Page 71 of Rescuing Nathaniel

“Easy come, easy go?” Ava said, her voice low, hard, not at all like he was used to hearing from her. “Did you really just say that to me? I was lucky the jeweler hadn't given the bracelet away because I didn't pick it up in the time frame because I was tied to a bed while doctors stole my organs. Do you really think I would allow it to be left with someone I didn't trust to take care of it?”

“It’s worthfiftythousand dollars, you should be more careful with it, or is fifty thousand dollars just nothing to you?” he demanded. Nathaniel was aware that her parents and the man they wanted Ava to marry were all watching him with smirks that implied he was only proving their point that he wasn't good enough for their daughter.

“You're all acting like the doorman is some sort of master criminal. Do you even know anything about him?” Ava’s angry glare included all of them. “Do you know his name? Do you know that he and his wife had just retired when their only daughter and her husband were killed in a car crash? Do you know that he took this job because he had to go back to work to provide for his two young grandchildren who he and his wife are now raising?”

“Even more reason not to have left it with him then, isn’t it, darling?” Mrs. Hendricks drawled. “Poor people can’t be trusted around valuables. I thought this little play venture of yours into the land of the common people would have taught you that.”

Whirling on her mother, Ava was so angry she was vibrating with it. “That’s all you care about, isn’t it? All of you.” She spun about including him in her furious glare. “It’s like you think it’s all that matters, well news flash, it’s not. I don’t care about money. I don’t care about stuff. I care about people. I care about living. I care about actually doing something with my life that means something. I wouldn't have expected anything else from you three, but you.” Turning to look fully at him, there was disappointment in her eyes now. “I thought you were different. I thought you were better than that.”

How the hell was he coming off as the bad guy here?

All he was doing was responding to the facts. Ava had grown up in the lap of luxury with everything money could buy. She lived in a nice apartment with an extensive art collection, owned jewelry worth fifty thousand dollars, and saw nothing wrong with treating it the same as one would costume jewelry. He’d grown up poorer than poor, with abuse and neglect thrown in as well, he couldn’t afford one of the pieces of art in her collection let alone all of them, and to spend fifty grand on a bracelet he’d have to go without food, electricity, and water for an entire year to even come close to affording it.

Asking Ava to give up all the things she was accustomed to would be cruel.

Even though it made him feel worthless to know he couldn’t provide the life she deserved, he still wanted her to have all those things. He wanted her to be happy, to be free, to be safe. He wanted her to be able to have as many pieces of art as her heart desired, to be dripping in diamonds and jewels that could only hope to be as beautiful as she was.

Nathaniel wanted her to have everything he’d never be able to give her.

She deserved the world.

“You should be with a guy like him,” he said wearily, the fight draining out of him. He was done pretending that their pasts didn't matter, that they were compatible, that they stood a chance.

If he kept allowing himself to believe he could actually get a woman like Ava, he was only setting himself up for pain when it all came crashing down around him. Ava might think she could do without all of life’s luxuries, but when that became her reality, she would grow to resent him. Once that happened, it would only be a matter of time before she left him, realizing that she could do better.

No way in hell was he hanging around and waiting for that inevitable end.

Better to make a clean break of things now.

Before he wound up getting hurt.

Smug smiles on Ava’s parents’ faces had his gut churning, he didn't want to be saying this, especially not in front of them. But they were right. He wasn't good enough for their daughter. They might not be nice people, but he couldn’t fault them for at least recognizing that their daughter deserved someone who could give her not just the world, but the sun, moon, and stars as well.

The man they’d brought with them was all but preening, and when he took a step toward Ava it was like she snapped out of a trance, quickly taking a step back.

To say Ava looked furious would be an understatement, but there was more to it than that. She looked betrayed. By all of them. Her parents, and him.

But all he was trying to do was make sure she got the life she deserved.

Walking away from her would shatter another piece of his soul. Whether he admitted it or not, he had already started to become attached to Ava, to see a future with her, one he never would have thought of just weeks ago. When you cared about someone you were supposed to do what was in their best interest, and that’s what he was attempting to do. Ava could have everything, why would she want to give that up to be with a guy like him?

“I should be with a guy like him, huh?” Ava spoke, her voice so cold it seemed to send a chill throughout the room, one even her parents didn't appear to be immune to. “A man who’s more than twenty years older than me. Who my parents tried to set me up with when I was only seventeen. Who would touch me inappropriately given my age. One who doesn’t love me, who doesn’t even care about me. Who only wants to marry me because my parents have money. One who would want me to give up the career I love and am good at to be his trophy wife. To give him children he also wouldn't care about to continue on the legacy. Who would treat me as nothing more than a fancy accessory to bring out and play with when he’s in the mood. That’s what you think I deserve?”

What the hell?

Of course not.

“Not what I meant. Not him. Not a guy who can't get a woman his own age and preys on teenagers, but one who can give you everything you deserve.” With his eyes, Nathaniel tried to will her to understand. He was willing to walk away so she could have the life that should be hers, one he couldn’t give her. He was trying to do right by her.

“You really don’t know me at all, do you?” There was sadness in her gaze, and still some lingering anger and betrayal.

It was the sadness that gutted him.

Made him feel like he was making some sort of mistake, only he wasn't really sure what exactly it was.

“I guess I don’t,” he said softly.

No longer able to breathe in there, through all the tension and emotion, Nathaniel knew he needed to take a short break. Clear his head a little. Let her sort things out with her parents without him having to be there and see how they looked down their noses at him, like he wasn't even fit to breathe the same air as them.

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