Page 64 of Infinite
“I know, and I’m aware that you’re leaving, so I won’t get my hopes up.”
I nod. “Good.” Then I think about two weeks in the house with her and not touching her. I thought I lived through hell before, but this is going to be a whole new realm of it.
“Quinn?”
“Yeah?”
“Why are you being so nice?”
I look down at her, wondering how she still doesn’t get it. “Because no matter what, I love you.”
“I love you too.” Then Ashton’s eyes turn sad. “It’s too bad love isn’t enough for us.”
It is and it could’ve been, but we didn’t allow it to be.
* * *
“Well, this is an interesting turn of events,” Liam says with a smirk.
We’re on the deck, the girls are inside playing princesses or whatever game Aarabelle has demanded, and I’m enjoying a beer—or, at least, I was. Liam’s face when we walked in was worth a million words. The look I shot him back caused him to keep them to himself.
Not even two hours before she appeared, we were working on his car and I was telling him all the ways I was over her.
I lied.
“I’m still leaving.”
Liam snorts. “Sure you are. So, she’s going to stay in the house while you pack up to leave on a mission that isn’t even a mission?”
“Yup.”
“And you’re not at all worried that you’ll both end up naked?”
“I’m not worried.” It’s not a concern, it’s a guarantee. Not because it’s a good idea but because it’s Ashton and me—it always happens.
“Glad to hear it. Here I thought, oh, my idiot best friend is going to make a mistake by thinking it’s not a problem that he and the woman he wanted to marry a few days ago is staying with him. But you’re not worried, so why should I be? It’s not as though you both don’t have self-control or haven’t been through hell and probably need each other more than usual?”
“Do you like to hear yourself talk?” I toss back.
“It’ll be fine. I’m sure you’ll stay in separate rooms, but wait, you only have one bed and a couch, which means you’ll sleep there?”
“You’re going to sleep in the ground if you don’t shut up.”
Liam laughs. The fucker forgets that I’ve kicked his ass in every hand-to-hand combat training we’ve ever had. I’m not afraid to remind him.
“You and I have never held back with each other, and I don’t know what the hell to say this time. If it were Natalie, I’d be doing the same thing you are, so I can’t say shit there. However, I need to remind you that this is a really bad idea. Your head isn’t straight since the whole incident, and you’re a fucking liar if you tell me it is.”
How the hell could it be? Aaron was my friend—or, at least, he was supposed to be. He’d held and drugged me when I needed to be with her the most. I’ve done what I could to forgive him, but the truth is that I never will.
“I’m not taking another rotation to see him,” I say, hoping he knows what I’m talking about.
Liam nods. “I’m struggling to go there myself. Aarabelle asks about him, and I’m having a tough time not telling her that she’ll never see him again if I have anything to do with it.”
I’ve told the guys everything that I remember and how I brought up his daughter, but there was one part I’ve left out. I didn’t think everyone deserved to know, but Liam does.
“You know part of his reasoning was that Ashton was pregnant and he was trying to help make sure history didn’t repeat itself.”
Liam’s beer bottle lowers from his lips. “Meaning his history?”
