Page 96 of Lock 'em Down

“I know,” I reply, crossing my arms over my chest. God, I hope she doesn’t tell me about him. I couldn’t fucking stand it.

“It was by chance. I ran into him at the Coffee Grid.”

“Sure,” I mutter.

“I’m serious, Leif.” She wrings her hands together.

I swear and grip the back of my neck. “All right,” I agree, wanting to believe her. She seems sincere about it.

“I got…closure,” she murmurs.

“Good for you.” I mean it, too. The last thing I want is for her to go through life hung up on a guy who broke her heart in college.

“And I talked to my brother,” she continues.

Great. I’m sure Rhett Coleman sang my praises. I walk closer to Cami, wondering where she’s going with this. What is her point?

“I spent the past few days thinking,” she says, pulling a paper out of the folder. She holds it up. “This is our marriage certificate. I took it from the bedroom.”

I read the words and nod my confirmation. It’s the same paper I had stored in my nightstand after I got home from Vegas.

Cami takes a deep breath and rips the contract in half.

I shuffle back, as if she pushed me.

Jesus, she’s done with me too. She just ripped up our marriage license. Like it was nothing but a sheet of paper. Like it doesn’t matter.

Like we don’t matter.

My gut twists and my hands clench. I pull in a breath, feeling my body begin to shut down as my mind tries to catch up.

Cami doesn’t want to wait for divorce papers.

She’s done.

I said I was done.

We’re just…over.

Twenty-Five

Cami

He’s horrified. I note the shock in his expression, the pain in his expression, the desperation that clouds his vision.

The sound of our marriage certificate ripping fills the air. It hangs in the silence that follows, an echo with massive repercussions.

“Leif,” I say, my voice eerily calm. Because this is it. This is my gesture. This is me. I’m going to lay it all out for Leif Bang and pray like hell that he chooses me back. “Look at me.”

He does, his hands fisted at his sides.

“Our marriage was born out of impulse and reaction. But I don’t want to start my future with you on a whim in Vegas. You mean too much to me. You mean everything to me, and I want to do it right. I want to commit myself to you properly. I want our family and friends to bear witness to the love I feel for you, Leif. Because it’s big and complicated and messy. Like me. But no one has ever made me feel whole. Or at peace. Or at home, like you have. I ran because I didn’t feel worthy. You’re…you.”

He shakes his head as if he doesn’t believe me. Or can’t believe what I’m saying.

“You’re larger than life,” I explain. “Laid-back and carefree. But committed and driven. You’re a star athlete and an amazing person. A model son, a loyal sibling. You’re a valuable teammate and a worthy opponent. You’re…you. And I didn’t feel like I could ever be enough for a man like you. Not with my past and my hang-ups. Not with my lack of direction and faltering self-esteem. This weekend, I overheard your friends talking about how you don’t fail. How you’d never give in and accept defeat. And I knew this because you told me as much. I started to worry that you were only staying in this marriage because accepting that we made a mistake was a failure. A sacrifice. And hell, I hated that. I don’t want you to ever settle for less. And I felt less, Leif. No”—I hold up a hand as he opens his mouth to interject—“I didn’t feel less because of you; I felt less because I allowed myself to feel that way. And it was time for me to woman up,” I toss out Rhett’s advice.

Leif shuffles another step closer.

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