Page 141 of Piece You Saved

Harley’s determined expression doesn’t smooth away. “Even though you—”

“It doesn’t matter how I feel about you,” I interrupt. Because Idofeel something for him. I can’t help it, and I shouldn’t because I have Kade, Aden, and even Dariel. That should be enough. It should bemorethan enough.

But I still want him, and I shouldn’t.

“What about how I feel about you?” he asks, his voice as soft as mine. “Does that not matter, either? Because these feelings aren’t ones I can ignore. They hit me when I first walked into your room, and they’re still hitting me now.”

If there’s a right thing to say to his quiet admission, I can’t find it. All I can do is watch as he pushes himself to his feet and moves toward me.

If he touches me…

I back up.

If he kisses me like he looks like he wants to, I don’t know how I can do this. “You have to go.”

“And if I don’t want to go?” he asks.

I take him in again, maybe for the last time. “Sometimes what we want will hurt too many people if we get it, so we need to say goodbye to it and be happy with what we have.”

Before I can say anything else—worse—before he can say something to convince me I’m doing the wrong thing in saying no to him, I turn around and walk back to the house.

“And if you’re not ready to say goodbye to the thing you want more than you’ve ever wanted anything else before?” Harley calls out from behind me. “What then?”

I close my palm around the door handle, swallow the tears threatening to choke me, and turn to meet his unsmiling sea-green eyes. “Thank you for what you did, but you need to go back to your life now.”

“And if it feels like my life—my future—is with you?”

I smile when I want to cry because I think I know exactly how he feels. “Goodbye, Harley.”

Pushing the door open, I step inside and let it slam shut behind me.

I’m not sure how long I stand there, unable to work out if it’s relief or devastation running through me when Harley doesn’t follow me, but it feels like an eternity.

“Angel?”

I yank my attention from the floor to the kitchen doorway, where Kade is standing, peering at me, his eyes intent. “Everything okay?”

While I was out there with Harley, he slipped into sweatpants. The front door is closed, so they must have dealt with the mess outside.

It’s never taken so much effort to summon a smile before. Somehow, I do it. Whether or not it’s convincing is another matter entirely. “Great. Is Sam okay?”

Kade studies me for a beat, and then slowly nods. “The cop proved himself useful and took her to get checked out at the hospital and then home. Dariel is dumping Rylan’s car in a place where someone won’t hesitate to steal it. The new owner can deal with the dead wolves in the trunk.”

Why is it so hard to care about any of this? Why can I only think of what Harley is doing outside?

“Is he going to tell anyone what he saw?” I ask.

Kade’s watchful expression doesn’t change. “I don’t think so. Dariel doesn’t either. Did Harley—”

“Harley didn’t do anything. He’s going,” I say in a rush. “That’s all. I was just saying goodbye to him.”

He doesn’t look like he believes me. “Now everything is over, do you want to eat something?”

After everything that happened today? After the pain of pushing Harley away? Knowing I broke both our hearts? I never want to eat a thing for the rest of my life.

I smile and nod as I head for the stairs. “Sure, I need to use the bathroom, but I’ll be down in a few minutes.”

Before he can stop me or see through my lie, I hurry up the stairs and rush into my bathroom. After putting the toilet seat down, I sit, bury my face in my hands, and spend the next two minutes battling with my tears.

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