“He was holding your fucking hand!”
“He’s the reason I was coming home to you,” she shouted.
I was about to rush him again when it finally clicked in my head what she said. My eyes locked with hers and hope surged inside me. “You were coming home to me?”
“Yeah, well, I’m regretting that decision now.”
“Florrie, put the poor man out of his misery,” Jamie said as he pushed off the floor. “He may deserve to suffer, but he did come all the way out here to get you back.”
She bristled in irritation, crossing her arms over her chest. “Fine, I was going back.”
I glanced at Jamie, wondering what caused this sudden change of heart, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. Florrie turned to Jamie and pulled him in for a hug.
“Thank you for having me and for dealing with my crazy…Alec.”
“I told you, any time.”
She smiled at him and pushed past me out the door. There was so much left unsaid as I stood there with him. I turned to leave when he spoke.
“I really fucking hate you for what you did to her.”
I stopped walking and glanced over my shoulder. “Me too.”
“She doesn’t want me, you know. I know you think that she came here to get back at you, but it’s not like that, as much as I may want it that way. She only wants you. Make sure you earn it.”
I turned and faced him, holding out my hand to him. “I will, every fucking day.”
He nodded, shaking my hand. “Good, because I’d really hate to have to come kick your ass.”
I chuckled and turned for the door. “Thanks for taking care of my woman.”
Florrie was waiting in the hallway, her eyebrow quirked as I walked toward her.
“Florrie, I-”
She grabbed me by the shirt and yanked me to her, kissing me hard and making my knees go weak. When she pulled back, she glared at me and punched me across the jaw. My head whipped to the side and blood pooled in my mouth. I worked my jaw, rubbing at the bruise that I could already feel forming.
She picked up her bag and slung it over her shoulder. “Just be happy I didn’t use my gun this time.”
✯✯✯✯✯
It was a long fucking drive, and Florrie wasn’t with me. She had her own truck, so the drive back was all by myself. There was so much that I had to say, and I went over it in my head, preparing for when we got home. But when we pulled in, nothing went as planned. Neither of us knew how to start or what to say. And it was so late at night that neither of us was really interested in diving into that conversation. So, we both went to bed instead. I laid there the whole fucking night, just waiting for my opportunity to talk to her in the morning.
When the sun came up, I rolled out of bed and went downstairs to make coffee. Florrie wasn’t too far behind me. I poured her a cup and we sat at the table staring at each other.
“I’m sorry,” I finally said. I hadn’t said it that night, and it probably should have been the first thing out of my mouth.
She pursed her lips and took a sip of her coffee. “I’m sorry I blamed you for Reid being taken. I’m not saying that I’m over the way things happened, but I know it wasn’t solely your fault.”
“You know, that feels like a backhanded way of saying that you still blame me for what happened.”
She dropped her eyes for a moment, but then seemed to resolve herself to talking about this. “I do, but I also know that the Fullers were the ones that initially came after Reid. Our chances in court were never good, and I can see that now. But I hate that you made decisions without me. It feels like you were fighting for them instead of us.”
I nodded and went for the truth. “I guess I was. I told you, I’ve been there before. I never wanted to lose Reid, but I couldn’t help wanting him to have what I never did, even if that didn’t include me. And I know you can’t understand that. I don’t expect you to. But I hope you realize that I never did any of this to hurt you.”
“It’s just going to take some time. I think it’s something that I can get past with time. I just…”
Her jaw clenched as her eyes filled with tears. She didn’t look at me, so I reached across the table to let her know that I was here for her. Shock crossed her face and she tried to pull back, but I wasn’t letting go this time. I held on and I was never letting go.
“I miss him,” she whispered. “I don’t know how to let him go. He was supposed to be mine.”
“I know,” I croaked, feeling the pain she was in. I wasn’t heartless. I knew this was devastating for her.
She cleared her throat and wiped the tears from her eyes. “I can get past that. I know I can, but I’m not sure about the…the cheating. Alec, that hurt more than losing Reid.” She pulled her hand away and I let her for now. That subject was still too painful for her, and I could imagine that holding my hand while talking about me fucking another woman was something she just couldn’t do. “I didn’t realize until I found out that you slept with…whoever she was…that it hurt me more to know that you would do something like that to me. And then I realized that I had done it to myself. I pushed you away and made you feel like you didn’t mean as much to me as Reid.” She laughed slightly. “Actually, it was Jamie that made me realize that.”
I hated
