By the time we reached the hospital, it was nearly two in the morning. Relief and dread twisted together in my gut that we hadn’t found Blue trudging the dark roads alone. Blue wassmart. Scrappy. Resourceful. But if something had happened, I’d never forgive myself.
Marcus braked hard before I could fling open the door. “There,” he said, pointing.
I followed his gaze and froze.
Blue was walking out of the hospital. Directly into the arms of the same man I had demanded to stay away from her.
Aiden.
She was smiling at him.
He had his arm slung around her shoulders, protective and familiar. She leaned into it like it, like it wasn’t foreign or wrong. My vision tunneled, rage exploding through me so hot I thought I might actually combust. Every fiber of my body wanted to launch out of the car, rip her away from him, make sure she was safe.
But I didn’t move.
She trusted him and he was guiding her across the dark parking lot. He helped her into the passenger seat of his old black pickup, his hand steady on her back.
Marcus hovered, torn between following them and waiting on me.
“She knows him,” I ground out, my voice raw. “She’s safe.” At least I hoped so.
He didn’t look convinced, probably because my hands were clenched so tight my knuckles had gone white. The anger vibrating through me wasn’t at her, though, it was at myself.
She’d needed me, and I’d left her. I didn’t deserve to be her hero anymore.
Now she looked fine. Happy, even. Depending on someone else.
I leaned back in my seat, swallowing the acid rising in my throat. “Take me home,” I muttered.
Marcus hesitated, then put the car back in drive and did what I asked.
By the time we reached my penthouse, my jaw throbbed, my head pounded, and my stomach churned with too many truths. The list of my failures was so damn long. But it was exactly what I deserved.
This was my punishment.
Chapter Fifty-Eight
BLUE
I didn’t knowwho else to call when my car broke down.
I wasn’t exactly crawling with trusting friends or good relationships. My options were limited, and none of them felt good. I didn’t want Aiden thinking I was reaching out for anything more than a ride, but I had to take the chance. Because I didn’t know who else to call.
At first, I told him just to take me home. But Aiden insisted on taking me to the hospital so I could drop my dad’s things off and set eyes on him. On the way, he asked more than once where my husband was. I didn’t have an answer. I didn’t even know what to say. So I kept shrugging, brushing it off with the kind of vague answers that probably made it worse. “It’s just one of those nights where I really need a friend,” I told him, trying to make it sound casual, like my chest wasn’t caving in.
He waited outside while I dropped Dad’s things at the nurses’ station, and I made sure, once again, that nobody had been by. No visitors. No phone calls. No sign of my sister. The relief was fragile, but there.
When I came back out, Aiden wrapped an arm around my shoulders. The gesture should’ve been comforting, but it onlytwisted my stomach with regret. I smiled anyway, hoping he didn’t see the way my skin crawled. West had ruined me for anyone else’s touch.
It wasn’t until I had asked him to take me to a hotel that the mistake of calling him became obvious. He assumed I had meant for us both.
I had been too upset over everything that had happened to fully register what was happening. He’d waited while I checked in, carried my bag upstairs, and followed me right to the door like he belonged there.
“I appreciate everything,” I said quickly, keeping him at arm’s length.
His brows pulled together. “Am I not invited in?”
“No. I called you as a friend. I just needed a friend.”
