“Once a cheater, always a cheater.”
Her eyes narrowed farther this time, furious about my reaction. “After everything I just said, that’s the only response you have?”
It was the only thing that came out, but it wasn’t the only thought I had.
“Why do you even care, Damien?” She threw her arms down. “You don’t want me, so why do you care who I want to be with? What Liam did was wrong, but he’s a good man in every other way. He made a mistake, and I’m not going to vilify him forever—”
“But you don’t love him.” I really needed to shut up.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, I can’t be with the man I love…”
I was the first one to break eye contact because the self-loathing was too much. I wanted to tell her the truth, that I left to protect her. I could tell her the reason right now, but she would try to convince me that she wasn’t afraid, that she didn’t care about the risk. And I would cave… I knew I would. And if I loved her and truly cared about her, I would give up everything to be with her, but I didn’t feel that way. We weren’t Hades and Sofia. We weren’t soul mates. I hadn’t even been with her long enough to develop intense feelings like that. She was just a woman I liked…and that wasn’t enough.
“Unless I’m wrong?” she asked hopefully, her voice breaking with emotion. She blinked a few times to chase back the tears, to maintain a strong expression that contradicted the emotion building inside her chest.
No. She wasn’t wrong. “No.” I lifted my gaze and looked at her again. “I do care about you…deeply. And I want you—”
She raised her hand, doing her best to keep her tears at bay. “Leave.”
I stood rooted to the spot because I didn’t want to leave her like this.
“This conversation is over.” She slowly lowered her hand. “I’m going to move on with my life. And I’m going to do my best to forget you. Let me forget you.”
32
Annabella
I had my old car, but I took the long way home.
I didn’t want to walk in the door with all this baggage on my shoulders. Liam would be there, and he would see right through my poor attempt to mask the shitty day I just had. He didn’t want to hear about the guy who still held some real estate in my heart. He didn’t deserve that.
But I couldn’t shake the feeling.
And I couldn’t lie either.
So, I finally walked through the front door and hung up my coat in the entryway.
The sound of someone working in the kitchen was audible, heavy pans hitting the bottom of the sink. “Baby, is that you?”
I sighed as I slipped off my heels and left them by the doorway. “Yeah.”
“You’re home later than usual.”
Because I was wandering around the streets with my music blaring. I moved down the hallway and entered the large kitchen, seeing him plate the food and set it on the kitchen island. “Paperwork.”
His back was still turned to me so he couldn’t see my face. “You can quit whenever you want. You know that.”
I wanted to keep working. It was nice to have something to do, something that got me up in the morning and kept me active. “I like my job.” I sat on the barstool.
He turned around and put the plate in front of me. When he read the expression in my eyes, he said, “Doesn’t seem like it.”
“Well, today wasn’t my favorite.”
He grabbed a couple forks and set them between us. Then he stared at me again, reading my expression like words on a page. “It’s more than just work. I can tell.”
He knew me better than anyone. “I don’t want to talk about it…” I started to push my food around so I could keep my eyes averted.
He grabbed my fork and set it down. “I’m your husband, so you’re going to talk to me about it.”
Not yet.
“Annabella.” He used that deep tone to get me to look at him.
“Trust me, you don’t want to hear about this.” I didn’t want to hurt him because I cared for him. Some would say this was karma, but even then, I had no desire for payback.
When he understood my meaning, he sighed quietly. “Yes, I do. I want to hear everything about your life…even the shit I don’t like.” He was trying much harder to be a good husband this time around. He hadn’t been nearly this attentive and emotionally available in the past. Losing me had really changed him.
I stared at my plate again. “He found out I was getting married.”
Liam didn’t say anything, but his body tightened in anger, as if he was afraid I was about to leave him. His response to any situation was violence, but that wasn’t applicable here.