Letting Go (Thatch 1)

“Yeah, I helped Charlie stock the place up on food for you!” she said on a laugh, like I should’ve known. And maybe if I’d actually listened to her messages, I might have.

I bit back a curse and forced a tight-lipped smile. “Ah. Well, thanks for that. It was, uh, nice to not have to go to the store first thing.”

“Of course, Jag, anything for you.”

Oh God. Just as I was about to make an excuse to leave, she spoke again.

“I always want to be able to take care of you.”

Fucking hell. “Uh.” I rubbed the back of my neck with my free hand and laughed awkwardly. “LeAnn, uh, I appreciate it. But it’s . . . it’s been four years.”

Her determined look didn’t falter as she closed the space between us. “Well, two if you count . . .” She trailed off.

If you counted the week Ben and Grey got engaged, and the week I was trying to forget that the girl I wanted more than anything was days away from getting married. That had been the last time I’d been with anyone, and I literally would have been with any girl just as long as I could try to forget for a few hours every day what was coming in a short time.

I looked away from her and tried to sound uninterested as I prayed to God there was someone in her life. “Still, that’s a long time, LeAnn, you can’t tell me you haven’t found someone else in that time.”

The confident look I’d

always seen on this beautiful girl finally cracked, and she blinked rapidly as her head jerked back. “Wait . . . are you telling—have you found someone?”

“I’m sorry.” It was all I could say in that time. I’d always belonged to Grey, whether she wanted me or not, I belonged to her still, and LeAnn was definitely someone I could never go back to.

She released my arm and took a step back. “Are you kidding me, Jagger? You promised me! You promised once you came back to Thatch we would be together!”

I’d said that because it was the only way she had let me break up with her after high school graduation. I looked around to see the other man in the convenience store glancing at us, and bent my head lower, dropping my voice so it wouldn’t carry. “I was eighteen, LeAnn. I didn’t even really know what that kind of a promise meant, and there’s so much that has happened in that time. I’m sorry you thought we would still be together, but we haven’t even talked in over two years.”

“Who is she?” she demanded, and I blew out a heavy breath as I shook my head.

“That doesn’t matter. Look, like I said, I’m sorry. But it’s time you find someone—” My words were cut off when her palm connected with my cheek, and I stood there for a second, not moving or saying anything, waiting to see what she would do next.

“You will regret this. You will come crawling back to me, Jagger Easton, I have no doubt of that. You always have, you always will.” She stepped so close, her chest was pressed to mine, and she looked up at me. “Because don’t forget, I know exactly what you like and how you like it, and you will always compare every other girl to me. But by the time you realize you’ve made a mistake, I will have moved on and you will have lost your chance.”

My nostrils flared as she raked her nails down my stomach, stopping just at the top of my jeans. “LeAnn,” I warned.

“If you want to remember what we were like together, you know how to get ahold of me, but I’m not waiting around for you forever. I’ve already wasted four years.”

With the hand not holding the energy drink, I grabbed both her wrists and pushed her arms away. “Don’t wait for that call.”

Walking away from her, I paid for the drink and lingered at the counter longer than necessary as she stormed past me and went outside.

“Don’t let her fool ya,” the old man behind the counter grumbled, not looking at me.

I sent him a lazy smile as I put my wallet in my back pocket. “Wasn’t planning on it.”

“That piece of property has had more visitors in the last year than there are single men in this town.”

I barked out a laugh, and nodded my head at him. “From what I remember of her, that sounds about right.”

“Not that it’s my business. I just see what I see and hear what I hear.”

I grabbed the drink and started walking backward toward the door. “This is Thatch, it’s everyone’s business. Have a good day.”

I walked the few blocks back to the warehouse, and once I was inside and had the door locked—since apparently LeAnn knew where I lived—I settled down onto the couch. Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I looked at it for a while before bringing the screen to life and going through the contacts.

My thumb hovered over Grey’s number for a minute before I backed out of my phone list and tossed my phone onto the other end of the couch. I’d started to call her at least fifteen times a day for the last month, but had never gone through with it, and she hadn’t ever called or texted. A part of me wanted to leave Thatch, to start over the way Ben’s parents had done, but I knew I couldn’t. Because even though she’d been gone for far too long, I knew she would eventually come back, and I needed to be here when she did.

There was a quick knock before my front door opened, and I shot up off the couch. Only three other people had keys to this place. Charlie was still traveling across the country, Grey was in Seattle as far as I knew, and . . . fuck.