“Yes, she did.”
“But you knew. She told you she was an angel.”
“No,Kylietold me. I’ve known for more than a year that Danielle and her brothers were angels, but Danielle never said anything to me about it, so I never brought it up. I was waiting for her to be ready to tell me herself. Now I understand why she never was.”
His words hit me like a sucker punch to the gut. Danielle never told him. I’d accused her of lying when she told me as much. I’d been so hurt, so stuck in my own head, that I hadn’t considered Miles could have heard it from one of their other friends.
Fuck.
“Where is she?” I asked.
“Pretty sure she’s staying at Nate and Sierra’s now.”
“Now? Where was she before?”
“She was at Kylie’s for about a week. I haven’t seen her since she left for her brother’s.”
“You saw her?”
“Of course I did. She’s my best friend, and I wasn’t going to let her suffer by herself.” His words were sharp as a blade, designed to cut.
And they did.
Each one sliced me open and added to the guilt I was already drowning in.
I reached for the nearest beer bottle, but Miles snatched it away before my fingers could make contact.
“No. Alcohol is not going to fix this for you.”
“Nothing can fix it.” I tipped my head back and let my eyes fall shut.
“So that’s it? You’re just going to give up?”
“What can I do?” I lifted my head to look at him. “She’s a fuckingangel. How am I supposed to be good enough for her now?”
“You do realize she was always an angel, right? This isn’t something that just happened to her. If you were good enough two weeks ago, you’re good enough now.”
“I wasn’t good enough then either.”
“And you don’t think that’s up to her to decide? You don’t get to sit there and play the martyr and claim you’re doing all this for her sake.”
“I was just fooling myself into thinking that I could be the husband she needed.”
“And now what? You’re going to sit here and let some other guy claim your girl?”
A growl slipped past my lips before I could stop it.
“That’s what I thought.”
“It doesn’t matter what I do if she doesn’t want me back.” Even I could hear the defeat in my voice.
“Who said she doesn’t want you back?”
“She hasn’t come home. That kind of implies she doesn’t want to see me.”
Miles stared up at the ceiling like he was praying for patience. “You really are an idiot. First of all, this wasyourhouse before she moved in, and she doesn’t think she’s welcome here right now. Second, this is one of those moments when you’re supposed to fight for her even if she doesn’t want to see you.”
“I don’t know how.” How do you apologize to the love of your life for being a world-class dick and abandoning her when she begged you to stay?
