I popped off my couch, grabbing her arm and pulling her to me.
“Hey, talk to me,” I crooned, cupping her neck. “Neither of us planned this, obviously,” I ran my thumb back and forth along her jaw, “but maybe we can finally get back—”
“No, we can’t…I can’t do this again.” Her voice trembled, thick with unshed tears.
When I was able to pull her guard down just a little, I rushed in and pushed too far.Fuck.
“Can you give me a ride home?”
“Sure.” I stopped pressing when her jaw quivered. “Just let me clean up.” I nodded toward my bathroom. “I’ll only be a minute.”
I ran into my bedroom to change into sweats.
Maybe fighting for us was wrong.
Maybe I’d put her through enough and I should just leave her alone.
Maybe I was a selfish asshole because I loved her too much to do that now.
We left my apartment and rode to her rental in silence. I parked in her driveway and walked around to the passenger side to open her door.
“Since when do you do that?” She peered up at me, a hint of a smile dancing across her lips so faint, if I’d blinked I would have missed it.
“Add it to the miles long list of all I should have done when it came to you.” I held out my hand, and she stared at it for a couple of beats before she took it and climbed out of my truck.
“Walking me to the door isn’t necessary, but thank you.”
We trudged to her front porch, the both of us looking everywhere but at each other until we got to her door.
“I know I screwed up.”
She shook her head before turning back to me.
“You didn’t. I was right there with you, and—”
“That’s not what I mean. Not tonight. Then. I wish that I could go back, undo the worst mistake of my whole life.”
She sank her teeth into her bottom lip before lifting her cloudy gaze to mine.
“Dominic—”
She trailed off when I leaned in to kiss her cheek, my lips lingering before I pulled away.
“Thank you for tonight,” I whispered in her ear before I headed back to my car, hoping against hope it wasn’t all we’d get.
21
Thea
“I told you, Mom,”I said to the Bluetooth speaker in my car, “I’m fine. It’s like a vacation.”
She didn’t reply right away. I could almost hear her brows lifting in disbelief.
“You’re by yourself, not even coming home on weekends, and seeing Dominic every day. I almost believed you until you threw in ‘vacation’.”
Being the youngest in the family, I was still babied to the point of asphyxiation. Like my sister and Sue, my parents were there for everything I went through with Dominic, and all that happened after he left. These worried calls came at least three times per week since I’d arrived.
“It’s a long drive to make every weekend. I’ll try for next weekend if I can take Monday off. Happy?” I pulled into the Halston Hotel parking lot. Thankfully, the drive was only ten minutes, so I didn’t have to argue with her for more than a round or two.
