Page 86 of Waiting For A Girl Like You
“Is it back on?” she panted.
Rowan’s heart continued to hammer in his chest, and he glanced up at the single camera above Annabeth’s head. The light clicked to blue. “We’re live.”
The shrill calibration tone echoed through the cottage, demanding a manual passcode reset. He hadn’t realized she’d grabbed the phone in their hurry to get dressed.
He reached to take the phone. “I need to put in my password.”
“I’ve got it.”
Rowan winced. She knew the old password. “Let me do it.”
Typing rapidly, she waved him off. “I said, I’ve got it.”
The phone let out a rumbling buzz, the security lights immediately flashing at the incorrect entry. “Annabeth, give me the phone.”
“Did you change the password?” She ignored him, walking into the living room. “Or maybe I typed it in wrong.”
“I changed it.”
“To what?”
“Give me the phone.”
Her head snapped up, and she stared at him as if he were insane. “What’s the new password?”
Running a hand through his hair, he gave up. “Annabeth.”
“Yeah, Annabeth1992, right?”
“McIntyre.”
She blinked at him, her big brown eyes going round. “What?”
“Annabeth space McIntyre is the password.”
Already ruined by her, the woman he loved broke him wholly with her next words. “Oh, Rowan. No.”
That was all it took.
The world inside him crashed down in a raging ball of fire. He snatched the phone from her and punched in the code, ending the calibration and plunging the house into silence.
“Rowan—”
He turned to the front door, giving her his back. “Let’s get back to the house.”
“Rowan, we need to talk.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.”
Fuck. He sounded like a goddamn child. They did need to talk, but all eyes were on them again, and he didn’t want every single person to witness his soul being stripped into nothing. That absolute clear denial ringing in her words told him she meant it.
No.
Her answer to forever wasno.
“Look at me,” she whispered.
This was his own fault. This was always going to be the way they ended. He thought he could fight it. Hehadbeen fighting it. Every second of every day, he had thought he could make her see that he was worth it. That he was worth the fear and the uncertainty that plagued her, but he was wrong. So very fucking wrong.
