Page 262 of Vegas Heat

I’ll be breaking her heart, and in the process, I’ll be breaking my own as well.

It’s broken already. Being in this room with her and not taking her into my arms, not expressing my love for her…it’s too hard. The thought of plowing forward without her…it’s too hard. The thought of moving on, of playing ball, of ever feeling happy again…I can’t comprehend any of it.

I have nothing without her.

And yet…this is the snap decision I’ve made.

It feels wrong.

I know it’s wrong.

But even if I had time to think it through, I’m confident I’d make the same choice. Because when you love somebody, really and deeply and truly, you do what’s best for them…even if it means hurting yourself. And this is what’s best for her.

She lived her entire life without her father, and I won’t make her choose between him and me. I can’t do that to her.

And I won’t do it to Troy, either.

He may be the reason I have to do this, and our relationship may never be the same again, but what if she chooses me? I can’t be the person who rips away his daughter from him after he lived eighteen years without her.

He’s only had her three years.

But I only had her six months.

I guess he wins.

There are far too many factors at play for us to ever really be able to give this a fair shot. And so I have only one choice, andthat’s to be grateful for the time we shared. It’s better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all…right?

Wrong.

In this time of total darkness and despair, nothing has ever felt more wrong than that stupid statement. The pain I’m going to endure in the hours, the days, the weeks, the months, theyearsgoing forward…I’m not sure I’ll be able to take it. I’m not sure how I’ll come out on the other side of it.

“Not this time,” I say softly. “I won’t be the person who makes you choose between a guy you’ve known six months and the man you searched for your entire life. And trust me when I say there will come a time when you’d have to make that choice. I’m bowing out. Blood is thicker than whatever this is, and if I had the chance to spend one more day with my own father, I know I’d do pretty much anything to grab onto it.”

“So that’s it?” she asks flatly.

I snag my bottom lip between my teeth and bite hard, hoping to focus on the pain there instead of the pain in my heart. My eyes burn with sadness, and I keep my gaze on the carpet. I know if I look at her, I’ll change my mind…and Ican’tchange my mind. Not with all the cards on the table. Not with so many pieces to this puzzle.

“That’s it,” I whisper, unable to change the volume of my voice.

“It can’t be it,” she says. Her voice breaks, and I know she’s crying.

I want to grab onto her, to pull her in my arms and hold her and promise her that this is all just a nightmare we’ll surely wake up from any minute.

But the pain slices fresh, so I know it’s real.

“I’m sorry,” I murmur. And then because I’m a fucking coward, I start for the door. “I need to go.”

“Sounds about right,” she mutters.

I freeze and turn around, my brows knit together with a question I never voice.

“Go ahead. Leave me. Everyone else does.” She folds her arms over her chest as if she’s issuing a challenge.

My chest cracks wide open as my heart throbs with an aching pain. “Believe me, Gabby, this is the last thing Iwantto do. But it’s what Ihaveto do.”

And with those words, I turn and walk out the door.

CHAPTER 2: GABBY

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