I bit my lip as I glanced up at him. “I’m sorry I ruined your date.”
“What the hell is your problem?” he asked, stepping right in front of me. “You drag me along, fall into my arms, give me the best damn night of my life, then turn around and spit in my face!”
“Huh? It didn’t happen that way, and you know it!” I shot back, furious. “You were the one who kept acting like we can’t be anything more than business partners. What do you want from me? A fuck buddy? Friends with benefits? Gosh, Charlie, I’ve never wanted that. I find it repulsive. I thought you changed, but you haven’t. You’re still blind, just like you always have been.”
“I have to marry someone by the end of the month, or I lose the money and the house,” he reminded me. “I’m on a time limit.”
“So? Do you really need the money and the house, or would you rather be with someone who actually loves you, someone who’s loved you for years.”
He paused and sucked in a breath. “Love? Are you in love with me, Jaime?”
I felt the blood drain from my face. “No. I didn’t say that.”
“You basically did,” he argued. “You just said you love me, that you always have. That’s why you’ve been acting so weird. I don’t understand though. If you love me, why not marry me?”
“Of course you wouldn’t understand,” I said as the wall of emotions collapsed around me. “All those years ago, you left me, Charlie. You just took off and abandoned me. You were the one person who understood me. You were always there for me, and then you were just gone, with no calls, no...anything. What was I supposed to think?”
He reached out for my hands, but I yanked them back. “But I came back,” he argued.
“Ha! Yeah, you did, but did you look me up right away? Did you come find me to tell me you realize, after all these years that you really want to be with me?” I asked, angrily swiping the tears from my eyes. “No. You didn’t come back for me. You came back for the money, and you thought you could sucker your best friend into scamming everyone, without any repercussions.”
“I just thought you’d be okay with it because we were such good friends, because of all the crazy stunts we’ve pulled in the past.”
“Were,” I said, hanging my head. “That’s just it. You were my good friend, but I-I can’t lie anymore. I’ll admit it, Charlie. I am in love with you. And I want more than to be your partner in crime so you can get your inheritance. I want a helluva lot more! The other night, I thought maybe you were finally on the same page with me. I guess I was wrong.”
With that, I ran past him for the front door, grabbing my keys as I went. “Walking away from someone that I’m madly in love with is the absolute hardest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life. But we’re over. I’ll send Tammy to get my things tomorrow.”
“What about the dogs?”
“She’ll get them too. Goodbye.”
“Jaime, wait!” he called, but I was already out the door.
I climbed into my car, tears blurring my vision as I took off down the driveway and hit the road fast. The temperature had dropped, and everything was black ice, but I needed to get away, as far away from Charlie as I could, even if I couldn’t run away from my broken heart. I wiped at my eyes again as I reached the main road. The car skidded around a turn, and I slowed, sucking in a breath as I struggled to gain control of the vehicle and my raging emotions.
I should’ve never broken into his house, never should’ve let that asshole back into my life, and none of this would’ve happened. Charlie will never love me like that, no matter how much I wish he would.
My stupid old car fishtailed around another turn, and I slowed even more. It was simply too treacherous to be driving around, no matter how angry I was, so I decided I’d turn around in the first driveway and head back.
“Change of plans. I’ll pack up my stuff and call Tammy in the morning,” I said to my reflection in the rearview mirror. “Maybe she can loan me some money so I can move out. In two years, he’ll be gone for good, and then I can forget
about him.”
Headlights flashed as another car came around a turn too fast, its tires squealing on the slick pavement. I gripped the wheel and swerved to the side to avoid it, but I was too late. I screamed as the collision happened, then screamed again as my car flipped. Then, in the next second, the whole world was quiet, and everything went black.
Chapter 22
Pain and flashing lights, I thought, the only thought I could muster. I felt like I was floating. I heard voices yelling all around me, but I couldn’t open my eyes and couldn’t speak. I swam through another bout of darkness, wondering where I was and what happened.
Just as I began to fade away again, another voice reached my ear, a voice I would have known anywhere: “Jaime!”
In the back of my mind, I yelled at myself to open my eyes, but my lids wouldn’t budge.
A hand slipped into mine to hold it tightly, and there was the sound of someone crying nearby.
“Don’t you dare leave me,” the voice said, gruff and hoarse with fear. “You can’t leave me, Jaime. You were right. I haven’t told you everything, not yet. You need to know how I feel about you. I-I...”
Charlie? I tried to open my eyes again, to call out and say something, but I was trapped in the darkness. His voice faded, and I feared he was leaving me, but the pressure of his reassuring grip never left my hand. I tried to remember what happened, but only our fight came back to me. I recalled every word he said, everything I yelled at him before I left; as horrible as it was, it was all true.