Page 60 of Sassy Love
Immediately, my mind flicks to Mills.
“Heart attack, last night.”
I glance down at the notes on my card.
“But she was only fifty.”
“I know, seems a goddamn waste of a good woman.”
“Oh,” I rasp. This feels so real. Not a pretend scenario in the slightest. The emotion in his face is very real.
“Stop.” I try to pull my shoulders from his grip.
He reaffirms it. “There’s something else.”
I stiffen in his hold. “What?”
“I’m—” He glances to Manuel who nods, slowly. “I’m leavin’.”
I freeze, deer in headlights stuff. Every muscle rigid. What, did these people dig through our pasts to find the most triggering thing they could find to throw it in our faces? And why the hell am I doing this with Rawlins?
I rip my arms from his hold and stalk from the room.
The door opens behind me as I march down the hallway, fighting back the tears.
“Carlie! Wait.”
Fuck you, Lawson. Fuck you.
Large strides close in behind me, and he grabs my arm. “Hey, stop.”
I turn on him, finger shoved into his chest. “You enjoy that? Dragging up the most horrible part of my life and tossing it in my face?”
He steps back, his face widening with surprise then falling with empathy. People have stopped what they’re doing in the large communal space. Guests playing chess, those playing cards, and the few others sitting in the reading area all look up. At us.
“No, it’s not like that.”
“Really? Then tell me why you would recreate something so personal, sohurtful?”
He holds both hands up in surrender.
“Did you know my father left with the milk when I was a little girl? I was eight years old, Rawlins. But I’m guessing you already knew that. Did you do some digging before we came here? Or did Serelle let that one slip?”
Shock settles over him, and I swear I hear his molars grinding from here.
“No—I...” He hangs his hands and tilts his head as he takes a step forward. “Of course not. Not everyone in this world is out to fuck you over.”
“Yeah, right.” I huff a raw sound as he opens his mouth to say something. “You know what, forget it. How could you and your perfect existence ever understand?”
Before the first tear falls, I make it to the big tree on the other side of the resort in under three minutes.
My ass meets the ground as the first sob tumbles out.
Chapter 16
LAWSON
Carlie’s missed lunch and now dinner. She was a no-show for our therapy session, and it’s about time for honesty hour as I wait for her outside the communal building.
