Page 26 of Dare to Need

The sincerity in his words made my chest ache and I immediately started to regret my own words. His father suffered a major heart attack that almost killed him and I was being a naive child, worrying more about the status of our relationship and what it meant that Garth was keeping things from me than thinking about what all of this was doing to him.

The two sides of my mind raged in battle. Now was not the time to be selfish and demand that he open up. Though, it still made my body shutter in frustration that I had been completely open with him during my time of need, and now he’d built his walls so high that it was nearly impossible for me to know what was truly going on with him.

I pulled back from the warmth of his body and looked up into his eyes. As I stared into the swirling blue, green, and yellow of his irises, I knew it was not selfishness that pushed me to continue down the path I’d started in questioning him. No. Something deep in my bones told me that the more Garth closed himself off from those he loved, the harder it would be for him to find his way back to us. There was more to it all than his father being sick and the natural worry that came with that. I just didn’t know if he’d be willing to let me in.

Our love was worth me trying.

“Sit with me,” I said as I motioned toward the other chair. He let go of my shoulders where his hands had fallen and grabbed the chair, bringing it right in front of my own.

Readying myself, I took in a deep breath and reached for his hands. They felt so large compared to my own as he wrapped them around mine.

“I don’t know what happened between you and your father. And I could never even begin to comprehend what you must be feeling right now. But I want you to know that I’m here for you. I can feel you wanting to open up to me about your past, but then something stops you.” My shoulders feel as I let out a whoosh of breath. “If I’m being honest, it’s terrifying knowing that I was so open with you and now that the tides have turned, it feels like you’re running away from me. I don’t know how to help you if you keep hiding things from me.”

There it was. The truth I was too terrified to acknowledge, even to myself, out in the open now. There was no turning back from the Pandora’s box I’d opened.

Garth’s face was stone—completely unreadable. I didn’t wipe away the single tear that fell down my face as I searched his eyes for any sign of willingness. Clouded over from depthless thought, I could see that he was still fighting through an internal battle.

My heart stuttered in my chest as the haziness of his gaze lifted and he said, “I’m sorry, Eva.”

I let out a breath I didn’t realize I’d been holding as I clung to his every word.

Garth shook his head, his eyes squeezing shut. When he opened them again he said, “I’ve never been good at opening up. I guess that’s why my art has always been so important to me. It gives me a way of working through my problems without having to talk them out. I know the past several days haven’t been easy for you either. I…I haven’t been myself. But you’re right. I do need to open up more, I just don’t know where to start when it comes to my family.”

He raked a hand through his hair and I waited patiently as he sifted through his thoughts.

“My mom and dad grew up dirt poor with hardly a penny to either one of their names when they met. They both made the decision to make something of themselves, so they worked their asses off and climbed the ladder—chasing after the ‘American Dream.’ I think it surprised them both when they actually made it to the top. Mom was one of the first female university presidents in the southeast and dad…Well, he developed a multi-billion dollar company by the time he was my age. To be honest, I don’t have a clue as to how either one of them did it, coming from where they both came from. I’ve always been so proud of what they did together.

“But, living up to that dream has felt like a constant weight on my shoulders for as long as I can remember. There was never a question that I was going to take over the family business. The first born son—heir to the Walker Corporation—has a duty to keep the money in the family. To continue building generational wealth.”

Garth’s face twisted like the words he was saying were sour on his tongue. I continued sitting in silence, listening to the story I wanted so desperately to hear so I could know more about him and if there was anything more I could do to help.

“I fucked it all up.” His head dropped into his hands and I couldn’t help but put my hand on his knee to let him know I was there. A million questions swam through my mind, but I kept my lips sealed tight. Afraid that the wrong question would make his walls shoot back up.

With a shuddering breath, he lifted his head. “The only thing my father ever wanted was to pass on his legacy to Garrett and me. We fought about it for years because I wasn’t willing to let go of my own dreams to do right by our family. After everything my parents sacrificed to give Garrett and me a better life I still refused to do the only thing my parents asked of me. Now…” The crack in his voice sent a hot rod of iron straight through my chest. I gave his thigh another light squeeze. Touch was the only comfort I could provide him in that moment.

“Now he’s lying in a hospital bed after almost dying and it was all because of me.”

Garth’s shoulders shook as tears fell freely down his beautiful face. I couldn’t hold back the need to hold him any longer. Taking on each shudder of his body, I wrapped my arms around him as tightly as I could manage. Tears of my own splashed onto his t-shirt as he buried his face against my neck.

Years of pain and regret washed over him in startling waves. Like a lighthouse standing at the edge of a cliff, I gathered all the strength I had to stand strong for him while the storm raged on.

Our relationship was still new, but there was never an indication that Garth had this much tension underneath his cool persona. He’d always been my rock, from the very beginning. I never saw a sign that the relationship he had with his father caused him this kind of pain. But I guessed that was the art of getting to know someone. Like studying a painting for years and years, with each passing glance you learned more and more, the layers becoming clearer.

I held Garth there for so long, it felt like our bodies had merged as one, no longer able to determine where mine ended and his began.

He finally pulled back but kept my hands in his as he looked at me.

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

Garth shook his head and said, “I know what I need to do now.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s time for me to stop acting like a spiteful child and do what I should have done a long time ago.” He didn’t look me in the eyes as he spit out the words, “I’m going to take over the Walker Corporation.”

“What?” I gasped.

Garth lifted his eyes to meet mine. A swirling pool of anger, confusion, and guilt stared back at me. It made the hairs on my neck stand on end. Taking the position in his father’s company would force Garth to turn into the complete opposite of everything he stood for. The man I loved wasn’t built to negotiate real estate development deals or to argue with the top one percent of the world.

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