Page 39 of Dare to Need

His right eyebrow ticked up. “Well, it’s clear to me now that you’ve been keeping secrets. Answer the question, Eva.”

“No! I haven’t!” I took a step back from him, my hands balling into fists, the skin of my palms already tender from where my nails dug in. “I was trying to do the right thing by not piling on the shit when you needed to focus on your family. So, don’t try to turn this around on me when I had your best interest at heart this entire time. And just so we’re clear, the only one who’sreallybeen keeping secrets around here isyou.”

I knew I was playing with fire. It was clear to me that Garth was not in the right state of mind to continue with this conversation, but I couldn’t help the pent up frustration boiling through my veins.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” My gaze flicked to his hand tightening around the tumbler, his forearm a tense bundle of muscle and tendons.

I smirked, adrenaline left over from our sexual escapade in the city giving me courage I wouldn’t otherwise have. “You’ve been keeping secrets from me the entire time we’ve been together, Garth. First, I had no idea the extent of your family’s wealth. Was it a test? Were you trying to make sure I wasn’t a psycho who’d try to get knocked up so I could steal all your money?”

He shook his head vehemently, a rush of breath leaving his lungs. “That’s not at all the truth and you know it.”

“No, Garth. I don’t think I know anything about you at all.” I threw my hands up in the air. “And I had no idea that you struggled so much with your father. That your entire relationship was built on him pressuring you to take over his company. That you were driven away from your family because of him.”

The words stung my own heart as soon as I saw him flinch. But I was beyond stopping at this point.

“You were the one who taught me how to be true to myself and all this time you’ve been hiding everything from me. I just don’t understand.”

His stoic expression faltered for the briefest moment, like a hairline fracture revealing itself just enough so you know it’s there. But he stayed quiet, staring at me with those deep gray orbs as though I were a stranger and we didn’t share anything at all.

It made me want to scream, to throw the fucking lounge chair off the balcony. I’d given every piece of myself to this man and still he shielded himself from me.

“If it’s not the truth, then when were you planning on telling me that you withdrew your pieces from Studio 628?”

His nostrils flared. “Have you been going through my computer?”

“No, Garth. I didn’t go through anything.” It was a half truth. “I saw the email sitting on your computer before I came out here to talk to you. It’s not my fault you left it out in the open.”

“I can’t deal with this right now,” he ground out as he tried to move past me.

I grabbed his arm and he stopped dead in his tracks, but refused to turn his body toward me.

“So you’re just going to walk away when I’m trying to talk to you?”

He looked down at me over his shoulder. “You’re not trying to talk to me, Eva. You’re trying to start a fight you won’t win.” He shoved my hand off his arm. “I’ve given you everything women want. I’ve doted on you, taken you out for an extravagant night on the town. I’ve bought you nice things. Can’t you just be appreciative and let this shit go?”

His words were like a slap in the face. “Is that really what you think of me?” I whispered, my throat constricting.

He ran a hand over his face, a break in the statuesque appearance he was trying to uphold. “I didn’t mean that. I’m sorry. I just…I don’t have any more to give to you right now. You’re asking me to change parts of myself that have been embedded within me for my entire life. I don’t talk about this shit. No one in my family talks about it. What you’re asking of me is something I don’t know that I’ll ever be able to give you.”

I staggered backward a few steps, my hands clenching at my chest where I was sure my heart was literally breaking. It hurt in a way I’d never experienced before. There was no stopping the tears that fell violently down my face, or the racking sob that creeped up my throat.

Garth’s face twisted in pain and I thought—for just a moment—he might step toward me. But as he turned to walk away, I fell to my knees as the bright lights of the beautiful city around me started to fade and I was consumed by darkness.

ChapterSixteen

Ishouldn’t have come here.

The thought ran rampant through my mind as I swirled the thin black straw round and round in the tumbler of whiskey. I lifted the glass to my lips and relished in the burn that temporarily numbed my thoughts as the amber liquid slid down my throat.

The moment I sat the glass down the thoughts bombarded me again.

I had no idea where Garth went after he left me in a crumpled mess on the balcony floor. He’d never walked away from me before—not like this. And I hated to admit that it fucking destroyed me. The emotional whiplash from the connection we had in that alleyway to the dead look in his eyes when he walked away from me was sure to leave a scar. One that I would bear for the rest of my life.

I was soangrywith him. And yet, a small piece of me felt panicked to fix things. To run through the city until I found him so we could sort all this shit out.

But I sat there, on the hard wooden stool, in the bar of our hotel. Drunk. Or very close to it.

I was mad at myself too, for not listening to Mrs. Walker when she told me to tell Garth about the subpoena. Keeping it from him, even if just for a few days, didn’t help my case when I was asking him to be honest with me. Everything I said to him was true, though. I didn’t want to add to his burden, and I’d planned on telling him when things had settled down.

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