“Complicated?” I say, followed by a disturbing laugh. “You know what? It’s fine. I get it. Goodbye, Dominic.”
As I pull away, Dominic latches onto my arm, his commanding touch killing every inch of me still fighting to breathe for air. I begged for things to be different, but nothing can erase the cold, harsh reality of what I am to him.
Absolutely nothing.
“What we had, K-Kate,” he stammers, searching for words. “It scared me.”
Once again, my gaze drifts back to his eyes. Searching for the truth, an impossible mission when lies taint the path in which we walk upon. Inside me, a raging battle to control my angered emotions becomes overbearing.
“If you’re scared, you run and hide. Or in your case, you fuck some stranger in front of a crowd,” I tell him, my words laced with malice. “You don’t, however, commit to someone else for life. And, I’m sorry, when did this even happen?”
“We should talk more,” he suggests with slight desperation in his tone. “But to answer your question, it
happened three weeks ago.”
I shake my head, releasing my arm from his grip.
“It’s all about timing, Dominic.” I take a deep breath, clutching onto any pride I still carry. “You had your chance. And now, you go live your life, and I’ll go live mine. Just like it’s always been between us. Nothing more and nothing less.”
I don’t give him a chance to respond, taking large steps to distance myself from him. This time, I’m rude, pushing people without warning and desperate to escape. Outside, in the cold night’s air, I hail the first cab driving past, hopping in, requesting the driver to haul ass.
It’s only a ten-minute drive home, but ten minutes to a broken heart is almost a lifetime.
Racing past my doorman, Jack, I bow my head, not wanting to welcome his flirtatious banter and head straight for the elevator.
I fumble for keys, unable to open the door. The more I turn them in the keyhole, the more desperate I become for the door to open. When the lock finally turns, I push the door open, then enter, slamming the door quickly behind me.
Leaning against the door, a pain inside my chest restricts my breathing, and with that, my limbs begin to tremble.
I fall to my knees, the same time, a loud sob escapes me. Unable to control the swirl of emotions, my hands rest on the ground for support begging for this to all go away.
“I will never be the man you want me to be,” Dominic admitted with a cold stare. “If I touch you, you’ll get hurt.”
And just like he said, just like he predicted, he hurt me.
In the worse possible way.
NOAH
It has been the day from hell.
The sheer number of idiots wasting my goddamn time make me incredibly short-fused.
I’d barely stopped for anything to eat, nor had my usual caffeine fix. A headache lingers, threatening behind my eyes, making it difficult to concentrate.
Realtors.
Would it be so hard for them to do their fucking job?
I told them my budget and exactly what I was looking for. Not too hard since there are plenty of vacant properties on the market. Yet, their incompetency left me without a place to call home. Five fucking condos I looked at, and all of them utter trash.
All that combined with a long day at work left me absolutely drained.
Now, I have to go home to a house of kids demanding my attention when all I want to do is be inside Morgan. I already have to postpone meeting her tonight after the realtor called me yesterday with their only open homes scheduled for this afternoon. It’s just one disaster after another.
I walk through the back door and see Charlie sitting at the table. She’s still dressed in her work attire from the day, and much like me, she appears exhausted. Fiddling with her cell and typing a quick text message, she lifts her head for a moment to connect with me before focusing her attention back on the screen.
On the table, there’s homemade lasagna. Charlie knows how to cook, so leaving this place will be hard. Back in Boston, I rarely ate at home, opting for eating out or chilling at Tom’s because that man also knows how to cook a feast.