“I saw you over his lifeless body holding the fucking knife, so don’t you dare lie to me.”
I was dimly aware of people watching us now. Max had edged closer to Rys, and Nick had moved down the bar towards us. “Tombs killed him and handed me the knife while he took photographic evidence to give to the police.”
Rys sneered. “Of course he did.”
“It’s the truth!” I stood up, nowhere near matching his height, but I was sick of having him tower over me. “I didn’t kill him.”
I couldn’t tell whether he believed me or not, and at this point I wasn’t sure if I cared. “I tried stopping Tombs from killing once before, but he wasn’t interested, and I never dared try it again.” I’d embarrassed him in front of the group, his own protege who didn’t like the thrill of the hunt. He’d been furious. “I’m sorry, Rys. I’m sorry Tombs killed him, and I’m so fucking sorry you had to see it.” I didn’t know what else I could say, and by the look of him, he’d heard enough anyway.
For a minute I thought we were done, that Rys was going to walk out and never speak to me again, but he slumped back into his seat with a weary sigh. When he looked at me, his expression was guarded. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Was he serious right now?
“I tried!” I frowned, wondering how his version of events seemed so different to mine. “I yelled at you to stop, to let me explain, but you turned around and ran off into the forest and I had no fucking hope of catching you.” I had my phone still clutched in one hand and I waved it in front of his face. “I tried calling and texting, but you never read them or answered, and then you blocked my number. What the hell was I supposed to do?”
“You could’ve come after me?” he said eventually, so quietly I had to strain to hear him.
“What?”
“When I ran off into the forest, you knew where I was going. You could’ve followed me, made me listen.”
I stared at him, lost for words. “Would you have? Would I have even got close enough for you to hear me?” I was pretty sure the rest of the pack would’ve stopped me from entering their territory.
“Maybe, maybe not. But you didn’t even try!”
The hurt in his voice caught me by surprise. So unexpected after the anger that it took me a moment to answer.
And that was all the time Rys needed to get up and stalk away. I reached out to stop him, but it was too late. He’d gone.
“Fuck.”
“All right?” Max asked, taking Rys’s empty seat.
I glanced up to see warm brown eyes, looking at me with concern but not pity, thank fuck. “Yeah.” I sighed, feeling lighter despite how it had turned out in the end. “At least everything’s out in the open.”
“I’d like to say he’ll calm down and come around, but…” He held out his hands and shrugged.
I laughed, couldn’t help it, but it wasn’t a pleasant one. “Yeah, I’m not stupid enough to think he’s changed that much in ten years.” I had, though. “And I won’t blame him if he doesn’t. I did a shitty thing; he doesn’t have to forgive me just because I apologised.”
Max nodded in understanding. “I think we’re done here, let’s go home.”
“Yeah, okay.” I yawned, Max’s words reminding me just how knackered I was. Dealing with Rys was exhausting, but despite not maybe getting the reaction I would’ve liked, I still felt like a weight had been lifted. He knew all my secrets. And he knew that I didn’t kill the shifter in the woods that day. That I hadn’t killed a member of his family, his mother’s pack.
No wonder he’d hated me.
“Hey.” Nick caught my hand as I turned to follow Max. “Why didn’t you tell him?”
I frowned. “Tell him what, exactly?” I was pretty sure I’d bared my soul to Rys just now and Nick had probably heard it all. “There’s nothing left to tell.”
Nick’s frown matched mine. “That’s not true.” He let go of my hand and leant on the bar. “He asked you why you didn’t go after him when he ran. And you didn’t tell him. You let him walk off thinking you didn’t give enough of a shit to chase him when that wasn’t what happened. Fucking Tombs—”
“Let it go, Nick.” I shook my head and gave him a sad smile. “He feels how he feels. Nothing I say now is going to change that.”
“And that’s it? You’re giving up?”
“On what?” I spread my arms, palms up. “We’ve been over a long time. There’s nothing to give up on. That was closure. For both of us.”
“Bollocks.” He gave me an unimpressed look that I really couldn’t be arsed to deal with.
