Page 9 of Scarred Heart

“You hardly gave me the chance.”

“Bullshit,” she whispered.“If the roles were reversed, I would have dropped to my knees and begged forgiveness the second I saw you walk through the door.Nothing could’ve stopped me from making an ass out of myself in front of the whole world.But you have the nerve to sit there and act like I’m the reason you didn’t get to apologize?Time hasn’t changed you as much as you want me to think it has.You haven’t changed a bit.”

What was worse?The words she chose or the way they landed like the crack of a whip?It would’ve been easy to remind her she ran away, cut me off, couldn’t be bothered to answer her phone the dozens of times I called, or leave a fucking forwarding address.Instead, I bit my tongue until the sting was too much.

It was enough to cut off what almost burst out of me and would, without a doubt, have left me with a dangerous enemy.“That’s not true.”

“It’s not?”Her eyebrows damn near jumped off her forehead when they shot up all at once.“Then go ahead.Apologize.You’ve had more than ten years to come up with one, right?Let’s hear it.”

“Don’t be a child,” I scoffed.“I didn’t come here to be put on the spot.”

“Of course you didn’t.You came here to cover your ass.”She stood, shaking her head as she slung her bag over her arm.“Why would I consider paying the check?This is on you.Thanks for the drink.”

No, no, she couldn’t leave.Not like this.“Wait,” I urged, standing.

“Don’t bother.”Pulling out her phone, she muttered, “Congratulations, your ass is covered.I signed a contract, and the terms were crystal clear.You have the nerve to sit there and act like you didn’t know the first thing about it.You are so full of shit that I have to wonder if you even know how full of it you are.”

“You are not leaving like this.”

“Watch me,” she whispered, tapping her screen.“My Uber is already on the way.It’s been a real pleasure, Spencer.”The venom dripping from her voice told another story.

I took a few steps behind her, intent on following when our server cut me off.“Your check, sir?”she asked, handing me a leather folder while Rowan stalked off without so much as a glance over her shoulder.

There was no choice but to let her go unless I wanted to start a scene.It pissed me off watching her leave, rooted to the spot when I wanted nothing more than to follow her.Catch her.Make her understand.

How was I supposed to convince myself she wouldn’t tell the world I almost killed her when we were little more than kids?That I had crushed her dreams and walked away unscathed?

4

ROWAN

You idiot.What did you think was going to happen?

A bitter laugh leaked out of me as I covered my mouth with my hand.Tears dripped onto it, and now that I was alone in the back seat of a Ford Focus, I could let them flow.It would hardly be the first time I’d cried in the back of a car.

Damn him.

Damn me too.

What did I expect?For him to have this big moment where he cleared everything up?All my questions, confusion, and betrayal I wrestled with in those ugly early days.Lying alone in a hospital bed, seeing everything I had worked and hoped for falling to pieces.

The doctor’s voice was soft, careful, but it felt like it was coming from underwater, muffled by the pounding in my ears.“The damage was extensive,” he said, and each word seemed to sink deeper into my chest.but we’re going to do everything we can to minimize the scarring.”I swallowed hard, my throat suddenly dry, but the lump there wouldn’t go away.

My fingers clenched the thin hospital blanket, knuckles going white as I tried to focus on anything but the word ‘scarring.’His voice blurred into the hum of the machines beside me, but that one word echoed, bouncing around in my mind.Scarring.My stomach twisted painfully.

I blinked, eyes darting around the sterile room.This wasn’t real.It couldn’t be.“What am I doing here?”I croaked out, my voice barely recognizable.“Who’s paying for all this?”Panic flared in my chest, my pulse quickening.I couldn’t afford this.My family couldn’t afford this.“I don’t have a lot of money, and neither do my parents.”

The doctor’s hand landed gently on mine, his touch warm, but it didn’t stop the cold creeping up my spine.“Don’t you worry about that,” he said, his smile kind but distant, like he knew something I didn’t.“It’s all been taken care of.All you need to concern yourself with now is recovering.”

It was actually sad how long it took me to figure things out.Obviously, Spencer was behind the transfer.He had paid for my surgeries without saying a word, without explaining himself, and definitely without an apology.Maybe to him, that was his apology.Maybe he expected me to be grateful for the money and not expect anything else.

I wiped away my lingering tears, clenching my jaw tight.Fuck this.I had cried more than enough.And I had made it through with no help from him but his money.

I couldn’t pretend the money didn’t help—it was the only reason I managed to build my career.What had felt so much like the end of the world at that time now looked a lot like a blessing more than a decade after the fact.

There were no blessings in sight when I was in that hospital bed, though.There was nothing but fear and dread and horror.“Will you be able to fix me?All the way, I mean?Will you be able to make it so nothing shows?”My heart ached now when I remembered whispering those words, tearful and desperate.

Another thing I appreciated about the doctor—he didn’t bullshit me.“We’re going to do our best,” he murmured, but I heard the truth in his voice.“The damage was fairly extensive.A broken nose and cheekbone, a partly severed ear, and a contusion to your scalp and temple.We’ll need to wait for the worst of the swelling to go down before we can accurately assess and come up with a game plan for surgery.”

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