“Not to mention that he doesn’t love her, he loves you!” His boss says in a loud voice that sends shivers down my spine. “It was a damn business meeting. She just told you that!”
It was a business meeting. That’s why he said I should’ve gone over when I saw him at The Mummy’s Tomb. Because he wasn’t trying to hide or play me. I think back. I never gave him the chance to explain. When I found the check I wrote him ripped up on my work counter, I thought he tore it up out of guilt. It wasn't that at all.
Hope starts to fill my chest. Then his boss’s words hit me like a thousand pound safe. Stone’s going to become a regular, run of the mill gargoyle unless... I need to make sure I’m clear on this.
“When you say attach myself, you mean—”
“He means marry,” the short man yells. His patience is as lacking as his height.
“If I marry Stone he won’t become inanimate for a decade?” I want to make sure I’m clear on this before I make the decisionto compromise my belief about marriage. About marriage in my life.
“Ms. Ramos,” Stone’s boss speaks again, with a little less intensity. “Stone means a lot to me. He reminds me of my son. He’s strong and stubborn, but he’s also loving and devoted. The dumb blockhead won’t even consider someone else because a gargoyle’s love is eternal. Isn’t it poetic justice that he fell so deeply in love with you, a human whose love is fleeting?”
Those words strike something deep inside me. I might not have cheated the way Miguel did, but I took my love away from Stone all the same. His pain, his sacrifice is on me, and I can’t live with that.
Chapter 29
Stone
Two more days. Two more nights. That’s all I have before I serve my community. I mark an x over today’s date on my calendar.
My phone rings. It’s Cayden. I haven’t taken any of his calls. I’m still pissed at him. He should’ve given me a heads up the second that Camilla walked into the cafe. I could’ve explained. That could’ve made a difference.
“Hey brother,” I say as I answer. Stewing in anger over the next ten years will only serve to make me bitter when I reanimate. That’s not who I want to be. If by some miracle Camilla is still single, I’ll do anything I can to win her back. If I’m resentful when I can approach her again, she won’t want anything to do with me.
“I’m so sorry. I tried to explain to her—”
“Why didn’t you tell me when she left?”
“I thought it would give you the push to tell her. To make her understand what was coming so she could have the opportunity to choose you.”
I release a frustrated breath. That was my choice and by my friend trying to force me into a scenario where I had no option but to tell Camilla, I lost her.
“I would’ve done it completely different if I had any idea.”
I don’t doubt my friend’s sincerity. “I know.”
“Then you forgive me?”
“I’m working on it.” He better be happy with that answer because it’s the best I can do at the moment.
“Great, I’ll see you in an hour.”
“Cayden wait—” He hangs up before I can tell him not to come. Damn it! I wanted to go see Camilla on the off chance that she might let me explain. I don’t expect her to wait for me. But I want her to know that I love her and I’d never do anything to purposely hurt her.
