Page 46 of Worth the Fall

I glanced behind to see Maribel attempting to give my daughter earmuffs with her hands, but Clara refused the gesture. She wiggled out of Maribel’s grasp and ran away to the other side of the conference room before ducking under a table and peeking out from under the tablecloth.

“Eli.” Brooklyn said his name with venom in her tone. It was a completely different sound than when she was pissed off and verbally battling with me. There was no real hatred during those times. This was something else entirely. “I did not cheat on you. There’s nothing going on between me and Thomas.”

Her words were true, but something inside me didn’t like hearing her say them out loud or to this asshole. If she’d wanted to pretend like we were one big happy family, fucking like rabbits every time we were alone, I’d have gone along with it.

“I left you because I wasn’t happy, no air quotes necessary. I know you can’t seem to comprehend that fact in that fucking pea-sized brain of yours, but if you never hear anything else, please hear this. I. Wasn’t. Happy. You ignored me every single night to play games with your friends. Do you know how many times I tried to get you spend time with me? But you always blew me off.One more game, you’d say. It was always one more game.”

He tried to speak, but she put up her hand to stop him. “No. I’m not finished. You complained about all the overtime I worked, but you loved to spend my paycheck. I wasn’t sure why you complained anyway; it wasn’t like you wanted to do anything with me. I think you just wanted me around to make you food or do your laundry. I started hating you for it. The resentment ate me up inside until I felt like I was dying, and you didn’t even notice. What’s worse was that when I did tell you, you didn’t even care. So, you can sit here and lie to yourself and act like I never let you know I wasn’t happy, but the truth is, I’d been telling you for over a year. You had the chance to change—or at the very least try. But you ignored it, like you’d been ignoring me. And I couldn’t take it anymore.”

“You walked away like we were nothing,” he spat defensively like he was the victim of some massive wrongdoing.

“I didn’t walk away like we were nothing. By the time I walked away, I’d had enough.”

She sounded so exasperated, and my instincts to protect her flared back to life. I stepped in front of her body, blocking her from Eli’s view completely. Their conversation was over, and if he even tried to continue it, he’d have to get through me first.

Which wouldn’t be happening.

The guy had said enough. And Brooklyn had said all that she needed to with an audience watching. If for some reason they felt the desire to continue this discussion, they could do it at another time and place. Today’s charade was over.

“It’s time for you to go,” I said forcefully, leaving no room for argument even though I silently willed the guy to fuck with me.

I’d already fired off a text to my head of security, and I could see him making his way over to escort Eli off the property.

“Tali here will see you out,” I said right as my six-foot-three guard sauntered over, his face looking downright mean. If I didn’t know what a teddy bear he was on the inside, I might have cowered my damn self.

“Please make sure Eli...” I paused as I looked at Brooklyn, and she read my mind like it was easy for her to do.

“Allister,” she responded, giving me exactly what I hadn’t asked for, but wanted.

“Please make sure Eli Allister is on theno entrylist going forward. He’s no longer welcome on resort property. Not even as an invited guest.”

“Hey, that’s not fair!” Eli whined.

“Life’s not fair,” I said, thrilled that I could use that stupid old line from my dad on someone other than my brothers.

I turned to check on Brooklyn, but the expression on her face told me everything I needed to know. She was embarrassed. And hurt. I wanted to comfort her, tell her it would all be okay, and then erase the very memory of that ex from her mind and body. Touch every single inch of skin until she forgot he’d ever been there.

This was a new feeling for me. If it existed before, it had been dormant for the last eight years, slumbering peacefully.

So, what was I going to do about it?

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