“Florrie!” Cap called after me as I ran out of his office. I didn’t know where to go or what to do. I just knew that I had this anger inside of me and no way to control it. I was so blinded by my anger that I didn’t even realize that I ran into someone until a strong hand gripped onto me.
“Whoa. What’s the rush?”
“Move out of my way,” I snapped at Cazzo. He crossed his arms over his chest and quirked an eyebrow at me.
“Is there some reason that I pissed you off that I don’t know about?”
“How about the fact that you’re standing in my fucking way?”
He chuckled, rubbing his hand across his jaw. “Yeah, I can see how that would cause that bubbly personality of yours to come out.”
“Whatever.” I shoved past him, but he gripped onto my arm, refusing to let me go.
“Does Alec get the pleasure of this wonderful attitude every night?”
“What the fuck does it matter to you? Or have you suddenly sided with him?”
He held up his hands, backing up a step. “You know I’m on your side, but you have to lock down that attitude.”
“Why should I?”
“Do you like walking around being that angry all the time? Because I’ve been there. I’ve been pissed at the world and ready to tell anyone that came near me to fuck off. I pushed away my whole goddamn team and anyone else that was within five feet of me.”
“And yet you still stand here today,” I said sarcastically.
“Because I was lucky enough to have someone stand by me that could help me see what I was missing out on.”
“I don’t need Alec. He’s the reason I’m in this mess.”
Cazzo’s face softened and he shook his head slightly. “It seems that way, but it’s not really his fault.”
“How do you figure? If it weren’t for him, I would still have my kid.”
“Florrie, Alec is everything to you. We can all see that. We all know what he means to you. You can push him away all you want, but it’s not going to work. He’s not going to leave you no matter how much you try to make him. Can’t you see that he would do anything for you?”
I snorted. “Yeah, he would do anything for me, right? He loves me so much that he helped the Fullers take Reid from me. You say he loves me so much that he would do anything for me, but you know what? He’s useless. When I needed him he wasn’t there. So, don’t try and convince me that we belong together, because it’s not true. I need a man that would do anything for me, and that’s not him. He’s no man at all.”
I spun around to leave and came face to face with Alec and Sinner. Alec’s jaw was set hard, but his eyes were defeated. I momentarily felt bad for what he had just overheard, but then my anger surged and I just couldn’t bring myself to care.
“Do you get it now?” I snapped.
He nodded, but didn’t say anything. Where was the man that fought with me and forced me to listen to him? This wasn’t Alec. This was some pathetic version of him that I didn’t recognize anymore. He wasn’t the man I wanted or needed anymore. He was just this awful knockoff of the man I once loved.
I scoffed and pushed past him. “You’re fucking useless.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVEAlec
“Wow,” Sinner said from beside me. “She just took your balls in her hand and squeezed the fuck out of them. I’m serious. I can feel that shit in my own balls.”
The last thing I needed was others witnessing how humiliating it was to be on the opposite side of Florrie right now. And the thing was, I couldn’t fight back. She was angry with me, and she had every right to be. Whether I felt justified in my decision or not, I had hurt her by going against her. That anger that she felt, I knew it ran deep and I knew it would be hard for her to get past. I just had to ride it out.
“Are you seriously just going to take that shit?” Sinner asked.
“She’s angry,” I answered, still feeling her words cut deep. “She needs to hurt me because I hurt her.”
“It’s not right,” Cazzo said. “I didn’t agree with you either, but fuck, man. She shouldn’t be talking about you like that, not to anyone else. If she wants to say that shit in private, that’s one thing, but not to your coworkers. That’s crossing a line.”
“You think I don’t know that? Do you think I like hearing her say that I’m not a man? That I’m fucking pathetic? I fucking hate every second of it. It tears me apart that she feels that way, but she’s so fucking angry right now that she can’t even see what she’s doing to us. And I don’t know how to help her through it. I did something that she can’t forgive.”
“Yeah, but if she keeps up with that shit, she’s just going to drive a wedge between the two of you that’s so deep there’s no coming out of it in one piece,” Cazzo said. “You can’t let her do that shit to you. And if you keep letting her walk all over you, you’re not the man that she fell for.”
“So, you want me to push back with her? Do you really think that will make her forgive me?”
“It’s gotta be
