Page 23 of Willow Embers
Heat crawls up my neck and tingles across my scalp. “You think you know what happened between us, but you don’t.”
“I don’t need to. All I need to know is that Nixie was in tears this morning, and it’s your fault.”
The fist crushing my heart tightens, but before I can muster a response, she goes on.
“Do you think I gave her your number by mistake? Or because I didn’t know anyone else who would help her?” I can almost hear her shaking her head. “Pull your head out of the sand, Beauden. That woman never stopped loving you. She might not have realized it until last night, but she does now, and it is tearing her up.”
It doesn’t matter whether she still loves me. What matters is that she gave up on me.
The second the thought enters my head, I know it’s wrong. It’s a lie I’ve told myself a thousand times, because the truth makes me sick to my stomach. I was the one who failed her.I was the one who didn’t call. And by the time I did, she was already gone.
Still, she could have said something. Anything.
Unless she did. What if the way she softened toward me this morning was her telling me? What if that hesitation before she left was Nixie’s way of putting herself out there?
“Beauden?” Breigh’s voice cuts through my thoughts like a blade.
“What did she say?” I ask, my throat tight.
“A bunch of stuff she doesn’t mean. And some she does. I can’t tell you. That would be breaking the bestie confidentiality clause— which I’m already crossing the line big time just by calling you.” She pauses. “You know what, never mind. Be a dumbass. Lose her again. She’s got me and Tiberius, and eventually she’ll find someone who actually deserves her.”
She lets her words hang, and I feel the weight of them in my whole body.
Wasn’t that what I was trying to prove when I left for the Army? That I was good enough for Nixie?
And now, I know I would be good for her. I would love her to the end of the Earth. Come hell or high water. And every other eternal cliché I can think of. I would give anything to have another chance with her.
I just need my ego to get the hell out of my way.
“When is she leaving?” The question comes out in nearly a growl, but it doesn’t phase Breigh.
“She’s headed across town to finalize some estate paperwork, then she’s gone.”
That gives me, what? Twenty minutes? Thirty at most?
Shit.
“Thanks for the heads up,” I say, and despite my tone, I mean it.
“Does that mean you’re going to go get her?”
“I’m going to try.”
“You’ve gotta do better than that, Beauden. This is Nixie we’re talking about.”
“I know.” I hang up, call Jace, and tell him what’s happening.
Within twenty minutes, there’s six of us, all from my crew, all in our personal vehicles blocking the road leading out of Black Timber Peak.
I get out of my truck and move to stand in front of it, my nerves on fire.
Jace saunters up a few seconds later. “You sure about this?”
“Yes.”
No.
Because I have no idea what to say to convince Nixie to give me another chance. I’ve been trying to run through the coming conversation in my head, but when I think about seeing her, all I see is that moment on the trail— when she turned around and realized I was the one who showed up to help her.
