He was a cheater, and she'd forgiven him twice already in the time they'd dated. His argument the first two times was that they hadn't formally stated what their relationship was supposed to look like. It had confused him, so he hadn't thought it would be wrong to sleep with other women. Then she'd stated plainly what she expected. He'd agreed they would be exclusive.
Then the Instagram thing happened after thirty other arguments, including him pouring a dish of chili on her head while they were out at dinner. That had been the deciding factor to never chase after him again. She was embarrassed to admit that he’d made her apologize to him about the chili incident.
She'd been young and stupid, thinking she could change him or fix him. The problems had been many, and she should have walked away, but she hadn't. It was easy to see where she'd gone wrong after the fact.
At the time, she hadn’t wanted to admit the sad truth that nothing she could have ever done would have fixed Craig.
Ansley turned and met Pete’s gaze. “Leave me alone, Pete.”
“You killed my brother.”
There wasn't any way to convince him she hadn't done anything to make Craig go out onto the pier and climb up on the rail, then fall, catching the strings of his hoodie in the railing, causing the jacket to pull tight on his neck. It had been a freak accident that had come about because of his stupid actions.
She felt awful for Craig and had shed many tears after his death, but the security video from the pier had been clear. Craig had been the one responsible for his own death.
Ansley turned to walk away, but Pete grabbed her by the hair and yanked hard, pulling her off balance. Her foot slipped, and she tumbled back, landing hard on her rear.
For a brief moment, she thought Pete was going to pounce on her, but the security guard from the mall started yelling. Pete wasn’t brave when confronted, and he took off.
Someone close to her extended a hand to help her up. She took the offered help, dusting off her pants.
“You okay?” the security guard asked as he came over.
She nodded, unsure if she was really okay, but knowing she didn’t want the attention. “Yeah. I’m fine.”
“Want me to call the police so you can press charges?”
She shook her head. "No, thank you." She would be gone soon enough, and there wasn't any way Pete could track her down once she left California.
Not having to deal with Pete would be one huge upside to moving. He had no clue she was leaving California, and he never would know where she'd gone.
The attention drawn to her plight made her uneasy. She didn't want to sit around and give Pete time to come back. She snuck away and headed over to her car. She should have ordered pizza and watched a movie instead of going out.
Pete had been absent for a few months, and she thought she would escape without seeing him again. If she lived on base, it would be easier to avoid him. But base housing was in the process of being torn down and rebuilt. There'd been issues with a building, and they had to take it down because of safety concerns. She'd volunteered to move into an apartment and hadn't gone back to base housing.
It didn’t look like Link lived on base, but Pete wouldn’t show up in North Carolina. She felt she would be safe.
Her mood hadn't improved much by the time she got home, and when her phone rang, she thought of letting it go through to voicemail. After three rings, she picked up her phone, happy to see Link's name on the display.
Chapter 18
Link didn’t thinkAnsley was going to answer. Sending a text message would have been better. Then she answered, and he heard her sweet voice.
“Link, is that really you? You’re home.”
“Yes.” He almost sighed the word as relief hit hard.
“It’s so good to hear your voice. I know you must be exhausted. It’s late there.”
A smile played across his lips as warmth spread through him. “Yeah, but I wanted to hear your voice. I missed you.”
"I missed you, too. I can't wait to see you."
He grunted and dropped into a chair. “I know we haven’t known each other long enough to feel this way, but I really want to hold you in my arms. If you were here tonight, I’d be curled around you right now.”
“Bad mission?”
He let go of a heavy sigh. "Not too bad. Successful, actually, it just ran me ragged. Hearing your voice is very calming, refreshing."
