Page 18 of Tempting Bo (Montgomery Dreams #2)

KENZIE

I’m struggling to twist all of my hair into a braid when a knock sounds at my door. I jump in surprise and glance at the time on my phone before ducking out of the bathroom to stare quizzically down the hall.

It’s nearly nine, and I’m not expecting anyone.

I abandon my attempt at braiding and hesitantly make my way toward the door, my fluffy cat slipper scuffing against the floors.

When I make it there, I lean up to glance through the peephole, only to be greeted by a shaggy head of hair and a familiar set of slumped shoulders. I tug the door open immediately.

“Bo?”

He looks up slowly, his movements jerky and disjointed. His face is gaunt, dried tear tracks shining on his cheeks. My heart trips over itself in my chest, and I pull him inside without another thought.

He comes easily, his massive frame folding in on itself as he stumbles his way inside.

Bo’s never been the uncertain type, but now he stands in my entryway like he has no clue how he got here or what he’s supposed to do.

I have no clue what put him in this state, but the most important thing right now is to get him onto the couch and bundled up in a blanket or ten.

He looks like he’s seconds from passing out.

“Come on,” I say softly, tugging on his wrist after closing the door.

He follows me easily, letting me guide him to the couch and drape my fluffiest blanket over his shoulders without complaint. I sit on the edge of my coffee table, keeping his big hands enveloped in mine.

“Can you tell me what happened?” I ask gently.

I feel a little like I’m talking to one of my students, but whatever’s going on with him is a lot bigger than failing a math test. He opens and closes his mouth a few times before he gets anything out, and the sound of his voice breaks my heart.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers.

He sounds fragile and frail, and he squeezes my hands, but there’s no strength in the movement.

“Don’t be sorry,” I soothe. “Just tell me what happened.”

His brown eyes meet mine for a moment, grief and guilt swimming in his gaze, and then they drop back to the edge of the couch between his thighs like he can’t bear to look at me while he talks.

“Savannah ambushed me. She brought her parents to my house while I was out at lunch with you.”

My heart drops straight through my gut to the floor, and my grip on his hands goes slack. Who knew seven words could change the whole world?

“They told Mom and Dad. I tried to explain everything, but her parents kept interrupting me. Dad was pissed, and I couldn’t get anyone to listen. I don’t have proof of anything, anyway, and it just…”

He trails off miserably, shaking his head. His hands slide from my grasp, both of us limp and struggling for thought, much less words. I don’t need to ask, but the words fall from my mouth anyway.

“What did your parents say?”

I’m terrified to hear the answer out loud, but I can’t sit and wonder.

It’s bad enough that Savannah would stoop that low, and I can’t imagine how gutted Bo feels, but he’s not the only one getting fucked over here.

I know David is a traditionalist, and I know what he’ll expect of Bo, but maybe Hailey will have more sympathy for the situation. For us.

“Dad expects me to marry Savannah.” The words sound like they hurt him to say, but they stab me straight through to my core. “He told me to cut things off with you and go back to being friends and take responsibility for my actions.”

His voice breaks on the last few words, and my heart shatters along with it.

Fresh tears pour from his eyes, and he hunches over as sobs wrack his body, but I can do nothing but watch in abject horror.

My vision tunnels until all I see is the man I love trembling in front of me, shadows dancing at the edges of my sight.

Am I going to pass out from the sheer shock of it? This can’t be real, can it?

A few words can’t mean the end of things.

It can’t be that simple.

“I feel like I’m being punished for something,” he chokes out, his shoulders shuddering as he sobs. “I don’t even remember it happening, but I feel like fate is punishing me for being a fucking coward and betraying everyone I love and being the biggest idiot in the world, and I?—”

He cuts himself off with a hiccup, coughing through his tears. I can do nothing but stare at him, shock and fear ravaging my very soul. When he lifts his head to meet my eyes again, he looks like a wounded animal, shivering out in the cold. I can’t find any sympathy past my own dread.

“I’m a fucking idiot, Kenz,” he wails, collapsing back into tears.

“I’m a fool and a coward, aren’t I? I strung you along this whole time thinking I could figure this out, and now all I’m doing is hurting you.

My dad was right, I need to step up and be a man, but I’m too fucking scared to do it.

Maybe he’s right. Maybe it’s better this way.

I don’t deserve you, and you deserve better than a coward who can’t even make his own decisions. ”

I stare at him in total shock as he blubbers, each word tearing a new wound into my heart. I want to soothe him, to tell him it’ll be okay, but the more he talks, the brighter my anger flares.

“So that’s it?”

My voice is dry and brittle, and Bo looks up at me in surprise. His tears dry up as he stares at me, taking in the way my hands are clenched into fists on my lap. I’m shaking with anger and betrayal, but it’s almost like I’m watching it happen from outside my own body.

“What—”

“I thought you were telling me the truth,” I say over his attempt to talk. “What about everything we talked about like paying child support, or adopting the baby together? What about figuring this out together, Bo? What about me ?”

My voice raises to a shout the longer I go on, and I have to bite my words back before I start screaming at him. He looks stricken, but more than that, he looks defeated like he’s already given up. On me, on us, on himself. Nothing I can say now is going to change that.

“I can’t.” He shakes his head in loss even as his eyes search my face for any ounce of understanding. I don’t have any to give him, not right now. “I’m sorry, I can’t. I don’t have a say in it anymore.”

A humorless bark of laughter rips its way out of my chest, and I shake my head.

“You’re an adult,” I tell him harshly. “You have a say in what you do with your life like choosing to stand up for me, for us, or you can choose to listen to what your dad tells you to do. I’m not going to try to make your choice for you, Bo.”

He stares at me for a long, drawn out moment, heartbreak and want flickering over his features. It’s useless, though. He’s already made his decision.

He’s going to do what’s expected of him, just like he always has.

“I can’t,” he repeats. “That’s not how the real world works, no matter how much I wish I could just tell everyone to fuck off and do what I want. I have to be responsible for my own actions. I don’t have a choice.”

How many times has he repeated that sentence to himself to justify all of this in his own head. Knowing that he’s doing this all out of a place of fear doesn’t make it hurt any less.

“You do,” I insist. It’s a losing battle, a useless protest, but I can’t stop myself. “You’re making a choice, and it’s the wrong one.”

Bo heaves in a shaky breath and leans forward to cup my face in his rugged hands. I can’t hold back my own tears at the feeling of his skin on mine, so familiar and soothing. This will be the last time I feel it, won’t it?

And there’s nothing I can do to stop it.

He leans in and presses a weak, trembling kiss to my lips, wet with tears. Neither of us deepen it, but I swear I can feel his heart break along with mine when our lips separate.

“I love you, Kenz,” he whispers raggedly. “I love you. Always will.”

And then his hands fall away from my face, and he straightens up, and he walks out of my apartment. No more words, no teary glance back, no hesitation at the doorstep. Just the clunk of his work boots against my cheap linoleum floors and the soft click of my door closing behind him.

And then nothing.

Just me, on the couch. Alone.

I vaguely recall him saying something about wanting me to be surprised when he told me he loved me. It’s a lot less charming now than it was then.

Guess he got exactly what he wanted.

A whirlwind of emotion tears through me as I slide bonelessly from my coffee table to collapse on the floor.

My tears burn with anger and betrayal and sorrow as I shake, my whole body hitching as I sob into the floor.

I feel helpless and out of control, and I want to shake sense into the man I love, but there’s nothing to be done.

Knowing that hurts worse than anything else.

Bo doesn’t even understand that he’s missing the truth of the situation, that he’s failing himself more than he could ever fail me or his family. He believes wholeheartedly that he doesn’t have a choice, and the thought makes me burn with fury.

I’ve never hated anyone the way I hate Savannah Ward.

She may as well have stuck a knife in my gut and laughed, but I hate her more for what she’s doing to Bo. She’s going to hurt him and his whole family, all for the sake of whatever sick scheme they’ve worked up this time, and she won’t feel guilty about it for a second.

A scream of pure agony tears from my lungs as I curl into myself on the ground, my heart shattering into a million unfixable pieces around me.

There’s nothing to be done to fix this. To fix me.

All I can do is sit here and sob until I learn to accept it.