She pursed her lips. “Ah, yes. I’m sure the police feel the same way?”
“The police are surprisingly narrow-minded.”
“So the police are the problem?”
“No. Billy is the problem.”
“So, you’re innocent?”
“My conscience is clear.”
She snorted. “You know what I thought when I heard you’d gotten into a fight with Billy again? That we were repeating the past. Only this time we should be smarter and wiser.”
“I was wiser. I didn’t fight the police this time.”
“Gareth!”
Uncomfortable, he scratched the back of his neck. “You’re right, okay? Maybe we’re repeating the past. But then let’s do better this time.”
“I told you then that I could defend myself.”
“I wanted to protect your knuckles.”
It took some effort not to laugh. “Gareth, that’s honorable,” she replied more gently. “But just to be clear: I don’t need you to fight my battles. I just handled Kosianos quite well on my own. He’ll most likely drop the lawsuit and the charges.” He had no choice, after all.
Gareth stared at her, open-mouthed. “How the hell…?”
“Blackmail, naturally,” she said, waving her hand. “I really shouldn’t have insisted on taking a completely legal recourse with that bastard.”
Gareth’s mouth twitched noticeably, and she had to restrain herself from smiling. But that wasn’t the plan — and Gareth loved plans, so she would stick to hers for his sake.
“Nonetheless, I certainly enjoyed seeing Kosianos with a broken nose,” she continued. “Thanks for that.” Gareth opened his mouth, but she held up a finger. “I’m not finished yet. Everything you said this afternoon…” She cleared her throat, but held his gaze. “It was too soon, Gareth. I wasn’t ready yet.”
He sighed. “I know…I was impatient.”
She gave him a sardonic look. “This is a whole new side of you that I’m getting to know.”
Gareth didn’t seem amused; instead, his expression was strangely serious, as if it were too important to laugh about. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. I’m just saying: We can't negate a decent relationship just because we’re both too damn stubborn to be honest and say how we feel!”
She slowly inclined her head, the cold of the cell replaced by the warmth of his words. “Okay. That’s fair. You said what you feel. Now, can I say what I feel?”
He gripped two bars so tightly that his knuckles turned white, but he nodded. He looked at her as if she was about to decide in the next few moments if he’d ever be allowed to leave this cell…and she almost gave in, pulled his head toward hers, and kissed him — but that wasn’t the plan!
“Gareth,” she said tonelessly. “You shouldn’t have saidokayback then.”
He opened his lips, closed them, and then reopened them. “I wanted the best for you, Hazel. Even if it wasn’t me.”
Her heart groaned, but she kept her expression deliberately neutral. “I know. But sometimes I’m unsure, Gareth. Sometimes I need reassurance that you really mean it.”
He took a shaky breath. “Okay, sure, I can work –”
“And I think you need reassuring too. Because, back then, it was way too easy for you to believe me when I said I didn’t want you anymore.”
He pressed his lips together and remained silent.
“So I thought…” She cleared her throat. “Well, I assumed you didn’t want to fight and prove your feelings. So I thought I’d fight and prove to you that you’re not my second choice, not to my career nor anything else.” She took a deep breath and forced herself to continue speaking calmly despite her racing pulse. “Okay, look, I’ve drawn up a plan. Plans show one is serious, right? Point one is a speech. Gareth, my whole life I’ve felt like I don’t really fit in anywhere, and that the people around me always find something to judge or punish me for — and then I met you. Apparently, you didn’t care that I outperformed you at school, that I came from a poor background and had a challenging personality. But it scared me so much that…” Shetrailed off, tilting her head in confusion. “Why are you smiling like that?”
Gareth leaned his forehead against the bars until he literally couldn’t get any closer, his smile sweeter than a basket full of kittens and cocoa. “I know all that.”
