“Didn’t mean anything,” he lamely shrugged it off.
“Right.” Gabe tipped his bottle toward him. “Keep telling yourself that.”
Trust me, I’ve been trying to.
“Sex aside, you obviously believe her story about her dad’s blackmailing scheme.”
“Yeah.” Matt nodded. “I do.”
He wanted to ignore what Kat had told him. To believe it was nothing more than another lie to go along with the pseudo marriage. But as much as his mind wanted to deny it, his heart knew she was telling the truth.
It was there, in her heartbroken, tortured eyes. Kat had crushed both their dreams that day on the pier, but she’d done so in order to protect him. He didn’t even know what to do with that.
For years, he’d hated the woman when he should have beenworshipingher. Had despised a girl who, even at the young age of seventeen, was mature enough—brave enough—to sacrifice her own happiness in order to keep his ass out of the brig.
All those hateful, hurtful words he’d spewed at her, both in the past and the present, came rushing back to him. God, he felt so sick at heart.
Not only did Matt hate himself for saying those things in the first place, but also because rather than call him out on his shit, Kat had stood tall the entire time, stoically taking everything on her shoulders as if she’d deserved it.
And all the while, she’d been every bit as heartbroken as he was. Probably even more so.
More than that, the incredible, amazing woman had spent all this time knowing he despised her for making the decision that had saved his career. Hell, hislife.
Matt swallowed down a rush of burning bile as he stared out Gabe’s living room window. His breathing shallowed and his mouth filling with saliva from the nausea filling his gut.
Raising a shaking hand to his face, his fingertips bit into the stubble covering his hardened jaw as he stood there, trying like hell not to puke and wondering where he went from here.
You know exactly where you’re going.
For once, Matt didn’t feel like punching out that tiny voice. Mainly because, it was right. If he could convince his boss to let him borrow the company jet, he had only one destination in mind.
Right on cue, a loud knock came from the other side of Gabe’s front door.
“Sorry to keep you waiting.” Jake stepped past Gabe as he opened the door. “Traffic was a bitch.”
“Boss.” Matt went to the other man and held out his hand.
“Turner.” Jake reciprocated the gesture.
“Hey, Matt.” Trevor Matthews, Alpha Team’s medic and Jake’s second in command—followed Jake into the home’s entryway.
After calling Gabe on the way here, Matt had immediately called Jake, too, asking if he could meet him here. He’d told Jake Zade had taken over his bodyguard duties but wanted to wait to explain the rest until they could talk face to face.
The fact thatbothmen had come didn’t bode well for Matt.
Trevor, a former Delta operator like Jake, stood nearly eye-level with him. His short, dark hair and perfectly symmetrical features made him what everyone on the team called Hollywood handsome. Matt had to agree.
Like him, the guy could probably have any woman he wanted. Having seen the way Trevor looked when he spoke to or about his wife, however, Matt knew the other man only had eyes for her.
He’d been like that with Katherine, once.Maybe you can be again, now that you know the truth.Ignoring his subconscious, Matt shook Trevor’s hand, too.
“Sorry this one’s been such a headache for you,” Trevor offered.
Along with Gabe, the other two men took a seat in the living room. Praying he wasn’t about to be fired, Matt chose to stand.
Sitting with a semi-relaxed posture, Jake looked up at him from his place on the couch. “I’m sure you’d like to give me a big ‘I told you so’ speech right about now.”
Matt blinked and shook his head. “No, sir. Actually, I wanted to apologize.”
