“You’ve said all I need to hear. You don’t want me. You literally left me all alone last night to prove it.”
Is that what she thinks? How the hell did I mess this up so bad, so fast?
“That’s not it.” I block her way out. “Please just let me talk to you.”
Her bags thud on the floor when she drops them. Crossing her arms tightly, she hugs herself and glowers at me with daggers in her eyes.
“I thought I was doing the right thing by letting you have the night to yourself. You’ve been working your ass off and…” Fuck, the pain in her expression is killing me. “I just thought I was giving you want you needed.”
“Bold of you to assumeanythingabout me or what I fuckingneed.”
She’s probably right. Once again, I’m reminded of how terrible I am with people and relationships.
“I came back to get you.” Am I really going to tell her I spied on her last night? Guess so. “I heard you talking to your friend about me.”
Her eyebrows rise to her hairline. “And what I said lead you to kicking me out?” Something must dawn on her because her eyes grow wide and she gasps, quickly putting her hands over her mouth. “Ohmy god.” Grace goes into damage control. “It’s not… I mean I was just… shit.” She won’t look at me now. “It’s not like that, Dean. I swear.”
“What part?”
She stiffens as if she’s said too much and needs to tread carefully. “What part do you think?”
“How about the two of you laughing at the idea of bringing me in my dirty boots to family dinner? Or the fact that you’re hiding up here and keeping it a secret from multiple men?”
She looks confused. “What?”
It’s too late for either of us to back out of this argument now. “I heard you say to not tell Kerrington and Landon and some other guy where you are.Andthat shit about my callouses.” I sound like a child. But it hurt my feelings and I’m not one to bottle shit up. If she wants a clean-cut man with soft hands and a loaded bank account, I’m not the one.
I fuckinghatethat I’m not the one.
Grace opens her mouth to speak, but I cut her off. “I heard how your mom would flip her shit if she ever met me. And you know what?” I step in closer. “I could have dealt with that. But the fact that you laughed, like I’m a goddamn joke for you and your rich ass friends, that hurt the most.”
Her expression changes again. I can’t read it at all. She’s pulled her poker face on me, which means I’m screwed.
Caution controls her tone when she asks, “What else did you hear?”
There wasmore? I’m glad I didn’t stick around to find out. “That was all I could fucking stomach.”
And now that I’ve said all this, and she’s not even denying it, I turn around and leave before she sees how truly hurt I am.
My legs are rubber as I take the steps. Instead of going out the front door, I head out the back and brace my hands on the railing of my back porch. The snow falls heavier and is finally sticking. The whole sky is cloudy. The mountain is soundless. The cabins look so small from here, it’s hard to believe they’re the biggest bane of my existence.
I want to burn them to the goddamn ground.
Grace slams the front door shut and leaves while air whooshes from my lungs.
And that seed that sprouted hope in me dies as ice freezes my heart again.
Chapter 18
Grace
If he thinks I’m leaving, he’s wrong. I’d rather die on this mountain than go back to my penthouse.
Who’s being dramatic now, Grace?
“Shut up.”
I hurried out of the house because I almost cracked and confessed that the rest of my conversation last night involved the L-word, and now I’ve screwed myself.
