I scoffed at his insult. “I could, but I wanted to make a grand gesture.”
Alejandro sighed and put his hands on his head. “Preston, this isnota grand gesture. It’s ridiculous. It’s going to backfire.”
I scrubbed my hands over my face. Maybe he was right. Maybe I’d screwed this up. Again. “I know you think I’ve done the wrong thing, but I’m here now…”
The sharp intake of air had me turning my gaze to where Ale-asshole had been standing. But it wasn’t him and his boy toy. I found the love of my life looking at me like I was out of my mind. The other two were nowhere in sight.
Thank fuck.
I jumped to my feet and almost tripped over the box of stuff.
“You’re here. Thank god,” I muttered, then fell forward as Nick reached out to catch me. My arms flew out to balance me, but my weight was too much and took us both to the ground.
Luckily, I was fast and clutched him to me so I could take most of the fall. When we landed, I was on my back with Nick covering my body. His eyes were wide, but he still hadn’t said anything.
“Oh god, are you okay? Did I hurt you? Well, I mean, physically, not like I hurt you before, but like right now?”
Nick continued to blink at me, and I stared back.
I don’t know how long we stayed like that, just looking at each other, but I couldn’t let him go. Ever.
“Why are you here, Preston?” The sadness quickly changed to anger that was evident on his face and in his voice. I’d done that to him simply by not giving him a chance to explain.
I stared into his eyes. “Because I’ve been a fool. And I wanted to apologize and beg for your forgiveness.”
Nick tilted his head to the side, just like Alejandro had, making me think the asshole might have been right. “You ended us and packed all my—”
“I know,” I cut him off. “I was trying to make sure you’d talk to me. I figured if I waited here for you to come get it, you would see I was serious about us.”
Narrowing his eyes, he looked down at me from where he was still spread out on top of me. “That makes no fucking sense at all.”
He pushed himself away from me and got back on his feet. He looked down at a box and went to lift it, but I grabbed him around the waist. “Baby, please let me explain.”
“Fuck no. I’ve had enough of your stupid bullshit for the last ten days. Evan tried to convince me that I needed to see you and get closure.”
I gritted my teeth. “Evan, huh?”
Nick wrenched himself out of my grasp and turned on me. “Do not fucking dare say a single word about Evan. He is nowhere near the asshole you are. You were cruel and intentionally mean, and then, like a third grader, stomped off and wouldn’t let me explain anything to you.”
I hung my head and nodded. “You’re right, I was. I overreacted—”
Nick threw his hands in the air. “Ya think? You’re almost forty-six years old. When are you gonna grow up?”
“When you take me back. I swear I won’t ever do it again.”
Nick narrowed his gaze at me. “So not ever, huh?”
I took a step back like he’d just sucker punched me in the gut, because I couldn’t breathe.
“I’m not taking you back, Preston. I was wrong to wait to tell you, but I won’t live my life with someone who won’t even let me defend myself. You cut me to my core and left me like that. Walked away like I meant nothing to you. You compared me to someone that hurt you in ways I would have—could have—neverdone to you. That’s not how you love someone, Preston.”
I heard the hitch in his voice and it kicked me into gear. I took a chance and wrapped my arms around him from behind.
We were both crying, but luckily, he didn’t pull away. He was stiff in my arms for a few minutes, then he relaxed and sagged back into me.
“I’m so sorry, baby. Please don’t leave me. Please give me a chance to make it up to you.”
Nick said nothing, just stood there with his back to me. I figured I better make my case, because I knew if he walked away right now, I’d never see him again.
