Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 87368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 437(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87368 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 437(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
“No, here. In the center of bumfuck Virginia’s asshole, hiding not only yourself but my daughter.”
She presses her lips together but doesn’t look away even though her tears fall in heaps. “I’m doing what’s best for me.”
“That’s fucking selfish, and you know it.”
“My peace is more important than the chaos that waits for me back home.”
“Chaos?” I choke out, glaring at her. “What chaos?”
“Coming home will be a shitshow. Everyone will be so mad, so I’d rather just stay away.”
It’s like I don’t know her. “What is this?” I ask, gesturing my hand at her. “This isn’t you. You don’t hide.”
“Yeah, well, apparently I’ve never been broken before, so this is what’s left.”
Her words cut deep, and I try so hard to keep my cool, but it shatters. I can’t apologize because she’ll assume I’m doing it because she brought up the past. Instead, I blurt out, “Audrina, this is selfish. Stop thinking of yourself and think of our child. It’s not about what’s best for you anymore. It’s what’s best for Arwen. Ear infections? Sick? Living in a box?”
“I am making an honest living,” she sneers at me.
“For what? To prove a point that you can? Way to go. We’re all so proud you ran off—with my child—and hid for over three years. Now, are you done throwing a fit?”
Why did I say that? I’m like a lion with a thorn in my paw when it comes to her. I hate that we’ve hurt each other, but I need her to see reason.
“Get f-u-c-k-e-d,” she spells out, her eyes lobbing bombs at me. “I am not throwing a fit. You made me feel smaller than small. I took off to lick my wounds and figure out who I am.”
I hold up my hands to calm the situation. “I’m sorry,” I say, my heart in my throat. “I didn’t mean that. But figure out who you are? I didn’t even know that was in question.”
More tears cloud her vison as she holds my gaze. “Neither did I, until you said what you said.”
“I was hurt and pissed.”
“And you broke my heart.”
Her words hurt more than they should. “That is something I’ll continue to apologize for for the rest of my life. But Audrina, it didn’t need to be like that. Damn it, we’ve fought plenty of times, but what made this time so different? You ran after a fight and hid my kid?”
She doesn’t look the least bit apologetic. “You said, don’t come back without proof of the baby being yours. Sorry I couldn’t afford it.”
I glare, my whole body on alert, but she glares right on back. She may think she’s changed, but all I see is the girl I’ve been obsessed with my whole life. The fire in her eyes, making them so bright, renders me breathless. Her lips are pressed so tightly together that they’re white, while her dainty little nose is up in the air. Stubbornness is one of her main traits, and before, I loved it. But now, I want to wring her damn neck.
She’s not going to back down at all. Her dad always called her his little princess, but I knew Audrina was a queen. She knows what she wants, she knows what to do to get it, and she’ll never back down. Problem is, I’ve never been on the receiving end of that stubbornness. We may have fought, but we always made up. I don’t know what to do here, because she’s right—things have changed.
I may still be so utterly in love with her that it hurts, but I broke us.
She replaced me with our child, and now I’ve gotta figure out where I fit into the life she’s made. If that means giving her a whole new puzzle and begging her to build it with me, I will do just that. Because this woman is mine.
And that will never change.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Iwas prepared for screaming, for him to rush in and tear me up one side and down the other, but instead, he’s calm. Thatcher’s emotions play across his face. I can see every single one, but he is choosing his words carefully.
And I don’t know how to handle it.
Seeing him, watching his fists ball up and tears flood his eyes, leaves me feeling like we’re going round for round. He leaves me black and blue with each flicker of pain along his face. Like I knew I would, all I want is for him to never leave. It’s so frustrating, so damn confusing, and I truly don’t know what to do here.
He hurt me. Yet I’m sitting here wishing he were still mine? How does that make sense? He makes me crazy.
His voice is low, tortured as he says, “I said all that out of anger and pain.”
“That doesn’t change what you said,” I throw back at him as I get up to reach for my phone, hoping the doctor has gotten back to me.