Page 93 of His Last Shot
“No, no.” She cants her head left and right, as if this is the most painful thing in the world. “Don’t say it. Please don’t say it.”
“As much as I love you, I have to let you go.”
Her eyes snap shut. “I know. I hate this … but I know,” seconds pass, minutes, an eternity. “I thought we would be together forever.”
So did I.
“Sometimes forever can be shorter than we want it to be.”
The vast emptiness of the bar amplifies her cries, her sobs a raw, visceral sound that cuts through the quiet as I hold her.
Dexter’s.
The bar I love to hate. The bar that brought meher.The bar that’s takingher.
She tears her head away from my chest, and her big brown eyes that I love so much meet mine, red, swollen, bloodshot.
Empty.
God, I’m going to miss those eyes.
“Are you going to tell Scott and Laura?” she asks.
I shake my head. “I don’t know what I’m—”
“Blame me,” she blurts out.
“What? No Rachel, I can’t do that.” No way. I won’t.
She nods while swiping a tear away from the corner of my eye with her thumb. “Yes, you can. Tell them I worried too much about the age difference and that I felt our relationship was moving too fast. It’s believable since those were my hang-ups in the beginning.”
I say nothing, mulling it over.
“It has to be this way. Scott can’t know.”
My gut reactions is … no.
But she’s right. If I told Scott that Dexter threatened his family, well, I don’t want to think about what his reaction would be. One thing I know … his actions would probably land him in a lot of trouble. Life-altering trouble. And I can’t do that to him or his family.
I’ve always been completely open and honest with Scott, hiding nothing.
Except now.
Plus, he knows me. He knows my tells. I am going to have to be very convincing for him to believe this lie. But I’ll do it. For her.
“Okay,” I agree. Even though I don’t want to. Her shoulders sag in relief.
I glance at my watch, and the time, 11:50, is glaring at me, taunting me. Because that means I only have ten minutes left with her. My heart drops because all I want is to curl up into this moment. Live it. Breathe it.
Forever.
But I can’t.
Palming the back of her head, I pull her in. I kiss her. Hard. While also tugging her to me, deepening our hold.
We break apart, and my lips wobble, trying to speak. “One last dance?”
She nods as I sweep my thumb over her bottom lip. “Okay.” Releasing her arms from my body, she makes her way to the jukebox.
