Page 222 of Heartless Sinner
“This is awkward.” I pulled the duvet cover a little higher around my chest.
“Awkward conversations make for awkward moments.”
“That’s for sure.”
I stared straight ahead, studying the waves painted on the armoire, suddenly too afraid to face him. “Where do we go from here, Brooks?”
“I have no idea.”
“Is this our final goodbye?”
He hesitated before admitting, “I planned for it to be.”
“Is your plan still the same?”
He stared down at the rumpled sheets between us. “My plan got shattered the moment I saw you standing there on the beach.”
“Please don’t talk in political circles with me. Be upfront with me. Tell me if you’re going back to hating me after you leave this bedroom.”
“I want this. God, I want this more than I’ve ever wanted anything in my life. I just don’t know how.” He shoved a hand through his bedhead hair. “My life … my father …”
I shifted to face him. “But what about you?”
“You plotted to kill him—”
“We already established I didn’t,” I interrupted.
“Shit, sorry.” He shut his eyes for a second. “You know what you did. He’s made it clear you’re not allowed back in the country. He promised you’d never face jail time if you left.”
“What does that mean for us then?”
“I have no idea … I wish there were an easy answer.”
“Nothing has ever been easy with us.”
“That’s for sure,” he muttered.
I looked down at the duvet. “If only it were …” My voice caught. “If only it were as easy with me as it would be with an oil heiress.”
Brooks released a rough, hollow laugh. “If my phone wasn’t drenched from jumping into the ocean, I’d show you our texts. Rachel and I are nothing. She’s showing up to my father’s events because she wants to sit on the board of her father’s company. If it looks like she has a good relationship with the presidential family, more members will be okay with it. She’s in love with someone else too.”
He pressed his fist to his heart. “I promise you, Daphne, I haven’t touched her like that. Haven’t kissed her. Haven’t even fucking thought about it because it’s like I can’t bear the thought of touching someone who isn’t you.” He cleared his throat. “And what about Cory? He’s been coming to Calira quite often.”
“Cory is sleeping with Elodie,” I said.
He stared at me in shock. “You’re kidding?”
“Nope. Not at all.”
“Damn … Elodie has an attitude, just like yours. We had a little chat on the boat.”
“Elodie has seen me cry every day,” I confessed.
His stare lowered. “I hate thinking about you crying. I hate you hurting. I hate that my family—that I—caused it.”
“I think we both caused each other pain.” Fresh tears burned my eyes as guilt hit me all over again. “I hate myself every day for what I did. For how I ruined us.”
“I can’t ever accept what happened,” he said quietly. “I don’t think I’ll ever be okay with it.”
