“We’ll talk when I get off work,” he said.
His tone told me it wasn’t going to be a good talk, but I’d deal. I needed a thorough ass-chewing. Damir had been one of the few people who hadn’t trusted Delia, and that was probably one of the reasons he and I had fallen out of touch.
“Sounds good. Thanks aga?—”
“Enough. I get it. Your life is shit, and you’re thankful. You don’t have to lay it on so thick.”
My throat got a little tight with shame, and I had no idea what to say. “Alright. See you soon.”
He hung up before I did, and a small part of me thought maybe this was a bad idea. Maybe I shouldn’t impose. I could crawl back to my parents and beg, and they’d probably give me shelter, but neither of them was currently speaking to me.
Whatever Delia had told them, they believed her, and I had no idea what other lies she was spreading around. The spit in my mouth tasted bitter and acidic, and I swallowed it down as best I could.
Turning the key, I pulled onto the main road, but instead of heading right for the freeway, I went left. I drove the familiar path to the little complex with the broken gated entrance, and I pulled around to the side. Tucker didn’t have a car. After the accident, he’d never been able to see well enough to drive again.
It was a miracle he could see at all.
But I recognized his friend’s ride, and I could see a light on in the window. I turned off the headlights, pulled up next to the little four-door beater, and let my engine idle. My car was the only thing I had worth anything now, and I was terrified to sell it because if I did, Delia would end up demanding the cash for it when we finally stood before a judge.
It wasn’t enough for her to sleep with my ex-boss. It wasn’t enough for her to demand that he fire me and destroy my reputation and blacklist me from every firm in the state. She wanted to make sure I suffered, and forwhat? The only sin I’d committed against her was not living up to her financial expectations.
But I suppose, in her mind, that was enough. Now, I was escaping across the country, attempting to find some way to support myself because things were looking dire. My accounts were frozen, my friends had taken her side, and I had only myself to blame.
The day she looked me in the eye and asked me to love her in spite of what it would do to my relationship with Tucker, I said yes. This was what I got.
I felt like screaming into the void. I didn’t understand how she managed to get Daniel to so readily ruin me. She was gorgeous, yes, and athletic in bed.
But none of it should have been enough for Daniel to not only leave his wife and kids, but also to destroy me just to make her smile. I’d been working under him for almost a decade now. It should have been enough to have some sort of loyalty.
But there was nothing. And it seemed to me that he was going to make sure I remained nothing until she was satisfied.
Headlights scared the shit out of me. They lit up the inside of my car, and I ducked as quickly as I could because while I didn’t recognize the vehicle, something in my gut told me it was Tucker. I held my breath as I watched the person park, and a moment later, the passenger door opened, and there he was.
The man with my face. The person I should have been closest to in the entire world.
Tucker walked with a gait I didn’t recognize and held a white cane in his left hand because in spite of regaining some vision in his remaining eye, he stillcouldn’t see for shit. He was the poster child of losing it all, but in that moment, he was smiling.
He dragged his hand through his hair the way he used to do when we were younger and he was trying to flirt. From where I was sitting, I couldn’t see the dimple in his cheek, but I knew it was there because I had the same one.
With the windows up, I couldn’t make out what he was saying, but I heard his laugh. I watched through the rearview mirror as he reached out and pulled the dark-haired man closer. The stranger swayed in, and I could see a smile on his face as he tipped his head up and Tucker leaned in to kiss him.
I stopped watching after that. It wasn’t my place. I was on the outside because I was the one who fucked up. I let jealousy and resentment and pressure from my parents ruin what might have been the only person who would have stood by me when shit got rough.
And if I hadn’t let that happen, Delia would have never stumbled into my path.
I wouldn’t be sitting in this car tonight.
I wouldn’t know this pain.
When I was brave enough to look back again, Tucker and his date were nowhere to be seen. I caught the barest movement of his front door closing, and then the night was still again. I let myself think about Ford for the quickest moment—how he would feel when he woke up.
How it wouldn’t break him to think about me because he would have no idea who I was. He’d go about his life, maybe thinking about Ian from time totime, but he’d never have to deal with the weight of fucking Killian.
He’d never know that, once again, I stepped in to allow Tucker to be hurt.
Maybe I really was the monster, and God, I would have given anything to fix that about myself.
Grabbing my phone, I shot a text to Damir letting him know I was on my way. My tires rolled back, the car hit the road, and before the next dozen heartbeats crashed through my chest, Tucker’s apartment was in the distance, and I was on my way to whatever was coming next.
