Page 56 of Savage Hate
But not anymore.
“Lennon, I’m so sorry. What happened with Darcy was a mistake. It was stupid. I had cold feet, and I didn’t realize how much I missed you until my life started falling apart.”
“Her name is Darcy?” I question, tilting my head.
He looks down and thumbs his lip. “I broke it off with her this morning.”
The words and insults, along with the anger and fury, I’ve been keeping inside dissipate instantly at his words.
“Why?” I ask, my voice quieter than I intended. I clear my throat and stand up taller.
“Because I miss you.”
His words rock through me, causing my heart to speed up. “You said you didn’t realize how much you missed me until your life started falling apart…” I trail off.
He sighs, pleading with me. His eyes are wide, and his face is anguished. If only he’d felt this much remorse a month ago.
“I know you came and got your stuff,” he says slowly, reaching for my hands again. This time I let him take them. “And like clockwork, things started falling apart. I got sent on a leave of absence from the firm–”
“A leave of absence?”
He nods. “I dropped the ball on a case we’re handling. Almost lost us the client.” His blue eyes narrow on mine. “I was distracted. I couldn’t stop thinking about how empty the kitchen looked without your stupid stand mixer.”
I pull my hands away from his, closing my eyes. “I’m sorry about your client, but I don’t–”
“It wasn’t just the client,” he interrupts, taking a step forward and brushing a piece of loose hair behind my ear. I move his hand away, but he doesn’t seem to care. “Weird things started happening. My clocks started going on the fritz. My thermostat started blasting heat in the middle of a heat wave, and nothing is where I remember it.”
I narrow my eyes. “Like what?”
He sighs. “My razor. It’s in a different drawer. As are my other things. Magazines for this religious group started coming, and I get like five emails a day from them. My boxers all have their tags cut out. One of them even has a hole in the crotch, like someone cut a hole out intentionally.” I stiffen, and Wright continues. “There’s a ticking sound coming from somewhere, and I’ve torn the apartment apart looking for it, but no matter where I look, it always seems to be coming from underneath my bed–except it’s not there,” he finishes, panting. His forehead is beaded with sweat. “You wouldn’t mess with me like that, right? I’m just going crazy?”
He sounds panicked, desperate. I have to actively try to hide my smile. “No. I’m not that smart.”
He laughs as if he agrees. “Okay, good. There are other things too, but it’s like every aspect of my life is going haywire without you, Lennon.” His eyes are frantic. “I need you back, baby. I’m so sorry for hurting you.”
I’m too shocked to speak, so I just open and close my mouth a few times until a word comes tumbling out of my mouth.
“No.”
His face pales. “No?”
I cross my arms again. “I don’t want you back. We’re done.”
His eyes bore into mine, and a small part of me wavers under his intense scrutiny. It reminds me of when I rejected Noah, how his ego overshadowed everything.
Wright has the same look of incredulousness on his face right now.
“What do you mean, we’re done? You’re my fiancé,” he corrects me, his voice a little firmer now.
“I was,” I say softly, trying to reason with him. “But then you fucked Darcy–”
“Lennon, please–”
“I caught you fucking her from behind in youroffice,” I hiss. “I’d come to drop off your favorite cookies since you’d had a hard week at work, and there you were, bending her over your desk.”
My eyes sting as I fight back the tears. It hurt like hell, seeing him like that with someone else. A real blow to the ego. I reacted instantly and went back to our penthouse, packed a bag, and got my bearings at a motel in Washington Heights for a few nights before deciding I needed to be at home.
No, not needing to be at home—beingforcedhome, because my credit card was declined. All thanks to the man before me.
