Page 50 of Ruined

He pushed to his feet and started to pace. It took all my willpower not to get up and comfort him, but I knew that he needed to do this his way.

“Like an idiot, I kept telling everyone she’d show, she was just running late—all brides do that.” Eli stopped mid-step and faced me. “It was only when Logan told me that my apartment was empty that I realized I’d been stood up.”

He flopped back onto the couch. “She took everything, my furniture, my money, my bloody dignity. But she left Molly.” Aiming a quizzical expression my way, he asked. “Who does that? Not that I’m complaining, I did get the better end of the deal.”

I needed to touch him, to let him know how my heart was aching for him. Placing my hand in his, I laced our fingers together. As much as I wanted to say I was sorry, the words simply didn’t seem right. So, I opted for, “Thank you for telling me.”

“That’s not everything…You see, I needed to know why she did what she did, so I started searching for her. Turned out, she was some sort of con-artist. She’d go from town to town, get involved with someone before stealing them blind. It stopped with me, I made sure she never did it again.”

He stared at me for the longest time, his features slowly softening. “While I was picking up the pieces with the help of my family and friends, she was doing time.” Eli cradled my face between his palms. “I’m broken too, sunshine. I don’t trust easily and until you came along, I refused to open my heart up to anyone.”

Again, I had to swallow down the emotion that was clogging my throat. “Eli—”

“I don’t care who or what made you think you were broken, because that’s not how I see you. To me, you’re perfect.” He traded my cheek for my wrist, where he caressed the ink on my skin. “Seize the moment with me, Zoe.”