“Oh, Max…”
“It was just after—” I swallowed. “Bill. His surgery. It got to me. I couldn’t help him, so.”
I shrugged, refusing to think about it more than that.
“That’s the truth, Princess. And I’m not sure how to stop hating Landon for not saving her, when I still hate myself for putting the responsibility in his hands in the first place.”
“But Max, neither?—”
“Please don’t.”
I shook my head and stood up, not wanting absolution when she didn’t know everything. When she didn’t know how easy it would’ve been for me to go instead of him.
Or how easy it would’ve been to save her if he’d just believed me andfucking tried.
“Don’t say that until you know the whole story. Ask me to forgive myself—forgive him—when you’re sure we deserve it.”
Her features crumpled as I walked to the doorway, and her eyes filled with tears.
“I’m sorry, I just—I need some air. I’ll be back, alright?”
She sniffled and wiped her face on her sleeve, putting on a brave one as she tried to sort out how to get through to me.
And I wanted to give her what she wanted, but some things couldn’t be undone. That girl—Desi—she died because I trusted him. That part was on me.
But Landon Scott had no reason to hate me. No reason not to trust me. Not with something like that.
He’d stood by and played the White Knight, loyal to a fault, while I’d been the villain. The outcast.
The one not good enough to be where he stood.
He’d taken everything, and he hated me anyway.
So, I hated him for that.
And I hated myself for believing the place he’d earned made him better than me somehow. Hated myself for not believing I’d been enough.
I couldn’t pretend that was gone, and how could I ask her to love me with that hanging over my head?
Especially when it wasn’t even the worst thing in my past.
No, that regret approached the second I stepped outside, the limo pulling up right as I walked through the front doors and heard them shut behind me.
I wanted to turn back around, but it was too late.
She’d only come after me.
And I had to keep her as far away from Quinn as possible.
Better to get this over with now.
As the driver opened the passenger door, I leaned against the side of the house and waited. One hand shoved into the pocket of my jeans. The other clenched into a fist at my side to hide the tremor I couldn’t suppress.
A familiar feeling coursed through my body, palms slicking with sweat as anxiety bled through my skin.
“Aww.” The bitch preened as soon as she climbed out of the car. “You came to greet me. How sweet.”
She lifted the bug-like black sunglasses off her face, revealing glacial blue eyes I despised with every fiber of my being. The ones that haunted my memories.
