Trinity threw my coat at me. “One coffee. And then I will personally escort you back to our room and you can resume the recovery position.”
If there was one thing I had learned about Trinity in the six days I had known her—she was determined. She wasn’t going to let this go until I gave in, and right now I didn’t have the energy to fight her.
I glanced at her. “Just one?”
She grinned. “I promise.”
Outside, it was as cold as it was bleak. The rain had stopped but the sky was dark with rain clouds. Leaves skipped across the footpath as we made our way through the deserted park toward the campus café. I ducked my head down and pulled my coat tighter around me.
“Um, Indy, this is just a guess, but I’m pretty sure that’s your Mr. Wrong waiting for you up ahead,” Trinity said.
I looked up and she was right. Cade was waiting for me farther along the footpath. Wearing a Kings of Mayhem hoodie with his hands shoved in his jeans, he looked like he hadn’t slept in days. He looked like hell.
Trinity turned to look at me. “Do you want me to tell him to go away?”
I had never seen Cade look so desperate. He was usually so confident, so self-assured. But not today. He was pale with dark circles under his eyes, and while he was still big and broad, he looked like he had lost weight.
I shook my head and walked toward him, while Trinity took a seat on a park bench a few feet away.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, unable to keep the sharpness out of my voice. A deep, searing pain made me tremble. Seeing him was hard. “You shouldn’t be here.”
Cade shifted with uncertainty. “I had to see you.”
“Why? We’re done.”
“Please don’t say that,” he begged. His Adam’s apple bobbed. His lips were red from the cold. He was desperate. “I can’t breathe without you.”
“Then you should’ve thought about that before . . .you know what, I’m not doing this.” I put my hand up. “I’m not rehashing this. Like I said, we’re done.”
I went to walk past him but he grabbed me and pulled me to his chest, desperately squeezing me to him. His smell and the familiarity of his warmth broke my heart all over again and I longed to melt into his embrace. “I need you. I can’t live without out. Please, Indy, you have to give me another chance.” His arms tightened around me. “Tell me you want me again.”
His words cut through me and I couldn’t stand it, so I pushed him away. “I told you we were done.”
“Please,” he begged. “I made a mistake.”
“You had sex with someone else!”
Images of him and her haunted me every day.
“I didn’t know . . . I thought she was —” He stopped when my eyes widened.
“You thought that skank was me?” I cried. Despite the cold and the rain, my blood boiled and I shoved him in the chest. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Trinity stand up. “You couldn’t tell the difference between the girl you supposedly love and some club whore?”
Later, I would be pleased that there was no one in the park to witness the meltdown that followed.
“I heard you moaning. I heard how much you were enjoying her riding you. At first, I thought someone else was in your room. I mean, there was no way, right? You wouldn’t be in there with another woman. But there you were, mid-orgasm with some MC groupie on top of your . . .” My chin quivered and I had to look away for a moment. “For as long as I live I will never be able to forget or forgive what you have done.” I bit my lip to stop it from trembling. “Go home, Cade. You don’t belong here.”
He grabbed me by the shoulders. “I fucked up. I own it. But it’s killing me, Indy.”
I knocked his hands off me. “It’s killing you? What do you think it’s done to me?”
He looked desperate.
“Indy, please—”
My heartache bubbled up and burst from me.
“How could you be so reckless with my heart!” I yelled. I was in so much pain I was almost doubled over with it. “I gave it to you and you broke it!”
He reached for me but I stepped away from him.
“I know and I’m so sorry—” He breathed brokenheartedly, barely able to contain his tears.
“Sorry doesn’t even begin to make this better!” I rasped. I pushed him away and stood in front of him, my pain wide open for him to see. “You’ve taken everything from me. You broke us and there just aren’t enough pieces left to put us back together again. Go away, Cade.”
“But I love you,” he breathed desperately.