When I got to my bike, Laney reached for me but I pushed her away. “Go home, Laney.”
“Jesse,” she sobbed, still reaching for me, wanting to comfort me.
Wanting me to comfort her.
But I couldn’t.
How could I?
She had a chance without me. She had a future.
But with me…I’d destroy her like I destroyed everything else in my life.
I looked over to see Hardy straddling his bike. He glanced up at me, watching me with those cold, dead eyes of his. He was right about one thing: I had to do the right thing by Laney. I had to cut her loose before it was too late. What kind of man would I be to keep her? What kind of father would I be if she got pregnant? My father was Clyde Hardy, a monster of a man who cared for no one—not even his own son—and I would turn out to be just like him.
“Jesse!” Laney cried my name again, the sound of her tears scorching my heart.
I looked back over my shoulder, seeing that Gauge had her, his arms wrapped around her, dragging her to his body, keeping her from me. He was giving me space, and he was protecting her from me. Because right then, I was a dangerous man indeed, and he could see that.
I climbed onto my bike, started it, and drove out of the cemetery, still hearing Laney calling my name long after I had gone. Every fiber of my body wanted me to turn around and go back to her. To be with her. But I could no more be loved by that woman than I could be by anyone else.
I was unlovable, I was a murderer, and Laney deserved someone so much better.
That was the start of the end for Jesse James Hardy.
