“What promise?”
“You said to never fall for a man who wouldn’t dance with me. He wouldn’t have done this,” I whispered, crying onto his shoulder. “He would’ve never danced with me.”
“Then why did you choose him?”
I sniffled and didn’t reply because my answer felt too pathetic to face.
Because I was alone and scared of being alone and scared for the small remainder of my life that would’ve been experienced alone.
“Why did you say that the last time we saw each other? Why did you tell me not to marry him? Did you think I wasn’t good enough for him?”
He arched a bewildered brow and shook his head. “No. Of course not. I just knew he was nowhere near good enough for you.”
I wanted to believe those words, but still, it was hard.
We kept dancing until the crew had finally had enough and kicked us out.
“Where would you like me to take you?” Connor asked.
“I don’t know. I have nowhere to go. I can’t go to Jason’s penthouse. It’s not mine. It’s his, and I have no one, nobody to…I have nowhere to go and—”
“You’ll stay with me tonight,” he said, cutting into the panic rising in my chest. “You’ll stay with me.”
15
Connor
I showed Aaliyah to one of my spare rooms and gave her a change of clothes. She thanked me quietly before she went into the room, closing the door behind her.
If there was anything she needed that night, it was rest.
I headed back to my office. I felt exhausted but knew I probably wouldn’t be able to sleep any time soon. Therefore I’d do what I did best: pour myself into work.
Around one in the morning, my phone dinged.
Jason: Hey. Did everything work out?
Did everything work out?
The nerve of the asshole. I’d sent him a million text messages that day, called a billion times, and left a trillion voice messages begging for him to reply. To at least call Aaliyah. To man up and answer for the massive storm he had created. To face the broken heart he had destroyed. Yet I hadn’t heard a peep from him for almost twenty hours, and when he did reply, that was all he had to say.
Did everything work out?
Jason: Is Aaliyah okay?
He couldn’t be serious.
He couldn’t be that idiotic to think there was any kind of scenario where Aaliyah was anywhere close to being okay.
I wanted to cuss him out. I wanted to rip the fucker a new one for thinking any of his actions toward that poor girl were okay. Sure, Aaliyah was a hot mess, but it was because she really cared about the dick. She was the first girl I’d seen Jason with who looked at him as if he were someone worthy of being with. Plus, when she wasn’t completely destroyed, she was kind, graceful, and beautiful inside and out. She had a pure heart, and Jason had felt the need to destroy it.
He’d disappeared without anything more than a few words scribbled on a piece of paper, leaving me to clean up his mess, his mistakes. He’d left as if leaving was the easiest thing for him to do.
So that night, I ignored him. I ignored his messages, I ignored his fake concern, and I secretly hoped karma would find its way to him, if only for that night.
When I got up to head to bed, I was surprised when I heard sniffling from the guest room. She was still up and clearly crying. Without thought, I headed over and knocked on the door. When she opened it, I felt as if I’d been sucker punched. She looked drained. Destroyed.
“Sorry, was I being too loud?” she asked.
“No, no. It’s not that.” I frowned and crossed my arms. “I just wanted to say you’re important.”
“What?”
“You’re important. I want you to know that fact to counter any person who’s ever made you feel as if your existence isn’t of value. This world is better because you’re here.”
She let out a low chuckle. “How did you know I was feeling unimportant?”
“Because even though I’ve only spent short amounts of time with you, I know you care and feel things deeply.”
She leaned against the doorframe. “Can I tell you a secret?”
“Yes.”
“I’m afraid that before I die, I’ll never find my person, or my family. I’m afraid I’ll always be alone until my final day.”
“That’s not true. You’re a leading lady.”
“What if I don’t get the hero?”
“That’s fine, too. Contrary to popular belief, you can still have a happily ever after without another person being involved. Sleep tonight,” I ordered, nodding once.
“I’ll try.”
“Sleep tonight,” I repeated, brushing away the few stray tears that danced down her cheeks with my thumb.
“I will.”
“You’re lying.”
“I am.”
“Do you want me to sit with you? So you don’t feel alone?”
Her lips parted for a second before she shook her head. “No. I can’t ask you to do that. I’m okay. Really, it’s fine.”
That was enough to convince me she needed me to stay. She was terrified of loneliness. I saw how it was eating at her that night. I refused to leave her alone in that state of mind.
I walked into the room and sat down in the desk chair. She climbed into the bed and quietly thanked me for doing that small act. It was the least I could do. I couldn’t take away her pain that night. I couldn’t unplug the wild thoughts racing through her mind. I couldn’t even begin to understand an ounce of what she was feeling.
I did the only thing I could do for a woman who had been abandoned and left stranded alone. I did the only thing that felt right. I stayed.
16
Aaliyah
Daylight poured into the bedroom through the curtains, and I groaned as it hit my cheeks. I had yet to open my eyes, the pounding of my brain making me feel nauseous. I
