Page 128 of Rival Hearts

I shrugged. “I wanted to make a change, and they weren’t happy with it. I guess they decided that despite nixing the idea they didn’t feel we were on the same page after all.”

“That sucks.”

I nodded and sipped my whiskey. There was a lot that sucked these days.

“How about you?” The conversation was stiff and awkward, and I hated it.

“Same old,” Gabe said with a sniff. “The trip to Texas was good, despite me hating it, and my bosses are pleased, so we keep moving forward. Onward and upward, you know?”

“That sounds good.”

The uncomfortable silence stretched out between us, and we sipped our whiskey, not making eye contact, not talking.

“Look, man. I’m sorry,” I said to break the silence. “I know I fucked up. I should have stayed far away from her.”

“Yeah,” Gabe said tightly. “You should have.”

“I just didn’t know it was her, you know?”

“Well, itwasher,” Gabe snapped. “She’s been through enough hell in her life without you needing to add to it.”

“Do you think I don’t know that? It’s not like I wanted to fuck her over, screw up her life and walk away.”

Gabe shook his head. “You see, that’s the part I struggle to wrap my mind around. That’s the way you did it with everywoman you’ve ever met. Come on, man. How many women have we picked up at the same time with exactly that idea in mind?”

“It was different with Charlotte,” I said softly.

“And yet, here we are.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You walked away from her.”

“She walked away from me!” I cried out.

Gabe frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Just what I say,” I spat. “I wasn’t the one who wanted to throw in the towel. I didn’t want this to end. Hell, she’s everything, Gabe. You know what she’s like—she’s impossible to forget.”

Gabe blinked at me. “I don’t get it.”

“No, you wouldn’t,” I said bitterly. “I know that I’ve always fucked around, that women were just a one-night thing for me. I could never be in a relationship, not with all the shit from my past. And it’s not like I could find someone who would get me, someone who would understand… until Charlotte.”

Gabe stared at me without answering, so I kept talking like the idiot I was.

“I was going to change the company for her. Release a new eco-friendly line of yachts that would hopefully change the impact our yachts have on the ocean. It was important to her, so it was important to me, too. That’s why the investors pulled out.”

“I don’t get it,” Gabe said. “If you were so serious about her, why did you break up?”

I sighed. “Because when I decided against doing the yachts, because my investors were so full of shit about it, she figured I was just like your dad.”

“What?” Gabe’s face paled a little. “She told you about him?”

“Yeah,” I said. “She told me what he did, and I guess from her point of view, I get it. She just never gave me a chance to tell her what’s really going on. It’s not like I’m just doing this to getrich quick, you know? But I have to think about my family, about my employees, about everyone involved in the process of making these yachts. If she can’t see that…” I sighed heavily.

Gabe shook his head and turned his face to the window.

“I thought she was just another conquest,” he said before he looked at me again. “I thought when you were with her, you were with her because it’s what you do.”