I watched Georgia run after Thatch as he stalked away from me and toward our campsite. And I wanted to reach out and grab those awful words that had come out of my mouth and shove them back down my throat.
Why had I said that? Why had he said that?
What in the hell just happened?
I was equal parts baffled and angry. Pissed at me. Pissed at him. And ultimately confused by his reaction. I felt like he was overreacting about this. He was making this into something I never meant for it to be.
Yeah, but your bullshit words didn’t help anything.
I couldn’t deny I had been an asshole. A total fucking asshole.
Not one goddamn bit of this, of us, is a joke.
My hands trembled and my knees shook as I ran barefoot after him. The skin of my feet protested in discomfort as gravel and twigs dug into the sensitive skin.
But I would gladly take the pain if it meant getting to him.
I needed to get to him. I needed him to know that I was a liar.
I was in love with him. I did need him.
I knew this, what had grown between us, wasn’t a joke. I knew what we had was real. It might have started out on a prank, but it had grown into everything I had ever wanted, even if I never really let myself imagine those things.
“Thatch! Wait!”
But he didn’t stop. He didn’t listen.
He was already inside of our tent and throwing his belongings into his duffel.
I crawled into the tent and wrapped my arms around his waist. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean any of that,” I whispered into his T-shirt. “I love you.” I finally found the strength to say those three words.
Three words I had never said to anyone besides my family.
Three words that should have let him know I was all in.
I wanted him. I wanted us.
But my words didn’t have any effect on him.
He shrugged me off and zipped up his bag, before maneuvering around me and getting out of the tent.
I stayed frozen in my kneeling position for a good ten seconds.
Shocked. Hurt. Angry.
Why wasn’t he listening to me?
I climbed out of the tent and found him throwing his bag in the trunk. Frankie and Claire had already packed up their things and were climbing inside of his car.
“Aren’t you listening to me?” I shouted. “I just fucking told you I loved you! Why aren’t you listening to me? Why are you freaking out? I don’t understand what’s happening right now!”
He walked around the front of the vehicle and toward the driver’s side door.
I ran toward him at a dead sprint and crashed my body into his before he could open the door.
“Thatch!” I cried, and his eyes refused to meet mine. He just lay limp against the door, staring over my head and out into the distance. I wrapped my arms around his body again, hugging his huge frame as tightly as I could manage. “Please, don’t leave like this,” I begged. “Just talk to me. Don’t leave angry.”
His brown eyes finally stared down into mine. They were so cold, so distant, and it was then I realized how much I had hurt him.
“Don’t go,” I begged again.
“Enough, Cassie.” His large hands wrapped around mine as he disentangled me from his body and moved me back with a gentle shove. “I’ve had enough.”
“Enough?”
“Yes,” he snapped. “I’ve had enough. I can’t do this right now. I need you to give me some space to process what just happened. I need time to cool down.”
“So that’s it?” My voice rose with my anger. “You’re just going to walk away?” I stabbed a harsh finger into his chest.
He didn’t budge. Didn’t react. Didn’t do anything but stand there and stare down at me.
His reaction made me feel crazy. This was worse than his angry words. He wasn’t giving me a single fucking emotion besides indifference.
“Stop acting like that! Stop acting like you don’t care!” I slapped at his chest, hard and erratic. I was desperate for him to show me something. Anything. “You’re done with me, Thatch? I do one thing that pisses you off, and all of a sudden you need space away from me?” I screamed. “Why don’t I get a say in any of this?”
“You did get a say,” he corrected, his deep voice cracking in the middle. “And I heard you loud and clear when you jumped off that cliff.” He opened the driver’s side door, and I tried like hell to push it back closed.
But he was too strong, swinging it open with ease. I tried to climb inside with him, but he must have signaled for Kline because I was wrapped up in strong arms and pulled away from the vehicle.
“Put me down!” I yelled as Thatch shut the driver’s door and started the engine.
“Calm down, sweetheart,” Kline whispered in my ear. “It’s going to be okay.”
“No! It’s not going to be okay! He’s leaving!” I cried, and Georgie’s sad eyes blocked the view of Thatch driving away. A few tears dripped from her lids as she wrapped me up in her arms and held me tight. “I’ve got you. I’ve got you.”