Page 83 of Sin for You

It was like it had never happened. Like we never happened.

And I wanted it back. I craved it so damn much.

I should be happy. I’d done what I needed to do. It was the right thing to do.

Then why did it feel put your shoes on the wrong feet, shirt on backward, wearing someone else’s pants wrong?

Christ, would I have to stand by and watch when she eventually found someone else, some other guy she could love? A man who was good enough for her, who could give her everything she needed, who knew how to look after the people he loved.

Or worse, watch her pack up her bags and drive back out of Rocktown, but for good this time.

Fuck, I felt sick to my stomach.

Either option would destroy me.

Standing there watching her was only making it worse, because I wanted her. I wanted to kiss her and hold her. I wanted her to be mine, and there was no shutting that part of myself down.

So I left the bar and went to my office, where I could close myself in and wallow in peace.

I slumped in the chair behind my desk.

That’s when I spotted the envelope. My name was written on it in Quinn’s handwriting. I struggled to swallow as I took the folded piece of paper out and opened it, scanning it with my heart lodged in my throat.

Her notice. She was leaving in two weeks.

She was doing it. She was going back to Portland.

I stared down at the letter blindly. My thigh muscles bunched with the need to fly out of my chair, storm out to the bar, and tell her that she wasn’t going any fucking where.

You can’t have her.

Quinn didn’t want me, not in the way I wanted her. She wasn’t ready for that.

And yeah, I was a bad bet.

My track record was crap. The only thing I’d ever been able to hold on to, to call my own, was this bar.

My phone rang and I squeezed my eyes shut when I saw who it was.

Mase.

I hadn’t talked to him since he told me to keep my friends away from his sister. He’d tried, but I’d been avoiding him. Which was a total dick move.

“Hey.”

“You’re alive, then?”

Nope. Walking dead right here. “Been a lot going on. Sorry.”

“Yeah, I heard about Dane. Anything I can do?”

“Not unless you can turn back time.”

“Fuck,” Mase muttered.

I shoved my fingers through my hair. “He’s gonna be okay. I’ve got things under control. The charges are getting dropped.”

Mase cursed again. “Do I want to know?”