Page 56 of Between the Lines

“You told me you’d back off!” Luca barked. “Youpromisedyou’d back the hell off.”

Theo looked white in the gray light. “It wasn’t like that.”

“Then whatwasit like?” Though he desperately wanted to, it was impossible to deny the truth staring him in the face: Theo had lied, he’d gone behind his back, and betrayed everything between them for nothing more than money. “You happened to be passing and thought you’d pop in to see if my mom—who had a fuckingheart attackyesterday—wanted to sell the hotel that’s been in her family for three generations? Is that what it was like?”

Shaking his head, Theo opened his mouth to answer. But before he could, Don bustled out of the hospital behind him, holding a newspaper over his head to keep the rain off. “Now hold on a minute, Luca,” he said. “You need to calm down before you start throwing accusations—”

“The hell I do!” He stabbed a finger at Don, shouting now. “And you—You can shut the fuck up!”

Don scowled. “Son, you need to—”

“Don’t youeverfucking call me that.”

Theo stepped between them, hands raised. He looked distressed, the rain plastering his hair to his head. Luca didn’t give a fuck. “Listen to me,” Theo said. “Jude wanted—”

“She’ssick!” Luca choked on the words, stumbling backward. The rain slapped at his face, whipping around his legs. “She nearly died yesterday. Christ, Theo...” He felt himself wavering on the cusp of an angry sob—what a fucking idiot he’d been to trust him. “I thought we were friends, I thought we had aconnection. I thought—” He choked on it, on that last impossible confession:I thought I loved you.

Theo opened his mouth, blinking in surprise. The rain was catching on his lashes, trickling down his neck. “You thought we had a connection?”

“Obviously I was wrong.”

“No.” Theo gripped his wrist, the urgent contact sending an unwelcome shock of heat flashing across Luca’s cold skin. “Wedohave a connection, Luca. I feel it, too. I—”

“You?”Luca shook his arm free, staggering backward. He felt empty inside, cold. “You don’t feel anything.”

“That’s not true...”

“You promised you’d give me more time!” That’s what gutted him most, the betrayal. He didn’t even know why he was so shocked, not when every damn person he’d ever loved had screwed him over in the end. “Youpromised, Theo, and then you went after the Majestic like a fucking ambulance chaser.”

“That’s...” Theo’s voice shook, but Luca didn’t care. Theo was the one who’d fucked up, he’dearnedthis. After a tense pause, Theo said, “So that’s what you think of me?”

“What I think,” Luca gritted out, “is that you’re an entitled asshole. I knew it the first damn moment we met. I just wish we’d never—” He couldn’t finish, but he didn’t need to; Theo understood. He flinched, his whole body jerking backward, staring like he’d been slapped. And Luca felt a bleak, vengeful stab of pleasure at the pain he’d inflicted. Good, let him hurt; Luca hurt, too. Twice as much.

For a long rain-swept moment they stared at each other and it felt as though they were looking across miles of empty space. Then, with a sharp jerk of his head, Theo averted his gaze. “Well,” he said roughly, hoisting his bag over one shoulder. “Don, please tell Jude I’ll be in touch soon.”

With that, he pushed past Luca and stalked toward a black Town Car crouching at the curb. A skinny young woman in red Doc Martens climbed out to meet him, holding a colorful umbrella over Theo while he got the back door open and threw his bag inside. At the last moment he turned around, dark eyes stark against his pale, rain-soaked face. “Goodbye, Luca,” he said. And then, in a breaking voice, “I wish we’d parted as friends.”

Luca’s stomach tensed, but he didn’t reply. He couldn’t. Every old betrayal gaped wide-open, every hard-bitten instinct told him to detach, to crush the tender feelings making him so vulnerable. That frightened reflex rooted him to the spot, rendered him mute—protected him. What a damn fool he’d been to ignore it, to think he could trust anyone.

Theo’s lips moved like he might have said more, but in the end he just shook his head and got into the car. The woman closed her umbrella with a snap, fixing Luca with a look suggesting she might like to use it as a weapon, and slipped into the driver’s seat. Luca was still standing there as the car pulled away, frozen inside and out, water trickling in cold rivulets through his hair and into the neck of his hoodie.

Behind him, the automatic hospital doors swished open. “I think you’d better take a moment to cool off before you visit your mom,” Don warned before he retreated back inside.

But Luca didn’t move. He just kept his eyes fixed on the red taillights of Theo’s car as they disappeared into the murk, leaving him alone in the rain.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Rain hammered on the roof as they drove out of New Milton, windshield wipers whipping backward and forward in a frantic rhythm.

It matched the beat of Theo’s heart.

He slumped in the back seat, pulse thrumming from the fight, fists clenched at his sides. He didn’t know whether he felt more angry or hurt—a noxious mix of both smoldered in the pit of his stomach, threatening to make him cry. Jaw clenched, he turned to glare out the window, watching raindrops race across the glass as the car picked up speed. Outside, the world disappeared into blurry gray motion and Theo’s focus turned inward, to the harsh truth of Luca’s parting jibe.

You’re an entitled asshole. I just wish we’d never—

Jagged, piercing truths, those, they lodged like splinters in his heart. He doubted he’d ever be rid of them, because they tarnished everything he’d cherished about his time with Luca—his memories, his dignity, even his frail consolation that they’d parted as friends. Like a fool, he’d misjudged everything. Again.

As his breathing gradually slowed, his fists unclenching, he became aware of the clammy cling of his wet clothes and stirred himself enough to push his damp hair back from his forehead. He moved stiffly, muscles tense as if waking from a nightmare. But there was no waking from this; his friendship with Luca was over, if it had ever existed, and despite all his delusional hopes it had ended in bitterness. If he’d thought himself heartbroken before, leaving Luca sleeping peacefully in bed, that bright pain was nothing to the dull, dead weight crouching in his heart now. He felt empty, hollow. Numb.

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