“We’re at a fucking impasse, Hatch?” I whispered. “Really?”
“What do you want me to say?”
“I want you to say you’re sorry. I want you to acknowledge what you did was wrong! I want you to promise you’ll never do it again!”
“Can’t do that, baby.”
“Then, you need to get out.”
He scowled. “What the fuck?”
“You’ve dug your heels in, big man, and when you do that, you can’t be reasoned with. Right now, I’m tired and a little drunk, and whenI’mlike that, I have no patience for your bullshit!”
“Mais—”
“No, Connor, we’re done. You need to go.”
He studied me for a few tense seconds and then shook his head. “I’m not goin’ anywhere.”
I let out a frustrated grunt and returned his scowl. “This is exactly what I’m talking about. You’re boorish and bullheaded, and I’m not dealing with this crap anymore.”
Palming his eye sockets, he let out a long sigh, then met my eyes again. “I will never lie to you. I promised you that when we first met and I have never gone back on that, so I can’t say that I’m sorry for what I did because I’d do it all over again to protect you, the club, and our family.”
I crossed my arms again but stayed silent. He could talk and his words could form the noose with which to hang himself.
“Nothing I ever do is meant to hurt you. Ever. You are my world. If anything happened to you, baby, I’d follow you into the dirt.”
I will not fall for his sweet words. I will not fall for his sweet words.
“Then why would you do something so colossally boneheaded as fight Warlock to the death?”I screeched.
“He wouldn’t stop coming at us, Sunshine. He has always done shit like that. All the way back to fuckin’ Jana when we were young.”
I gasped. “He was the one?”
“Yeah. He was the one,” he confirmed. “And he was comin’ after you next, baby. Do you really think I was gonna let that happen?” He jabbed a finger at me. “And before you try to twist this into something about payback for my ex-wife, you know that you mean, and have always meant, a million times more to me than she ever did.”
“I know,” I whispered.
And I did know that. I knew how much he loved me and how far he’d go to protect me and our children. Jana was simply a footnote in Hatch’s sad past. One he’d worked really fucking hard to overcome because he had four younger siblings he needed to raise.
He stepped a little closer to me. “That being said, I will not apologize for what I did, but I will apologize for the way I made you feel.”
“Maya Angelou cannot save you right now,” I bit out.
“Baby, I don’t give a rat’s ass about her. I care about you.”
“If you really cared about me, you wouldn’t have done what you did.”
“That’s untrue and a little unfair, and I thinkyou know that. The situation wasn’t that simple.”
“Whatissimple and unfair, is you putting your life at risk without me knowing where you even were.”
“That was to protect you. But I’m sorry you were scared.”
“Scared?” I slapped my chest. “Hatch, I wasn’t scared, I wasterrified. You’re not hearing me!” I suddenly couldn’t breathe, and I sank to my knees.
“Fuck,” he hissed, lifting me off the floor and carrying me back to the sofa, settling me on his lap.
