my door, and while it’s deafening, it’s easy to ignore. At least until the door slams open a second later and a booming voice enters the room.
“Get the fuck up. People are worried about you.”
Did I leave the door unlocked?
“Did you hear me?” Carter yells again. “What the fuck is going on?”
I wish I knew. The world is so fucked-up right now.
“Wes!”Grayson. I’m taking his key back.
“What?” I groan, not even bothering to move.
“Why aren’t you answering your phone?” Carter says, continuing to attack me. “And why do I have one of my teammates all up in my grill because you broke his sister’s heart and then disappeared?”
Fuck!
Finally lifting my head, I look up at the two men that are supposed to be my closest friends and roll my eyes.
“I broke up with Lucy.”Obviously.
