Bailing on him? He was the one who’d given me no choice.
Leaving Axel, leaving this town for so long—it was the hardest thing I’d ever done. And I’d been doing hard things for most of my life, so that was saying a lot.
He knew why I’d left.
If he wanted to point fingers at me, knowing what he’d done, then that was his choice.
I was here because I needed something temporary at the moment while I figured my life out.
“I had my reasons for leaving, and if you don’t know what they are, perhaps you should take a look in the mirror before you start pointing your finger at me.”
“Listen, Wren, I’d love to sit here arguing about how pissed off I am at you, but I don’t have the time. I’m sure you can understand that, since you didn’t have the time to say goodbye to me back then. Nor did you find even ten fucking seconds to unblock my phone number in the two years since you left. So, I need to get back to work.” He started walking backward toward his huge warehouse beside the barn. He wasn’t turning his back on me, his gaze still locked with mine.
I had a flashback to when we were young. I’d just fallen off my horse, and Axel was the first one there to pick me up.He helped me get back on that horse and then sat with me afterward, making sure I iced my knees.
In a heartbeat.
He’d always been my safe place.
And it hurt like hell that all of that was just gone.
So many things were just gone now.
“I need the job, Axel.” The words left my lips before I could stop them.
He paused, his head cocking to the side as he studied me. “Come on, Wren. You and I both know you have more money than you know what to do with. Aren’t you supposed to be training to make the Olympic team? What are you even doing here?”
There’d never been a time in my life when Axel hadn’t known every single thing going on in my world, and vice versa. And now neither one of us knew anything about the other.
I didn’t know where to start.
I couldn’t trust him anymore.
He’d betrayed me.
Hell, everyone had betrayed me.
I’d never felt so alone. I’d never felt so exhausted.
So broken.
I blew out a breath.
I will not cry.
I could count on one hand how many times I’d cried in front of another human in my life. And they’d all been in front of Axel. He was there to pick me up after my worst accidents during competitions, and he was there when I’d had some dark times with my family.
But I would not break down in front of this man now.
Not anymore.
“Do you think I’d actually be here if I didn’t need to be?” I said, because it was the truth.
“You got your degree from Stanford. Don’t you think you’re slightly overqualified for a temp job?”
“Well, if you remember, my degree is in business, with a minor in finance. Seems like the perfect qualifications to get your books in order,” I said with a shrug. “And it’s a three-month contract, and then I’ll be gone.”
“And you couldn’t find anywhere else but here, huh?”
