“Would you go back and do it again?” I ask with raw pain drowning my words.
Aaron looks away and then back again. “She gave me something you weren’t willing to give anymore. She looked at me like a man. She looked at me like a hero. In her eyes, I was someone worth loving. I needed that. I deserved that.”
“Would you do it again?” I ask again.
“I don’t know!”
I look at him, and he knows me well enough to see the hurt, anger, and despair in my eyes. He knows that was the end of any chance he had.
He just lost me.
Completely.
“Fuck!” I scream and throw the glass against the wall. It’s been forty-eight hours since I last saw her face. Two fucking days. I haven’t slept. I can’t eat. I want to rush back to her house and take her and Aarabelle. I need her like I need air.
But I have to stay away.
He’s my best friend.
He’s her husband.
I’m a piece of shit.
“Dempsey, open the fucking door!” I hear someone, but I’m not moving.
“Suck my dick!” I yell back and reach for my glass. Oh, yeah, I broke it. The bottle will be just fine. I grip the neck of the bottle as the vodka pours down my throat. I need the numbness that won’t come.
“I’ll knock it off the goddamn hinges. Don’t think I won’t,” I hear Quinn on the other side threatening me. He’s the last person I want to see. Like I need a talk about why loving her was a bad idea.
“Go away,” I reply, taking another swig of what I’m hoping will give me a break from the hell I’m living.
I hear the wood splinter as Quinn kicks the door in. Asshole.
“You’re going to pay for that,” I inform him.
“If you’d have opened the damn door, I wouldn’t have kicked it in.” He looks around the room, and I sink into the couch.
“Good to see you’re taking it well.”
I open my eyes then flip him off. “If you’ve come here to gloat, you can see yourself out the door. I don’t need anyone’s shit.”
Quinn pushes my leg and sits next to me. He grabs the bottle from my hand and puts it on the table. “No one could’ve seen this coming, man. You didn’t know.”
“I brought him to her. I had to sit on that fucking plane and listen to him go on and on about her.” I want to throw something again. “He wouldn’t shut up about being with her again. I just sat there, and Jackson and Mark didn’t know what to say either. None of us could tell him. None of us could talk. How fucked up am I that I wished it hadn’t been him?”
Quinn sits there quiet for the first time in his life. I reach for the bottle, but he moves it before I can grab it.
“Give it to me.”
“You’ve had enough, Demps.”
“I’m on leave! Give me the goddamn bottle,” I growl as I reach again.
Quinn smirks and I stand, ready to fight him.
“You wanna hit me, buddy? Go ahead. I’ll have your ass laid out before you get your first hit in,” he taunts and sits there lazily.
“Fuck you!”
“Nah, you’re not really my type.”
“Are you enjoying this?” I ask and head to the kitchen before he can answer me. He may have taken my vodka, but I’ll grab the whiskey.
I try to be as quiet as possible while I grab the Jameson. I get the top off and take half a swig before Quinn grabs it from me.
My fist clenches, I go to take a swing, but Quinn’s hand goes up and grabs my hand and twists it. “You wanna kill yourself? You want to be a * and drink yourself stupid, or do you want to be a man?”
I don’t say anything. I’m drunk, angry, and I want my girl back.
My other hand flies up, and before I know it, I’m face down on the ground with Quinn holding my arms behind my back. “Pussy it is,” Quinn laughs and uses something to secure my hands behind my back.
“Untie me, you son-of-a-bitch.” My voice is borderline murderous. “I’ll kill you when I get out of this.”
Quinn squats in front of me while I lie on the ground. “I’m not worried.” He pats my back and grabs the whiskey. “Now that you can’t do anything stupid let’s chat.”
I lift my head while glaring at him.
“You have two choices here. You can either let Aaron claim his wife back, or you can show her why you’re worth her time. It’s clear you love her and she loves you.”
I look at him incredulously. This was the same guy who told me to stay away. “She’s married to him. She’s not just some guy’s wife.”
“Did she tell you to leave?”
I close my eyes and see her face. She was so angry and slapped me, but I couldn’t be that guy. I can’t be the one who breaks up a family. It’s not just about Aaron . . . there’s Aarabelle to think about too. She may not be mine, but I love her as if she were. I can’t be the reason that she doesn’t have her father. If Natalie wants me, she’ll have to decide that on her own with no influence from me. I’d never stop wondering.
“No, but she was in shock.”
“You’re clairvoyant now? Wow, okay,” he pauses. “What will the winning lottery numbers be? I could use some serious dough.”
“Untie me,” I demand as I try to move my hands.