“You’ll be on the road and I’ll be stuck here.” A stubborn lift of her chin. “I can’t give up my life for you.”
Seth winces like he’s been slapped. “And you want me to?”
“No, I never asked you to do that.” She reaches for him. “I love you, Seth. But, it’s ... it’s not the right time for us. For any of this.”
He rips a hand through his hair. “This is all so fuckin’ stupid. We love each other and you’re runnin’ away?”
She flinches.
Anger wells in him. He’s frustrated. Agonized. He’s watching everything he loves slip away. “Well, when is gonna be the right time for us?” he says, his tone hard. “Maybe when you get promoted in LA? Or you decide your job didn’t work out like it should?”
Tears fill her eyes. “You’re being awful.”
“I love you, Lacey. I want to take the risk, I want to do us, but there’s no way in hell it just ain’t the right time for us. It’s always been us and you damn well know it.” He stares at her and then shakes his head, resigned. “If it’s this easy for you to walk away, then maybe I was wrong about everything.”
“It’s not easy,” she whispers, wounded. “None of this is easy.” A sob rips out of her, one that tears at his heart. But before he can respond, she rushes past him, disappearing upstairs.
“Fuck,” Seth says to the ceiling.
When he turns around, he freezes.
Nothing has him feeling worse than Sal, standing in the doorway, having overheard everything. Her forlorn eyes meet his.
He sighs, not in the mood for a lengthy analysis of what the fuck just happened. Or a lecture. It feels like he just went fifty rounds in the ring with a bull. “Don’t look at me like that.”
Sal’s frowning. “So what? It’s over?”
He scrubs a hand down his face. “What do you want me to do, Sal? Make her stay?”
“Yes, Seth, that’s exactly what I want you to do. Scale the plane and fight Colin to the death.” Sal’s voice drops an octave. “I don’t know. I don’t know, Seth, but make her stay. You two are perfect together and you’re both just stubborn idiots who can’t see it.”
He stares, numb. Sal’s right, he should do more, but all he can do is just shake his head.
“Come on,” Sal urges. “You’re letting her go too easy. And you know it.”
“She’s better off without me.”
The excuse lands lame, weak, between them.
“Oh, fuck you, Seth,” Sal snaps with enough venom that he stiffens.
Tears in her eyes, Sal turns on her heel and heads for the stairs after her sister.
Gritting his teeth, Seth walks fast for the front door, blinking back tears, ready to get the hell out of the house. He meets Luke’s eyes as he goes, his brother’s face a mess of sympathy, but Seth opens the front door and walks out without looking back.