“Daze,” I say, reaching for her.
She holds up her hands, shaking her head as she repeats her question again.“Miles, what did he say?”
I exhale a hard breath, my hands on my head.“He spray-painted the word ‘whore’ on our bedroom wall.”
She blinks again, surprise washing over her face as she stares up at me.“He did what?”she eventually asks, her words a whisper.
I close the distance, hooking my arm around her shoulders and pulling her into my chest.“Daisy,” I whisper into her hair, wishing she’d never found out.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”she asks, her arms sliding around my waist as she rests her cheek on my chest.
“How could I?”I breathe out.
She lifts her head so she’s looking up at me.Sadness fills her eyes when she says, “So I didn’t have to find out from him.”
“Fuck,” I blow out, realizing how much worse that must have been.I’m sure the smug fuck loved that he was able to catch her off guard.“Daze, I’m sorry.It’s not like I wanted that to happen either, but shit, how was I supposed to tell you what he did?”I lean close, pressing a kiss to her lips.“I fucking hate that he was in our home, that he did that.I fucking hate that he’s doing this.”
“I do too,” she says, her voice rising.“But you don’t need to protect me from him, Miles.”
“Don’t I?”I ask, frustrated.
Daisy loosens her arms, stepping back as she snaps, “No, you don’t.I’m a big girl, Miles.I can handle whatever shit Isaac wants to dish out.”
“I know,” I groan, gripping the back of my neck.“But I know what he’s like.Look at what he’s done already, Daze.I don’t trust the guy and I don’t?—”
“Trust me?”
“That’s not what I was going to say,” I tell her.
Daisy crosses her arms over her chest.“No?”
“No, Daze, it wasn’t,” I tell her, my voice hard, anger curling in my gut.“Why would you even think that?”
“Why are you letting him come between us?”she throws back.
“Why did you?”I snap.
The second the words are out of my mouth, I regret them.I don’t even know why I said it, even if it is something that has always lingered at the back of my mind ever since I found out about Daisy and Isaac hooking up.
Daisy lets out a laugh, shaking her head at me as she says, “And there it is.”
“Daze, I’m?—”
“No, don’t,” she says.“It’s clearly what you think, so it’s good you’ve finally said it.”
“Daisy, babe,” I say, closing the distance again as I pull her to me.“I’m sorry.I shouldn’t have said that, I shouldn’t?—”
“You said what you’ve been thinking,” she says, cutting me off as she pushes a hand through her hair.“I need some air.”
I watch as she pulls herself from my arms, pushing past me and heading out the front door of the shop and across the road to the beach, not looking back once.
“Fucking hell,” I moan, shoving open the door as I follow after her.
I walk down to where she stands on the sand, her body rigid as she faces the ocean, her hair blowing in the breeze.I step in behind her, wrapping my arms around her as I rest my chin on her shoulder.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper, pressing a kiss to her neck.“I shouldn’t have said that.”
Daisy blows out a breath, her head falling back as she covers my hands with hers.“I get why you did,” she whispers.“I mean, it’s true.”
