“I did it all for you, Abby. And it was for nothing.” A cold look washes over his features, matching his chilly tone.
“It wasn’t for nothing.” I lean toward him. “I still care about you, Charlie. I care about you a lot even though you’ve hurt me.”
The indifferent mask drops away, and anger blazes in his eyes. “Don’t fucking lie,” he roars, sitting up straighter, and wincing. “You don’t fucking love me! Not in the way I love you.”
“I can’t force myself to feel things that don’t exist.” I shoot him an earnest look because I’m being completely up front with him. “If you’d taken the time to properly talk to me, instead of siding with my father, then all of this could’ve been avoided.” I get up and sit down beside him. “I still love you as a friend, Charlie. You have been in my life for as long as I can remember, and I know this isn’t you. I know my father manipulated you. Using your feelings for me to screw with your mind and—”
“Don’t be naïve, Abby,” he sneers, and his alternating mood swings are giving me emotional whiplash. “This is bigger than your father, and we both know it.”
I frown. “What do you mean?”
He shakes his head. “It doesn’t matter now, because I’ve failed.” His features soften temporarily. “I failed you last night, and I’m so sorry.” The mask is gone, and pain is etched across his face. “I thought I had it handled, but I was outplayed.” He barks out a bitter laugh, but I see the vulnerability behind his reaction. “Everyone is fucking playing me, and I’m so far out of my depth it isn’t funny.” A muscle ticks in his jaw, and his chest heaves up and down as he glances at the ceiling. I give him a couple minutes to gather his thoughts. When he bends his head, looking directly into my eyes, I see a lost little boy who has finally realized he epically fucked up.
I see the Charlie I know and remember, and my heart hurts.
He cups my face, pinning me with those beautiful green eyes. “All I’ve ever wanted is to keep you safe, but I can’t protect you from them. Last night proved that.” I place my hand over his hand on my face. “Not alone.”
“So, come back to us. Be on our side.” I thread my fingers through his. “Onmyside.”
“Abby, no!” Kai whispers in my ear. “He can’t be trusted.”
“And watch you all over Anderson?” Charlie asks, shaking his head as a harsh quality replaces the previous tenderness of his expression. “I can’t do it.” A cold veneer shrouds his face, and he yanks his fingers from mine. “I gave up everything for you, Abby,” he deadpans in a voice devoid of feeling. “I fucking sacrificed my own father for you. He told me you’d never love me, and I repaid him by keeping quiet when they told me he was a pawn.” A look of disgust appears on his handsome face. “I didn’t know your father was going to murder him in front of us, but I might as well have put the trigger in his hand.”
A strangled cry bounces off the wall, and we both whip our heads around. Elizabeth is slumped against the doorway, her eyes wide with shock as big fat tears roll down her face.
I never wanted her to discover the truth, and now, she’s found out in the worst possible way.
Poor Elizabeth. And poor Charlie.
“Fuck!” Charlie shouts, pushing awkwardly to his feet as concern splays across his face. He sways unsteadily, and I jump up to help him, but he swats my hand away. “I don’t want or need your help,” he snaps. “All you have done is destroy my life.” His cold, dead eyes bore a hole in the side of my skull as he glares at me. Whatever vulnerability he allowed me to see is securely locked away now.
Elizabeth’s sobs grow louder, and I walk toward her, but Charlie grabs hold of my elbow. “Get your shit and get the hell out of my house and out of my life.”
“Your mom is upset and—”
“And she’s no longer your responsibility,” he confirms, cutting across me.
“We are still married,” I lie. “And we’ll have to keep up appearances in public. It’s too risky for all of us if we don’t.”
“That is the least of my concerns right now.” His mask drops again for a split second, and I spot real fear on his face. “Just go, Abby. Go to him and stay the hell away from me because I am fucking done wasting any more time on you.”
I grab the essentials from my bedroom, including the album of sketches Kai gave me, and hotfoot it out of the Barrons’ house with the sound of shouting echoing behind me. Charlie and his mom are really going at it, and I hate leaving them both when they are in pain, but he made his intentions very clear, and if I try to intervene, it might only make things worse.
Kai gets out of the car, coming toward me. “Is that everything?” he inquires, taking the large bag from me.
“No, but it’s enough. I’ll get Drew to grab the rest of my stuff during the week.”
Kai shepherds me to the car, dropping my bag in the trunk while I climb into the passenger seat.
“That went better than expected,” Jackson says as I pull the door shut behind me.
“He hates my guts now,” I say, “which could be a good or a bad thing.” A tight knot forms in my chest.
Kai climbs behind the wheel. “His mom overhearing is a good thing because it means he’ll be preoccupied trying to fix things with her. He’s already busy with the business, so that means less time to plot against you or us. I think that was the best result we could have hoped for.”
I slouch in my seat, propping my feet up on the dash. “I don’t like leaving him alone to face that,” I truthfully admit.
“It’s exactly what he deserves,” Kai retorts, kick-starting the engine and flooring it out of there. “Don’t forget what he did to you. To us.”
