Lock touched her hips, his heat seeping through the material of her jeans. “We found the asshole responsible, and we eliminated him. We made sure he died for what he did to Winnie and the women. That was two weeks later, and it took me another week to get home. But when I called you, I couldn’t get through. And when I returned to town, you were gone, and no one would tell me where. I had no way to get in contact with you.”
Another tear fell, and she dropped her head, so many emotions fighting inside her. Need for this man. Love for him.
But at the forefront of everything was grief over everything they’d lost.
Come on,Callie. Forgive me. Choose me.
The whispered plea played over in his head. A desperate need to get the woman he loved to love him back. To have her as his once again.
“I wish you’d found a way to tell me.” Her voice was so quiet it barely crossed the inches of space between them. “Or that the timing could have been different. It would have changed everything.”
“I know.” Fuck, he’d made so many mistakes in his life, but this one…this was the worst. “I wish I’d handled things differently. I wish I’d been less emotional in the moment and more rational and come up with a better plan.”
She touched his wrists, and for a split second, he thought he’d gotten through to her. That maybe she forgave him.
But then she stepped back, and that distance…fuck, it hurt. It felt like an entire damn ocean of space. “I need time, Lock.”
Time. The word felt so heavy it almost caved his knees. “Time for what? To think about us?”
“To think about everything.”
Finally, she looked up. There was so much sadness in her eyes, and that sadness punched right into him.
She tilted her head, a tear slipping from her green eyes. “I’m sorry you lost Winnie. I’m so incredibly sorry. I know what he meant to you. What your entire team meant to you. And I can understand why you did what you did. But…”
But? But what? But he’d done irreversible damage in letting her think he didn’t love her? But too much time had passed?
“Three weeks after you broke up with me…I—”
“Callie.”
She stopped as Aspen hurried toward them from the bar.
Dammit. She’d been about to tell him something important. He could feel it.
Aspen stopped beside them. “I’m sorry, I wanted to give you guys some time but I was worried.” She touched Callie’s shoulder. “Are you okay?”
Callie put more space between them, and it hurt. Jesus, it hurt. “I’m okay. But I think we should go home.”
“Callie—”
“We’ll talk soon, Lock.”
Then she turned and left, and he wondered what the hell shehadn’tsaid. What had happened that she wasn’t telling him? What could have possibly turned his ignoring her for three weeks into her disappearing fortwo years?
A hand touched his shoulder, and he turned to see Eastern standing there, a grim expression on his face.
“You angry I hit him?” Lock asked before his brother could get a word in.
“No. I probably would have hit him too, if he’d touched Sadie like that. I talked him out of pressing charges.”
Lock nodded, not caring if the guy wanted to press charges or not. He wanted him away from Callie, so he’d done what he had to do.
“Are you okay?” Eastern asked slowly.
“I told her. I told her why I broke up with her. I told her about Winnie and Remi and Hollie.”
“And?”
