“Yeah, well, maybe tequila brings out the worst in me,” he snaps, grabbing his rocks glass and tossing some back. “Or maybe it’s you.”
“Easton, please put your weapons away. We’re leaving soon.” I glance around uneasily to see our rapidly heating exchange unnoticed. “I fly home in two days, but I can make an early exit, if that’s what you’ve decided you want.”
“Maybe you should,” his expertly thrown dagger lands squarely in my chest. “Yeah, Natalie, that’s what I want.”
A three-alarm fire begins to roar in my throat as he presses in.
“Oh, sorry, did that hurt?”
“Like hell,” I admit. “Happy?”
“Sure,” he spouts dryly.
“Well, that’s all I want for you.”
“Jesus,” he rakes an impatient hand through his hair, hazel eyes drilling unforgivingly. “You really just talk at people, don’t you?”
“You loved that about me once.”
“No, that’s the one thing I couldn’t take about you. You’ve got immaculate perception about everyone that comes into your life, but play completely fucking blind on the perception to help yourself.”
“I’m wide awake, Easton, and bullseye accurate on my perceptions of you. I don’t need help knowing what’s good for me.”
“No, you’re beyond that,” he fires back before projecting his voice. “Come on, Misty. We’re leaving.”
“Five more minutes,” she replies, oblivious, before diving back into conversation with Holly.
I can’t help my snort. “She seems really attuned to you. Congratulations.”
“Don’t be petty.”
“Then don’t be a prick!” I whisper-yell, before tempering myself. “Look, I’m sorry if this situation is upsetting you. I don’t want this to get ugly.”
“Of course, you’re sorry. God forbid, you have one selfish fucking moment where the whole of your sentiments can ring true.”
“I’m all too painfully aware of the mistakes I’ve made, Easton. I wanted to tell you last night, but you didn’t want to hear me.”
He tosses back the rest of his drink and pushes his chair back to stand.
“You didn’t want a divorce.”
His eyes snap to mine.
“The day you came to me with the book, you wanted me to stop it. I didn’t ask why you hadn’t signed because I was too wrapped up in my pain and residual anger to realize we were still married, but you knew that. You wanted me to stop you. Tell me I’m wrong.”
Slowly easing back down into his chair, he hooks an elbow over the back of it. “What’s the point?”
“The point is that I’m not asleep, not playing immune, or ignorant—but you are, and have been since you saw me last night. You don’t want my truth, and I know why. You’re scared of it, and trust me, the more we confirm it, it scares me too.”
His nostrils flare in annoyance, but I press in, my aching chest rattling with awareness that I may never get this chance again.
“I get why you’re doing it, and I know it’s my fault, and that hurts like hell.” I swallow. “I know my own apology is long overdue, but hey,” I shrug. “I’m just taking a page from your ruthless and blunt playbook because let’s face it, you’re still you, and I’m still me. You’re being a hypocrite right now, because you still seem to think being brutally honest is the best damned way to handle every situation, but you don’t want mine anymore. Tell me why, Easton.”
His expression turns to stone. “You were drunk.”
“I haven’t had a drop in five hours, so let’s test your theory, shall we?”
He searches my expression, his own wary. “Natalie—”
“Call me Beauty,” I snap, eyes watering, “I prefer it because that’s who you’re talking to, or rather who you’re refusing to listen to.”
His shifts uncomfortably as I resign myself.
“Here’s a newsflash for you, Easton. Despite your beliefs, brutal honesty is not the best way to conduct yourself in every situation. It’s not the bravest way, either. There’s a difference between being brave—ready to face and endure danger or pain, and inappropriate—which means not suitable or proper in the circumstances.” I lift my chin defiantly. “But I’m trying to be brave in lieu of inappropriate because inappropriate would be confessing that I’m still wholly, unconditionally, and definitively in love with you while you’re on a romantic getaway in Mexico with your girlfriend!”
Easton’s nostrils flare as all heads start to turn our way. Battered heart spurring me on, I mentally glove up.
“You want truth? You want brutal honesty? The truth is, for the last two days, I’ve been sitting on the beach drowning in the realization that while loving you helped me recognize my worst fear, losing you left me living in it. Any life I live without you now will feel like settling.” Fear for what I’m doing threatens, but I push through it as Easton stares back at me, his stoic expression unforgiving. In the past it would have intimidated me, but I know better.
“Do you think I didn’t know what I was giving up when I let you go? I’ve been brave, Easton. Brave enough to face and endure the pain and the knowledge that I lost the thing with you that made me feel the most alive. I’ve braved every day knowing I should never have let you drive away that night without telling you that I love you, that I’m sorry, and that I wish I would have done so many things differently. And I’ll regret it tomorrow, the day after, and after that for the rest of my fucking life—that’s bravery!”
Holly harshly whispers my name from beside me, tugging on my arm before I rip it free. Twin tears spill from my eyes which remain bolted on Easton.
“Inappropriate would be confessing I never slept with that quarterback because you were the last man to touch me intimately and are the only man I’ll ever want to again…because despite everything that’s happened, I’ve remained faithful!”
Easton’s eyes widen slightly as I smack the table and lean forward.
“So, you can keep on pretending that it’s no longer there between us, but you and I both know the love we feel—that we’ve always felt—isn’t going anywhere. As you’ve said all along, our parents’ story isn’t ours. But in one major way it is—because like theirs, our love is timeless,” my voice cracks on that truth because it’s the hardest to bear. “So, if you want my silence, you’re going to have to earn it with your first lie to me and tell me that I’ve got it all wrong.”
Unbearably thick tension brews as silence hangs in the air until a muffled cry cuts through it. Easton’s eyes hold me hostage as Misty races toward the building, a hand clamped over her mouth.
“Oh, look,” I jerk my head in her direction, and Easton’s guilt-ridden eyes follow. “There goes another casualty of Easton’s brutal honesty policy. I just hurt her with it. Is that selfish enough for you?”
Easton lowers his eyes, a curse leaving him as he cups his jaw.
“Natalie, you’re making a scene,” Damon hisses next to me as I palm the table to keep myself upright.
“Oh, but he deserves it,” I rasp out with sincerity as Easton’s eyes slam back into mine, a thousand emotions running through them as I allow him to see every crack in my exterior. “He deserves it, Damon, because he deserves a woman who’s just as protective of him and of his heart. A woman who will fight just as hard for him as he did for her.” My tears blind me briefly before I blink them free to see Easton devouring every word of the revelations pouring freely from my lips. I choke on a sob before I go completely blind to my surroundings. “I’m so sorry,” I croak. “I’m sorry if I ever made you feel like anything less to me than my supernova…and you should know the only thing I’ve ever despised about you, Elliot Easton Crowne, is your last fucking name.”
“That’s enough, Nat!” Damon hooks his arm around my waist in an attempt to drag me away.
Overcome with emotion, I turn and crumble in Damon’s arms. He sweeps me firmly into his grip as I bury my head into his neck, sobbing while he carries me away. Within seconds, I’m whisked into the SUV as Damon barks at the driver to go. Cradled in his hold, I unleash my hurt as we speed away while Damon begs me to forgive him.
Always Been You
Jessie Murph
Natalie