She amazes me. She’s holding her head up through all of this, and I don’t know how.
I waited at the club because I knew she’d show up. Shane told me the girls were meeting there, and I took full advantage. I watched the TVs when her face was on every screen again, watched strangers dissect her life like it was their right, listened to people who don’t know her call her dangerous.
Then she walked past our table without even looking at me and went straight for the stage.
I almost followed her. Almost stormed up there and carried her off just to get her somewhere private, somewhere safe.
But I didn’t.
I sat there and let the song kill me. She poured her pain into it, and the words hit like blows. She thinks I used her. She thinks I was part of my dad’s scheme. She thinks I didn’t stand up to him because I was in on it. She thinks everything between us was a sham.
And I’m sitting there with my heart bleeding out inside me, taking it because I deserve it. When she left the stage, she started dancing with another man, and that was it. All my restraint snapped. I marched toward her and demanded that she come with me. She refused.
Of course she did.
So, being stubborn as hell and refusing to let one more day go by without fixing this, I resorted to the only solution my body understands when my brain is failing: I picked her up and threw her over my shoulder.
People stared. Nobody interfered. I guess my "don’t even try it" face was at full strength tonight.
But the second I heard her voice, the one she uses with the kids at the center, the one that says,"Don’t push me,” it clicked. I was about to walk outside with her over myshoulder, against her will, with cameras potentially waiting. Mitch had already taken care of that threat inside the club, but there’s only so much control he has over the outside of the building.
And that would be the final nail in her coffin.
Actually, not hers. Mine. So I stopped and set her down, but I didn’t let go of her out of fear she’d get away from me as fast as humanly possible.
“Then walk with me like a normal person would,” I told her, because I didn’t trust myself to do anything else.
She sighed, as if she wanted to slap me, and agreed.
I linked our fingers together because I’m desperate, and because the sensation of her hand in mine is the only thing that makes me feel like I’m not drowning.
We’re inside now, and she heads for the chair like she’s trying to put distance between us in the form of furniture. I don’t let her. I guide her gently toward the couch instead, one hand light at her elbow, just enough pressure to redirect without forcing.
She sits at the far end, posture rigid, eyes trained on anything but me. I know she expects me to sit at the other end like a respectful stranger. I sit beside her instead and close the space between us. Not touching. Not crowding. Just…present. Close enough that she can’t pretend I’m not here, close enough that I can’t pretend I’m not terrified.
She looks perturbed for half a second, then turns slightly toward me and waits, guarded and silent, as if she’s bracing for impact.
“I’m not really good at this, Andi,” I say, my voice strained and rough. “So I’m going to say I’m sorry right now in case something I say comes out wrong.”
She gives one small nod, nothing more.
“Saying I’m sorry isn’t enough, even though I mean it,” I continue. “I’m sorry for what I did. I’m sorry for leaving you there. I’m sorry I didn’t listen when you begged me to.” I swallow, forcing myself to keep going. “But I need you to understand why I reacted the way I did, because it wasn’t about you being untrustworthy. It was about me being a coward with old wounds.”
“Brandon told me something that shook me,” I say. “He told me to stop using Megan as the standard I judge other women by.”
My throat tightens. “And I did it, anyway. I did it to you.”
The words hang between us, as heavy as concrete.
“When Dad showed me those pictures and that court document, I put you in that category,” I admit. “Andi, I’ve always felt guilty for how Megan and Carl’s scheme hurtmy dad’s business, because if I hadn’t brought Megan into our lives, none of it would’ve happened. So when my dad handed me something that looked like proof, I didn’t question it. I didn’t ask you anything. I didn’t give you a chance. I jumped straight to the conclusion that you were using me and lying to me.”
Her eyes glisten, but she doesn’t let the tears fall yet.
“I was completely wrong,” I say, voice rougher now. “And I’m sorry, even though I know that doesn’t fix what I broke. But I swear to you, on my life, I had nothing to do with my dad’s scheme. I didn’t know he hired the PI. I didn’t know he was going to threaten you. I didn’t know any of it.”
I shake my head once, disgusted with myself. “He knows how furious I am. Brandon does, too. My dad feels terrible, and the only time I’ve ever seen him cry was when he talked about hurting you and me.”
I lean forward slightly, hands clasped like I’m holding myself together.
