What the hell is wrong with me?
Once upon a time, I wouldn’t have given two fucks.
But all I can see is Tay’s eyes. Her judgement. My downfall.
‘He never would’ve served enough time to make up for what he did to Sadie,’ Theo says tightly, his knuckles turning white around his glass. ‘Or Lottie. Even Tay. And he’d be out eventually. The ideaof him walking the streets again, free to come and…’ He shakes his head. ‘You saved me from that living nightmare and did what I couldn’t bring myself to ask of you. I’ll always owe you for that.’
His words twist inside me, hot, cold, everything at once. I open my mouth to say something, but what? I don’t even know how I feel. Take Taylor out of the equation and I can’t think straight.
A phone buzzes through the weighted silence.
It’s Theo’s on the coffee table. He leans forward to check the screen and his whole face softens.
‘It’s Sadie.’
No shit.
He picks it up, thumbs flying over the screen. Then he sets it aside and looks at me, eyes narrowed with suspicion.
What now?
‘Sadie says you called in to check on her.’
‘I did.’
‘At Taylor’s?’
‘Yeah.’ Still don’t get why he’s looking at me like?—
‘How’d you know she’d be there instead of here?’
Fuck.‘I didn’t.’
‘So you just… went to Tay’s first? Even though she lives here. With her daughter. And her husband.’
‘I did it without thinking.’
His brow lifts. ‘Youassumedyou’d find her at her sister’s rather than at home?’
‘What is this, twenty questions?’ I bite out, while seeing my stupidity for what it is. I should’ve told him I still had eyes on her. Clean. Simple. But like everything else in my life, my supposedly bulletproof brain has gone dark. ‘You grilled me enough yesterday. Keep it up and I’ll go out the way I came in.’
‘What’s going on, Ax?’
‘Nothing’s going on.’
‘You could’ve fooled me. You’ve been off. Ever since the wedding. Whatever’s going on between you and Tay?—’
‘There’s nothing going on between me and Tay.’
And it’s killing me as I say it, because it’s the truth.
I don’t need to hear her say it, to know it.
‘You say that, but?—’
‘Just drop it, Tanner.’
He holds my stare for what feels like an eternity, then finally, he nods. ‘Fine. But promise me one thing?’
