He’d weaved a web so damned tangled that now he had no idea how to get out of it.
“What do you want from me, Noah?” she cried, causing him to jerk his gaze back to her, to see the tears on her cheeks.
“Don’t you dare cry!” he snarled. “Don’t you use tears on me, Sabella.”
He couldn’t handle her tears. Silent tears. She had never sobbed, but he heard a sob in her voice now.
She shook her head, pushed her fingers through her hair, and turned and walked away.
It took him long seconds to realize exactly what she was doing. She was walking. Walking past the motorcycle, walking away from him.
“Sabella, no.” He covered the distance, gripping her arm and pulling her to a stop as he placed himself in front of her. “We can talk about this.”
“There’s nothing to talk about,” she snapped. “You can’t just blow into whatever town, find yourself something to fuck for a few weeks, and then blow right out.” She jerked her arm out of his grip. “God, Noah. You’re breaking my heart and you don’t even care.”
“How can I break something that belongs to another man?” he yelled in jealous frustration. “That damned house with pictures of him spread through every damned room. The bedroom you shared with him, you still have his clothes in the closet. And look at this.” He jerked her hand up, the gold wedding band gleaming beneath the lights, ripping through his heart because she wore it on her right hand, not her left. “Look at that ring, Sabella. You still wear his ring.”
His ring, the ring she had slid on to his finger, burned a hole against his thigh. It was tucked in his pocket, always with him, always a part of him.
She was crying now. Her breath was hitching on her sobs and her gray eyes were washed with diamond-bright pain. It sliced through his soul.
Her lips parted. Her hand lifted as though to say something. At that moment, the clash of sirens sounded for the briefest second.
Sabella swung around as the sheriff’s cruiser pulled up, stopped, and Rick Grayson eased out of the cruiser. He took one look at Sabella then sliced a hard glare at Noah.
“Get in the car, Belle.” Rick nodded to the passenger side.
“Sabella. Don’t.” Noah stood still, every instinct inside him demanding that he not let her go with the sheriff. The sheriff was no longer a suspect, but Sabella was still Noah’s wife.
He stared back at her intently, willing her to remember the danger. “Please, Sabella.”
She looked from Rick to Noah. He could see the indecision in her face, her eyes.
Rick stood silently, watching them, his face creased into a scowl as he kept one hand carefully on the butt of his weapon.
“Let me take you home,” Noah said then. “I’ll just take you home. I swear it.”
A sob caught at her throat. “You’re killing me.”
“I know, baby.” And he did know. He was ripping them both apart and she had no idea how it was killing him too.
She ducked her head, shook it, then walked past him toward the motorcycle. Noah looked back at the sheriff intently, seeing the worry and the concern on his face as Grayson watched Sabella, then turned his gaze back to Noah. He was silent for a long moment. Finally, his hand lifted from the butt of his gun and he laid his forearms over the open frame of the door.
There was something knowing in the other man’s gaze. Something suspicious that had Noah tensing.
“You know,” Grayson finally said. “I’ve seen some real losers pass through this town in my day.”
“Really?” Noah drawled. Like he gave a damn.
“Really.” Rick nodded. “But I have to say I think you’re the biggest loser I’ve met to date. And for some reason, I just didn’t expect that of you.”
“I needed your opinion,” Noah grunted as he glanced back at where Sabella was wiping her cheeks and staring into the park.
“You need a bullet in the ass,” Rick growled, shaking his head. “Stay out of trouble, Mr. Blake. Otherwise, we’re going to talk.”
Noah arched his brows before deliberately turning his back on the sheriff and moving to where Sabella waited on the Harley.
He wrapped his jacket around her, pulling it over her arms before tipping her head up to him and staring into her tear-drenched eyes. His hands framed her face, his thumbs smoothed over her trembling lips.