“I can’t believe you. That’s it? You fuck another woman and now this is my fault?”
He zipped up his bag and pulled on some clothes. “You know, I was willing to put up with a lot of shit to get you back. And after I fucked that woman tonight, I realized something. There’s not a single woman out there that could ever wipe you out of my mind. So I came back here and I was fucking terrified that I would lose you as soon as you found out. But then you found out and you just walked away like you didn’t give a shit, and that made me realize something else.”
“What’s that?” I asked sarcastically.
“You don’t ever fight for me. I’m always the one fighting to have you by my side, and sometimes I win, but it’s always on me to put in the effort. You know, just once I want you to be the one that can’t live without me.”
He slung his bag over his shoulder and shoved past me as he walked out the door.
✯✯✯✯✯
My stomach was in knots all night. I couldn’t sleep and I couldn’t stand the thought of being in this house without Alec. I thought I had wanted him gone, but now that he packed a bag and left, I knew that being here without him would kill me. But I couldn’t stick around Reed Security either. I needed to get away and get some perspective. So, I did what Alec did, I packed a bag and headed for the door, but when I opened the front door, Craig was standing there, his eyebrows raised in surprise when he saw my bag.
“Going somewhere?”
“Just getting away for a few days.”
“And were you planning on sharing this with anyone?”
“I sent Cap an email.” I tried to move past him, but he blocked my path.
“Hold on, you can’t just walk out of here without telling me where you’re going or when you’ll be back. What’s this about anyway? Does this have to do with Alec crashing on my couch last night?”
“Did he tell you what happened?”
“No.” He shrugged, tucking his hands into his pockets. “I figured it was the same old shit with you two.”
“Same old shit,” I chuckled. “Is that what our problems have become?”
“Well, it kind of is. He tries to find a way to make you happy and you shit all over him.”
“Since when did you start taking his side?” I asked accusingly.
“Since he’s doing everything he can to get you back and all you did is tell him how much you hate him. A guy can only take so much-”
“He fucked another woman,” I practically shouted. My chest was heaving and the tears were so close to the surface that I had to turn away. I was never weak in front of anyone, especially my teammates. That led to the whole uncomfortable aspect of being a woman with emotions. I sucked back my emotions and turned to look at him. He was just staring at me, but there was no surprise on his face. “You act like you expected this.”
“Well, when you tell a man that he’s useless…”
I huffed out a laugh, “So, now he can’t take a little criticism?”
Yeah, it sounded harsh even to me.
“Is that what you think you’re doing to him? Florrie, I’ve been there. You can bullshit everyone else. You can tell them how unfeeling Alec is. You can tell them that Alec was wrong in this whole fucking thing, but the shit you said to him was harsh, and he just stood there and took it.”
“And that’s my problem?” The truth was, I wanted the fight, but he would never give it to me. He just accepted me yelling at him.
“He knew you were hurting and that you blamed him. He was taking everything you threw at him because he knew you needed to take your anger out on someone. But frankly, every time that you jabbed that knife in, you were pushing him closer and closer to something like this. It was only a matter of time before he went out and did something stupid.”
“So, you’re siding with him? He cheated on me and that’s okay?” I asked incredulously.
“I didn’t say that, but what did you expect? Did you really think he would stand around and take your shit until you finally forgave him? Yeah, he fucked up, but this is just as much on you. And now he’s gone. What’s it going to take for you to realize what’s standing right the fuck in front of you? I swear to God, Florrie, it’s like the last time you broke up all over again. When the fuck are you going to pull your head out of your ass and see what’s right in front of you?”
He turned and walked out the door without another word. There was some logic to what he was saying. Part of me wanted to go to Alec and see if we could work through this, but the other part of me was so angry that he had screwed that other woman that I just couldn’t see myself walking up to him and talking to him logically. And a huge part of me didn’t want to admit that I was wrong. I knew it deep inside. I had pushed him away, but that didn’t excuse what he did.
I grabbed my bag and walked out the door, because there was no way I was ready to talk this out with Alec, and there was no way that I was sticking around to get another lecture from anyone else.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVENAlec
“Wake up, asshole.”
Water splashed across my face and I jerked upright as the cold water worked its way down my shirt.
“What the fuck was that for?”
Craig raised an eyebrow at me. “I just talked with Florrie. I thought she might be able to tell me why you slept on my couch last night. Guess what she told
