She leaned her head back and looked up at the sky for a few beats before she straightened, and her gaze locked with mine. “I don’t know who to trust anymore, and I’m exhausted.”
Her voice wobbled and her bottom lip shook, catching me off guard.
“You can trust me,” I said, because it was the damn truth. “Why is it so difficult for you to believe me, after all we’ve been through together?”
“Because you betrayed me,” she said, her tone flat, as if she had no fight left in her. “You hurt me more than anyone ever has. And I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to trust you again.”
What the actual fuck was she talking about?
“You’re going to need to tell me how I betrayed you, because from where I’m sitting,youare the one who leftme. You are the one who didn’t speak to me for two fucking years. And I’m still the guy standing here, showing up for you.”
“I’m tired. I’m going to sleep.” She moved to walk up the stairs, but I stepped around her, blocking the path to go up to her apartment.
“No fucking way. This ends now, Wren. Tell me how I betrayed you.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “Because I don’t have a fucking clue.”
She glared at me and shook her head with disbelief. “You know what you did, Axel. Why are you making me relive this?”
“I don’t know what I did,” I hissed, blowing out a strained breath. “Damn it, Wren. It was a fucking question. I asked you a fucking question when I was angry. And you cut me out of your life over it.”
“Don’t you dare make light of it.” She poked her finger into my chest. “This was not about you asking me a fucking question. I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The last time I saw you before you left, we’d just found out about Collin and Farah. I asked you if you knew that they were sleeping together, and of course you got all pissed off at the question and told me to fuck off, and you left.” I sighed. “It was a fucking question, Wren. I was angry and I wanted to know if you knew. Yes, I should have known you wouldn’t go along with that, but for fuck’s sake, it was just a question.”
“Of course I was pissed off, because you know me, and I would never have kept that a secret if I’d known. I love Emerson. I love your entire family. So yes, I was offended by the question.But we both know that’s not why I stopped talking to you. So instead of trying to pretend you don’t know what you did, why don’t you just say sorry. Owning it would be healing for both of us.” She arched a brow, as if this was a simple fix.
“I’d own it if I knew what you were talking about. I thought you were pissed about the fucking question.” I shrugged, because this shit was exhausting.
“Axel.” Her gaze locked with mine, and she looked pissed off once again.
“Wren.” I mimicked her tone. “I can’t apologize for something I’m unaware of. So just fucking say it so we can move on.”
She nodded, blinking a few times, as if this was painful for her to relive, which had me more confused than ever.
“First of all, let’s not forget the elephant in the room.” She looked away for a few seconds before turning her attention back to me. “We’d slept together for the first time the night before all this happened, if you recall.”
“Of course I fucking recall,” I hissed. “We said things to one another that night, and I thought we had a plan. We were going to give it a shot. You and me. Together.”
“Correct. We were going all in. You even told me you loved me, and not in the friendship way.” She narrowed her gaze, anger spewing from her now. “You said it was, and I quote, ‘an all-consuming kind of love.’”
“I remember what I said, Wren. I remember everything from that night.”
A tear streaked down her cheek, and I wanted to pull her against me. Wrap her up and make all her pain go away. It was what I’d always done where Wren was concerned. But touching her right now would not be wise. We needed to move past this shit.
“We had a plan. I’d go back and compete for two more years, and you’d visit as often as possible, and vice versa. We were going to make it work,” she said, and the sadness in her eyes sent a sharp pain to my chest. “I asked you repeatedly if you thought you could be in a committed relationship, because you hadn’t been in one for a long time. And you insisted you were ready.”
“And I was ready. I was all in.” I nodded.
“And then the next morning, all hell broke loose. The texts started coming in about Collin and what he’d done to Emerson. And you asked if I knew about it, which led to us having a fight,” she said, her voice wobbly.
“And then you left me. Tossed all those plans away over a fucking question,” I said again, because that was how it happened. That was the truth.
She shoved at my chest. “Stop saying this was all about the stupid question. How about you own up to what happened later that night.”
“I never saw you again,” I said.
“Correct. You went out and got drunk at Booze and Brews. Do you remember that?”
I thought back to that night. I’d met up with my brother and my cousins, since everyone was upset about what Emerson was going through. “I didn’t get drunk. I had half a beer that night. I remember it clearly. I met the guys at the bar, and everyone was pissed off at Collin and Farah. No one drank much that night.”
