His lips parted, but for one of the first times since they’d met, he hadn’t the slightest clue what to say. He simply stared on helplessly, as she proceeded to tear his life apart.
“Why should I believe the man who has a different girl in his bed every single day of the week? Hmm?” She stood up on her toes, right in his face. “Why should I believe the man who I met when I burst into his house—catching him in the act of destroying someone else’s marriage? Why should I believe the man who thinks that monogamy is a guideline, not a rule?”
The words rang out between them, laying him bare with each one. It was quiet for a long time. Long enough that she thought he was simply going to walk away.
But he didn’t. He couldn’t. He stood his ground instead. Saying whatever he needed to in order to keep her in his life. Humbling himself in a way that she didn’t think was possible.
“You shouldn’t.”
Lacy blinked at him, convinced that she’d heard wrong. “...excuse me?”
He bowed his head, eyes tightening with an unspeakable sort of pain.
“You shouldn’t believe me. You should protect yourself. You should walk away.”
Her mouth fell open in absolute shock, unable to believe what she was hearing.
“Is that...is that what you want?”
“No!” he exclaimed, reaching forward without thinking to take her hands. “Of course not! Lacy...I want to be with you. Just you. Those other women be damned. But I don’t...” He trailed off, staring miserably into her eyes. “I don’t know how to convince you of that. There’s not a reason in the world for you to believe me, and the only thing I want more than to be with you, is for you to be happy. If you can’t be happy with me, then...”
He stared at her a moment more, then dropped his head in defeat. “If you can’t be happy with me, then I need to let you go. So you can be happy. Even if it’s hating me. Even if it’s with someone else. I would do anything for you, Lacy. Anything you needed.”
For a long time, she simply stared at him. Why would he be saying these things if they weren’t true? Given the fact that he was standing on the sidewalk, she assumed that he’d ousted the woman waiting in his bed. Why would he have done that if he didn’t mean it? If he wasn’t willing to give the two of them a try?
“I want to believe you,” she finally whispered, staring down at their enjoined hands. “I really do. But I just...I’ve seen the way you are, Dylan. You can’t date just one girl. You can’t do it. Even if you want to. Even if you try. Someone else will always be there—getting between us. I don’t want to be missing you, dreaming about you, being in the dumped club, because that’s not how I roll.”
A look of quiet desperation clouded his face as he shook his head, staring deep into her eyes. “I promise you—that isn’t true. I know you have no reason to believe me. I know it would make more sense to walk away...but I promise it isn’t true. That’s not...that’s not who I am.”
Anymore. He forgot to tag on that pesky little word. Anymore. Because the truth of the matter was, Dylan Stone was a philandering playboy. Anything he said to deny it was just words.
Lacy’s heart broke as she stared up at him for a second more. Then she pulled her hands away with a broken sigh. “You can’t change a player. Nobody knows that more than me. And I refuse to get in any deeper. I’m so sorry. But this is over. Don’t call me again. I don’t want to see you. This...this is done.”
“You’re letting our love get tainted because of my past actions? I don’t care about any other girl I’ve ever dated. I only care about you. There is only you in my life and I swear to you that is the truth. That’s how much you’ve touched my soul. And sure, the road is a little bumpy, but we can get past this.”
“No...we can’t. Because the road is more than a little bumpy. It’s filled with humongous, giant sinkholes, so damn deep that even you as a construction worker could never fix them!”
A rush of cold air swept between them, as she turned on her heel and walked away.
Before he could say a word to stop her. Before he could see her start to cry.
Chapter 3
“Hiiiiii—yah!”
There was a mighty crash, as a giant armless mannequin smashed into the ground. It popped back up a second later, the same solemn expression forever clouding its face.
“Well done, Lacy!” A male instructor called out from across the room, clapping his hands together and gesturing to the dummy. “Great form!”
Sitting against the wall behind her, Stella scoffed into her smoothie. “I don’t think it’s great form so much, as massive amounts of rage...”
Lacy ignored them both, clenching her teeth together as she attacked the dummy again.
“Just because you’re not acknowledging me doesn’t mean I’m going to go away,” Stella continued, hastily stretching out her legs when another instructor gave her the evil eye. “We have to talk about it sometime or another. You can’t just beat up mannequins forever...”
Another pun
ch, followed by a sharp kick to the head. The springs creaked precariously.