Page 84 of Rooster

It isn't long before the scent of her skin fills my nose, and although she used my bodywash last night, it smells different on her body than it does on mine. It feels like yet another betrayal. Instead of stripping the bed and deleting that part of her from my life, I simply stand back up and head down to my office. I wouldn't be able to sleep even if I tried, despite the exhaustion coating my bones.

I torture myself even further, giving in to Henry's plan for me as I watch the cameras on the outside of Morgan's house.

Fifteen minutes after returning to my office, the SUV, driven by Heathen, pulls up outside her house. Morgan looks just as broken as I feel as she climbs out of the back passenger seat, not bothering to grab her bags as if she knows Heathen will argue if she tries.

Her steps are small and slow, as if she, too, has the weight of the world on her shoulders as she walks toward her front entrance.

I can't decide if I've made the biggest fucking mistake of my life or if this is just another ploy of hers.

Kaylee isn't very far behind her. After they enter the house, Heathen trailing behind only a minute or so later with several bags in his hands, I have nothing else to watch.

She doesn't have cameras in her home, and despite what has played out, even watching her outside cameras feels like a violation.

I shift my focus, accessing the cameras from around the neighborhood so I can set a good perimeter on her house, and that's how I spend the rest of the evening and all night.

I know Whiskey is outside her house keeping an eye on things, and Heathen is inside, but Henry is a sneaky fucker. He's not the violent type. At least he wasn't until he pulled that shit with Kaylee, but I wouldn't put it past him to challenge himself by trying to get to her without anyone knowing.

I don't understand why my mind keeps wanting to go back and forth. Worrying about her when she's in on the plan seems ridiculous. Part of me can't help but want to still give her the benefit of the doubt, but even if the text messages aren't real, my chance with her is gone. There isn't a woman in her right mind who would be okay with what happened here today and chalk it up to a misunderstanding.

Another night goes by, another handful of lost hours that I can't really account for because it was spent doing the same monotonous thing, simply staring at my computer screen and waiting for something to happen.

I sit up straighter in my chair, feeling weak and achy all over, when her front door opens.

Kaylee walks out first, followed by Heathen. Morgan takes up the end, turning to lock the door behind them. But instead of immediately walking away, she faces the camera on her doorbell as if she somehow knows I'm watching her.

I swallow, the pit in my stomach growing larger and spreading like cancer to every cell in my body at the sight of her. She looks less put together than I'd ever seen her, and I know by the irritation around her eyes that she spent the night crying. If I could reach out to her and pull her into my arms at this moment, I wouldn't even hesitate, text messages be damned.

This isn't the kind of shit you can fake.

She's just a regular woman, even as extraordinary as I know she is.

She isn't a con artist or an actress who Henry sought as part of his plan to hurt me.

"You hurt me," she whispers, more because her voice is weak rather than trying to conceal what she's saying from anyone. "I wish you really would've just left me alone because this really sucks."

My heart shatters as she turns and walks away. There's no longer any doubt in my mind that she had absolutely nothing to do with Henry past what she told us happened. He had to have somehow managed to clone her phone and send those texts back and forth, despite me spending hours determining that it didn't happen. It all had to have been fabricated.

I've ruined any chance I had with her, and I can't help but understand somehow that we were meant to be together forever. She was my soulmate, and I let the history with my brother ruin the best thing that has ever happened to me.

There's no way she would forgive this, but that doesn't mean I should give up, either. I owe it to both of us to try and get her back, no matter what it costs me.

Chapter 31

Morgan

I may have never decided to stay single for any given reason, but how I've felt since the second I left the Cerberus villa is enough to make me avoid dating for the rest of my life.

I wasn't fool enough to turn down Kaylee's offer for her and Ellis to stay with me at my house, but I kept my distance from them all night.

I can understand how this looks. I'm not a computer genius, but Robert is supposed to be.

Even if he couldn't find proof that I didn't participate in those text messages with his brother, I feel like he could've at least given me the benefit of the doubt. Then again, that may be putting too much faith in what we were building together. From the looks of it and his utter silence during the entire encounter, he believes that I had been part of some ploy to ruin his life.

There's more proof in his actions and inactions that screamed that he had not formed as strong a connection to me as I had to him.

The pain that kept me up all night still ached right in the center of me, and no matter how many times I have lifted my hand to massage the heavy grief away, I just can't seem to reach it.

I've made countless mistakes today at work, proof that I should've just stayed home in bed. I thought moving forward would help me keep him off my mind, but I've had to leave my desk half a dozen times already to sob quietly in the restroom. It's become so noticeable that I've felt people watching me all day long.

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