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“You don’t know what love is.” Her voice is strained, and she struggles to speak more than a few words.
“That’s not true.” I place a hand on my aching chest. “I know I love you because it hurts so fucking much. I love you unconditionally?—”
“Stop.”
“You’re taking a job in New York? I guess we’re living in New York. You want to be with Ethan? Fine. I’ll get a bigger house. You’re having a baby?We’rehaving a baby. You refuse to talk to me? I’ll be here waiting, caring for you. The only thing I won’t do is be without you.”
With each word, I inch closer.
“Last time, you hurt me.” She sucks in a shaky inhale. “But I saw it coming. This time, you blew my whole fucking world apart, ripped my heart right out of my chest. I can’t even look at you without seeing those pictures, seeing what likely happened after.”
Tears stream down her beautiful face, and it hurts to breathe, my heart shattering along with hers.
“Nothing happened. I can prove it to you.” I reach out, in need of our connection.
She pulls away, hugging her arms tight to her body. “Don’t touch me!”
“Let me hold you. Let me make this up to you,please. I’ll do anything to fix this.” I’d take her pain if I wasn’t consumed with it already.
“No,” she grits through her teeth. “You lost the right to touch me when you touched someone else. You’ll never touch me again.”
I shake my head. The idea of never being with her is a death sentence. “Don’t say that.”
“You’ll never touch me again,” she repeats with conviction.
I tug at my hair, my thoughts a jumble of madness. I can’t stand how she glares at me, as if it’s over, as if she’s already made her mind up.
“You’ll kill me, Aurora. Is that what you want? Because that’s exactly what will happen.”
17
RICKY
I’ve heard enough.Red clouds my vision, and I snap.
That immature, manipulative shit. How dare Jackson threaten Aurora with his life?
It’ll work, too. She’ll cave for fear he’ll harm himself, and he might. He has in the past, and he’s desperate, at the end of his rope.
Doesn’t matter. I’ll wring his fucking neck.
I whip off my headphones and throw them onto the dash while reaching for the handle.
“No. No. No. You can’t?—”
I slam the door on Charlie’s words, and he follows me out of the vehicle, cursing. He catches up to my long strides as I approach the sidewalk across the alley.
He grabs the back of my shirt, breaking me from my murderous thoughts.
“Don’t do it. Don’t go barging in there. It’s not worth it.”
I spin around, shooting him a piercing glare. “Not worth it? When did we stop protecting people? This entire case was built on protecting women.”
He drops his hands to his sides. “For that very reason, we need him. We can’t take down Kyle without Jackson.”
A contemptuous sound escapes my throat, and I shake my head in frustration.
“You know it’s true. Think about it. If Jackson leaves, you don’t have justification to be here. We’re watchinghim, not her.”