Page 64 of Dominated

“Yes.” She took a breath. “I’m not going anywhere with you. You’ve done nothing but destroy my life since the second you walked into it.”

“Pepper—”

She slapped my hand away as I tried to reach for her, and she moved from the couch, putting several feet of space between us. When she finally stopped, she turned toward me and pointed at the door. “Go. Now.”

“You know what that means, don’t you?”

She nodded.

But I needed her to really understand.

I needed her to hear the definition of my departure.

“The second I walk through that door, I can no longer protect you.”

“I don’t need you, Bale.”

Tears were still falling down her face.

That was one of the reasons I didn’t think she was telling me the truth—her emotion was too strong; she didn’t want to see me go again.

But there were other emotions too.

Anger.

Anxiousness.

Confusion.

All feelings I could understand.

Feelings we could move past.

But once I was gone, I was fucking gone.

And that couldn’t be rewound.

Shit, this wasn’t the way I wanted things to go.

I wanted her to come with me.

I wanted us to have a future together.

Partners.

Lovers.

A child.

Maybe two.

The family I’d never had.

“What do you want to hear me say, Pepper? That I’m sorry? That I wish I could take it all back? That I’ll be the man you need—”

“I don’t need anything from you.” She wiped her face, attempting to put on a mask that was completely emotionless, looking at me like she didn’t even recognize me. “I’m erasing you from my memory. And if something happens to remind me of you or I come across your name somewhere and it triggers me, what I’m going to remember are the lies. The deceit. The manipulation—because that’s what you did to get into my life.” Her arms covered her chest.

I didn’t believe that either.

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