Page 104 of Mine Forever
I swallow another swig of water and look out the glass sliders of Lucas’s living room. A huge balcony overlooks the beach and the Atlantic beyond.
There’s a void in me right now that feels like all the water in ocean can’t fill.
My throat burns from vomiting my insides out the night before. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.
It has nothing to do with the fact my eyes are watering.
“So, what are you going to do about Eden?”
I clear my throat, but can’t meet his eyes. “I don’t know. What did I say to you?”
“Nate and I compared notes this morning, and it seems you told us both all about your dad.”
“Ah, fuck me.”
“You rambled drunkenly all about how your father told you how worthless you were for ‘killing your mother,’ and how you’d let Eden down before by leaving her for baseball and how you don’t want to hurt her again. And how all those things make you the worst person in the world. And you deserve to be alone.”
When I finally meet his eyes, I see the bastard is challenging me. Challenging me to dispute him.
Because when he says it like that, it sounds a bit ridiculous and self-serving.
At least, that’s what I’d think if someone had said it to me.
Still, it’s how I feel. Isn’t it? Or is that how I’d convinced myself to feel?
“Look,”—he leans forward, hands clasped between his knees—“I don’t know what happened between you two. But I do know Eden cried the entire way to Jacksonville.”
“Jesus, you and Nate are like two old gossipy women.”
I run a hand into my hair, yanking on a handful of it. The one thing I hate is to make Eden cry.
He’s unaffected by my insult. “Apparently, she told Charley a few things. The biggest thing being that she still loves you.”
The fact that I laid bare all of my demons and all but kicked her out of my house yet she tells Charley she still loves me fills my chest with hope.
But it’s quickly followed by the fact that I have no idea how to fix this.
Especially since I’m the asshole that pushedher away.
Blowing out a long breath, I pick up the kitten and bring her up to look her in the eye. “I fucked up good, didn’t I?”
She sniffs the tip of my nose and then lets out a tiny mewl.
With a sigh, I set the furball on the sofa next to me and look over at Lucas. “What would you do in my shoes?”
His sigh is heavy. “Shit, man. Love is complicated for guys like us. We travel all the time, the sport consumes us, and the media is always up in our business. Not to mention, neither one of us had a very good upbringing.”
He sips his coffee. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but Eden is the type of woman I’d love to have by my side. Beautiful, smart, professional, well put together?—”
That possessive caveman in me tries to come out and play, but I manage to keep him at bay. Well, sort of.
I glare at him and he raises a brow.
“Dude, why aren’t you with Darcy?”
“Because it would be like kissing my sister. May I continue?”
I wave my hand in a go-ahead gesture.
