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“Doesn’t fucking matter if it was ten years. He broke a code.”

I laugh. “A code?” I shake my head. “That’s what he said to me the day you got hauled away in a police car. But he never elaborated on it. Tell me, what is this code?”

“That a man shouldn’t go after his brother’s girl, Bexley. Isn’t it obvious?”

“Even if his brother’s ex-girl could have a better life with that man? Didn’t you tell me all those years ago that you just wanted me to be happy? So, I found happiness and here you are trying to make me feel guilty about it.”

“You weren’t happy. Even I know that. You were pretending to be happy. Pretending that having that little cookie-cutter life was what you wanted.”

“Fuck you. You don’t know anything about what I wanted.”

“Oh, I don’t?” he asks. “You want to stand here and act like you weren’t completely happy when you were with me.”

“I was an idiotic girl, Danny. Blinded by love to see the reality of our relationship and where it was going.”

He nods. “Right. You’d rather be in a safe little bubble and live your life unsatisfied than be with a criminal.” Sarcasm pours from his voice.

My hands start to shake, my pulse pounds. I step closer to him. “That’s right. I didn’t want to be with a criminal. So, I was alone for a while. I was sick, I was hardly living, and Samuel was there. He was always there, trying to bring me back to life. Where were you, huh?” I shove him. He winces. I feel bad, but I don’t stop. “Off murdering someone because they were a threat to your livelihood? Fucking the next whore at the clubhouse?

“You stand there and throw judgment at me for trying to move on from you. For trying to live my life with half a heart…” My voice cracks and my hand goes over my mouth to keep the sob from being heard. I’ve been strong for so long when it comes to Danny. I’ve told myself over and over that the life I chose was far better than the life I would have had with this man.

But love is love and I can’t shake it.

I just can’t shake it.

Samuel was everything and more. He deserved the world, and I could only give him a small piece of me because the man standing here owned almost all.

“I was living half-brokenhearted when I was with you. Waiting for you to mess up.”

“That was your problem,” he says. “You always thought the worst of me.”

“You showed me the worst. What else was I supposed to believe?”

He grows angry. “That I loved you! That I was trying.”

“You were trying?” I laugh, wiping my tears. “Tell me how you were trying?”

“I didn’t mean to not show up!”

“Oh, that’s right. You hit a deer,” I say sarcastically.

His jaw clenches.

“How about you tell me some truth? Tell me what really happened all those years ago.”

Chapter Seventeen

Bones

One month three days missing

She stands there crying and I’m shaking. Shaking with rage, with hurt, with a heart so full of love only for her. I haven’t felt much in a long time. My soul faded to black a long time ago, but listening to her cry as she tries not to, it breaks something inside of me.

“I’m sorry,” I say, shaking my head and gripping the chair. “I’m not being fair.”

“Well, you never were,” she replies, wiping at her face.

“No, not when it came to you, I guess I wasn’t.” I run my hand over my beard, happy to be able to move my damn hands. Such a simple thing we take for granted…moving our hands.