Total pages in book: 176
Estimated words: 164533 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 823(@200wpm)___ 658(@250wpm)___ 548(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164533 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 823(@200wpm)___ 658(@250wpm)___ 548(@300wpm)
I shook my head. “No, Rhys. I don’t want—”
“Charli, she can’t just get away with it. She was going to slap you out there in the hallway. I’m so fucking angry I’m fit to be tied. You completely checked out like you’d gone somewhere else. Seeing you that way, it was devastating. I can’t forgive her for that.”
“But—”
“This isn’t a negotiation. No one gets to threaten you,” he said , and I felt like my heart was breaking all over again. Despite everything, my fondness for Rhys was a constant. Yes, I was furious about his interference and the burglary, but I also understood him to his core. It wasn’t in him to just let injustice go unchecked.
“She’s obviously hurting, and this is her way of dealing with it,” I said in an effort to reason with him, but Rhys abruptly shook his head.
“Other people shouldn’t need to suffer just because she’s hurting. Do you have any idea …” he trailed off, looking a little worked up as he shook his head at himself.
“Do I have any idea of what?”
His gaze flicked to mine, and at that moment, I saw all his frustration, everything he’d had to push down dealing with Stephanie’s immaturity since their breakup. When he spoke, his voice was flat like he was trying to suppress his anger. “I ended our engagement on Christmas morning because she’d been badgering me about Shay being my best man at the wedding. She wanted me to pick Derek instead because that fit better with her idea of a perfect wedding day.”
“I don’t under—” I started to say when realisation hit. Oh, man, that was horrible. I met his gaze in horror. “She didn’t want Shay because he’s mute?”
Rhys nodded, his jaw flickering as though just thinking about it infuriated him. Hell, it infuriated me to hear it, and at that moment, a lot of my empathy for Stephanie’s position went away.
“She thought it would ruin the speeches to have Shay sign. I was so mad I could barely stand to look at her.”
“Did you ever tell Shay?”
Rhys shook his head vehemently. “No, I could never bring myself to tell him something like that, for him to know the woman I thought I loved could be so callous and selfish, so bloody narcissistic.”
“So, that’s why you ended it,” I stated, and he nodded, shoulders slumped.
“It was the final straw, but there were a lot of frustrations leading up to that incident. Being with Stephanie, I just felt like I was going to live my life never feeling good enough to match her standards, and I suddenly realised what an exhausting, unhappy existence that would be.”
I lifted my hand to softly cup his cheek, and he seemed to melt into my touch. “In that case, I’m glad you ended things, but a part of me can’t help feeling for her because I understand a little of what she’s going through. You’re not an easy person to get over, Rhys.”
I cast my mind back to those early college days, the absolute heartbreak of missing him. And that was the thing, it was heartbreak. I’d fallen in love with him that summer but had been too terrified to admit it even to myself. And after spending these last weeks tangled in his bed, I’d fallen for him again.
The knowledge terrified me. After my divorce I’d been ready to be single for the rest of my life or at least enjoy a few years of independence while I learned how to be a person again. My development had been stunted as soon as I’d gotten involved with Jesse. In some ways, I was still twenty years old and trying to get to grips with my identity as an adult, find my place in the world.
“I can’t be sorry for what I’ve done,” Rhys murmured, taking my other hand in his, and I knew he was talking about Jesse again. “I won’t ignore it when someone hurts the person I …” His words fell off, his jaw working before his handsome, pleading eyes came to mine. “But I am prepared to grovel for forgiveness. If I’ve broken the trust between us, then I’ll do whatever it takes to mend it.”
“It’s not about the broken trust,” I told him gently. “In all honesty, I should’ve known you’d do this. Stephanie was right about one thing, you are a protector, Rhys, and I know you feel responsible for me in some way even though none of what happened in my life after that summer was your fault. In fact, a part of me is overjoyed to know Jesse might get what he deserves. That part also wants to fall at your feet in gratitude for getting my collection back.”
Fresh tears filled my eyes, and Rhys began wiping them away for me. “I can’t thank you enough for returning these to me,” I said, gesturing to the boxes. “It means more than you know. But I … I think all this just proves it would be a mistake for us to continue being together as we have been. I was wrong to ask that of you in the first place. Maybe Stephanie was right about that, too, in a certain sense. I’ve taken advantage of your open, generous nature, but I can’t keep doing it. We both deserve better. And I’ve spent so much of my life trapped almost completely under the authority of my husband. So, even though you and Jesse are poles apart, I can’t keep sleeping with you, Rhys.” I exhaled a breath laden with sadness. Sitting up straighter, I dropped my hand from his face then stood. “I need to learn how to survive alone, and I’ve been leaning on you far too much.”