Page 70 of Other Side Of Never
He turned his head to face me, his eyebrows rising in question before offering me his crooked smile.“She comes out swinging.”
I frowned and crossed my arms over my chest.“What are you talking about?”
Placing his mug down on the table, he rose and crossed the kitchen.Wrapping his arms around my self-induced cocoon, he tucked me against his chest, my arms crushed between us.
I took a deep breath, the tension beginning to leach out of me at his sweet proximity.
“Things got serious last night.You don’t know if you’re coming or going.Worse, you’re not sure what I’m thinking.”He rubbed his hands up and down the length of my back.“So, you came out ready to fight and push me away.”
At his words, my entire body went rigid.
“You’re okay, Bridget.You’re in full control of everything that is and isn’t happening between us.”
Mouth dry, words burning the back of my throat, I admitted, “I lost almost everything with my divorce.”
His hands stilled for a moment before resuming their gentle ministrations.“You want to sit down for this?”
I shook my head.This way was easier.I could hide my face, and my shame, in his chest.
“Everything we’d built over the years was in my husband’s name, the houses, investments, and retirement funds, and cars.The only thing in my name was my business and the condo I bought before I met him.
“I didn’t want any part of anything he had before we got married, just my half of the investments we saved together.He dragged out the divorce, harassing me constantly until I got to the point I just wanted out.”I took a deep breath.“It was the best decision I ever made.”
And the worst.
He nodded; his temple pressed to the top of my head.
“After a few weeks at a motel, I found a cute little walk-up a few blocks from my store.
“Then he started showing up at my place, banging on the door.Constantly texting.He’d never hurt me physically, but he’d never been so angry with me either.”
“Because you left?”
I barked out a harsh laugh.“He kicked me out.”
“Bridge,” he whispered, his voice pained.
“He stopped me from seeing or talking to Jakey.By that point, I had very little contact with him anymore.”
“How old was he?”
“Almost 14.He’s 16 now.”
“He called you mom?”
I nodded.“Until his real mother put a stop to it.Every time he called me mom, they took him away from me for a month.”Hot tears slid down my face, the first I’d cried for Jakey in years.“I had to correct him.”My breath hitched in my throat.“The look on his face—”
Kian’s arms tightened around me as he rocked me back and forth.
“My God,” I palmed the tears off my cheeks.“I’ll probably never see him again after hurting him the way I did.”
“You didn’t have a whole lot of choices open to you.”
I could have stayed.
At that thought, my tears flowed faster.Did I make the right decision?Was it better for him that I took myself out of the equation?Or worse?
“I kept my heart on lockdown for so long, just so I could see him sometimes, and then I couldn’t think of him at all.”I thought aloud.“Now the lid’s blown off.”
