Izzie doubtedTristan’s cool demeanor reflected his real mindset. As a kid, he hid vulnerabilities behind a stoic pretense. Back then, she always called his bluff. Then again, she was his confidant, the one person, besides his mom, Tristan would turn to in times ofneed.
She lost her safe haven status with him that night at Mark King’s house, when she trampled on Tristan’s heart, shattering his trust. She wasn’t sure she could read him all that well anymore. She hoped she was reading him wrong because the emotions she saw scared the shit out ofher.
How can I mend this man if I’m the one who brokehim?
Now she needed him whole and yet the moment she told him the truth about that night, it would wreck him all over again. Guilt and shame warred inside her, making her feel like she was standing on the edge of the highest cliff looking down. Izzie steeled herself and took the dreadedplunge.
She had to start somewhere, so she decided to go with the end. “I’msorry.”
Tristan’s gaze bored into hers, yet she didn’t cower. She prayed he didn’t notice the slight twitch on her upper lip, or the vein throbbing in her neck. One perfect eyebrow lifted, and his eyes abandoned hers to focus on those exactspots.
Shit!
“That’sit?”
He was toying with her like a big cat with its prey. She could tell. His words sounded flat, but his lips curved in a mocking smirk, his blue eyes gleamed glacial sparks that burned her face and scorched hersoul.
He went on. “After all these years, after the hell you put me through, that’s all you’ve got for me? You’resorry?” He gasped and closed his eyes. When he reopened them, the pain that turned his blue stare into dark pools ripped her heart out. “You didn’t cheat on a test or cut the checkout line at a grocery store. You fucked my best friend at a party he was throwing for me. Mark was more than a father figure to me. He was my mentor. I got that record deal because of him. He threw that party to celebrate it, and because I told him I was going to propose to you.” Izzie’s stomach hit the floor as blood drained from her face. She never knewthat. “I had a real shot with my own band. I wasn’t going to be ‘Mr. Izzie Anderson’ anymore. I wouldn’t be in your shadow as you preferred to keep me,” he whispered, tight-lipped. The ground vanished from under her feet. Tristan raised his voice when happy, and lowered it when disgusted. Orangry.
She shook her head, too overwhelmed to articulate a response. She never knew he felt that way about hersuccess.
She found her voice. “That’s not true and you know it. I wouldn’t be anything without your support and your talent. You were never ‘Mr. Anderson’ to me. I told you a million times we were partners. I loved you, goddamnit.”
“If you truly loved me, you would’ve been faithful.” His voice dropped as his stare turned icy. He hopped off the table, bracing his hands on the armrests of her chair, looming over her, “If you truly loved me, I wouldn’t have sauntered into Mark’s bedroom in the middle of that party to find your lips wrapped around his cock, now, wouldI?”
Izzie racked her brain for an appropriate comeback and came up empty-handed. Stunned by the emotions his raw words revived, she shrugged. That snapped something inside Tristan. He held her upper arms, squeezing them against her body, pulling her from the chair. Normally, her head reached his chest, but she tiptoed as he pulled her up until his hot breath brushed against her cheeks. Her eyelids dropped to protect herself from the burning rage she witnessed in hiseyes.
Tristan had never been violent toward her, he would never hurt any woman, but people change. Maybe, the damage she had caused him ran deeper that sheimagined.
She winced and squinted her eyes, bracing herself for anassault.
It nevercame.
As fast as he had seized her, Tristan shoved her free. Disoriented, Izzie grabbed the chair for support as she reopened her eyes to find his back turned to her, hands splayed on the polished table top. Deep breaths came out of him fast and furious, tension etching the large expanse of hisback.
In the past, snuggling against Tristan felt like heaven. Every time Izzie needed to hide from the evils of the world, Tristan’s warm chest welcomed her, soothing her pain away. His heartbeats used to be her favorite lullaby. Time and distance played a cruel trick on her, shrinking the true value of those precious moments. Stinging tears pricked the back of her eyes as she grasped the enormity of herloss.
She swallowed hard, she wasn’t awimp.
She needed Tristan’shelp.
Failure wasn’t anoption.
Izzie squared her shoulders ready to reveal her reasons for reaching out to Tristan after all thoseyears.
His next words killed her newfound courage. “I swear to God, I’ve never laid a finger on a woman. I abhor men who do,” he muttered without turning around to face her. “I refuse to let you steal that away from me as well.Leave.”
She choked at the vivid memories of Lilly Knight’s screams during her sleepovers at Tristan’s house. Izzie was four and Tristan was about six. She would sneak into his bedroom when the banging and shouting started at his mom’s room, crawling under the covers with him. He would hold her tight without saying a word. That silent reassurance comforted her into sleep. It wasn’t until much later in life that Izzie realized he was quiet because he was as terrified as shewas.
The tears Izzie fought before now rolled down her cheeks. Humiliation and shame made them burn. She hesitated, trying to find a way to reason with him. She owed him the truth, at least the part of it she could offer. She had come to Brazil to set thingsstraight.
Still not facing her, he growled, “Now.”
More than the rumbling sound of that single word, his glacial tone spurred her intoaction.
Dropping the hand she had raised to touch his tense shoulder, Izzie scuttled out of his office, leaving the door ajar. She darted through the crowded restaurant paying no heed to the heads that turned or the curious whispers that followed her. She didn’t care if people recognized her, took pictures or posted them on social media. She didn’t give a damn about any ofthat.
I’ve damaged him beyondrepair.
