Twenty-five
Natalia
In the frigid weather as I raced across the property toward my cabin, my tears dried almost as soon as they fell.
My cabin.
It wouldn’t be mine for much longer.
This place. My home. Reid was going to destroy it.
I was breathing heavily, the result of running so fast to get away from him and the anger I felt. The betrayal. The despair.
How could he do this?
I ground my teeth together, hating myself for ever thinking it was wise to open my heart to someone, especially someone like Reid.
He’d shown me who he was from the start.
That was the real Reid. I’d convinced myself that it was the man he’d given me for the last month and a half that was the real deal.
But I was wrong.
So wrong.
Because, just like his friend had said, Reid had to pretend to care about what was going on here. God, I felt sick just thinking about it. Was it all a lie? Could I trust that anything that happened between us was real? That he ever truly cared about me?
There were so many wonderful moments with him, instances that I wished I could bottle up and experience over and over for the first time. But had any of them meant the same to him as they did to me?
If I allowed myself to think back on them—when he cared for me after what Tim had done, the way he decorated the cabins with me, the stargazing at the firepit, the golf cart he’d put Christmas lights on—I wanted to believe in them.
I didn’t want to admit that I’d been so desperate for love and attention that I clung to someone who could lie like that.
I needed to think.
I wanted to run, to hide, to give myself that time to deliberate on everything.
But I had nowhere to go.
Sure, I could get in my car and drive. But there was no place I felt safe.
And at that realization, I wondered what I was going to do when Reid followed through on his plan to tear down this retreat and take away the only place that felt like home since my parents died.
I’d have no home.
I made it to my cabin, climbed the stairs, and pushed through the front door. For the next ten minutes, I paced the room trying to figure out what to do. But I got no answers, because I kept hearing those words over and over in my head.
He pretended.
He pretended.
He pretended.
I fell in love with a man who pretended to care about this place.
When the knock came at my door, I spun around, moved to it, and said, “Leave me alone, Reid. I don’t want to talk to you right now.”
Reid didn’t respond. He merely knocked again.
“I want you to leave.”
For a few beats, I heard nothing and assumed he’d honored my request. But when he knocked again, I got so angry, I flung open the door.
Just as I opened my mouth to shout at him, I was shoved backward into the cabin. I fell to ground. The door was slammed shut. And I was no longer alone.
The problem was that it wasn’t Reid who’d decided to come and try to explain himself.
It was Tim.
He’d found me here.
And I knew he wasn’t kidding when he sneered at me. “I’ve been waiting to find you alone ever since I followed you that night I found you at the lake. And now it’s time to finish what I didn’t that day.”
Reid
I’d screwed up.
I should’ve told her.
I should’ve been honest with her the second things got serious between us.
I’d already changed my mind about my plans for this place.
If anything, Natalia would have been thrilled to learn that everything she’d brought into my life—her smile and laughter, her love of this place, and her zest for life—was the reason I couldn’t follow through with my initial plans.
Hell, it was because of her that I’d been asking myself for a while now what I was going to do about my business in Pittsburgh.
Because if things worked out with her, there wasn’t a chance I could leave her.
I couldn’t expect her to give up this place for me.
Not after all that she’d been through, not after what this place had done to heal her.
And now, she didn’t even want to be in the same room as me.
“I have to go, Cole,” I told my friend.
“You should give her time. Let her cool off.”
I shook my head, feeling disgusted with myself as I recalled the hurt in her eyes at what she learned. “She said she loved me.”
“Then you two will be fine,” Cole insisted. “But don’t go chasing after her and make it worse. Give her time.”
I raked my fingers through my hair. “I should’ve told her.”
“I’m sorry, man. I had no idea she was there. I feel awful.”
Waving my hand in the air as though dismissing the thought, I said, “No. It wasn’t your fault. I never should’ve let it go on for this long without being honest with her. I have to go. I have to go to her. I need to make sure she’s okay.”
He sighed. “Tell you what. I’ll go with you, and if she’s not interested in speaking to you right now, then you’re going to give her the time she wants, and we’ll go grab a beer somewhere.”
“Whatever.”
Though I wasn’t convinced that I’d agree to leave her, I wasn’t going to waste more time now by arguing with Cole about it. I’d deal with it later.
With that, we strode from the office and out of the building.
I wanted to run to Natalia, but I realized there was some truth and reason in Cole’s line of thinking.
I assumed she went back to her cabin—either that, or she went to Danielle—and since I was hoping for the least difficult situation to navigate, I led us both in that direction.
As we walked across the property, Cole tried to make idle conversation, but I was too distracted. I kept seeing Natalia’s face, kept hearing her words.
I fell in love with you.
She loved me.
And based on what she said when she left, I got the distinct impression that she didn’t believe the feeling was mutual.
It was only by some miracle I didn’t lose it at that thought. How could she think she wasn’t the most important thing in my life?
Probably because I hid something so monumental from her.
When we were only a couple hundred feet away from her cabin, Cole started laughing.
“What’s so funny?”
“Is that her place? The one that’s got all those decorations?”
“How’d you know?”
He huffed. “Lucky guess.”
We made it to the cabin, and just before I was going to climb the stairs, Cole put a hand on my shoulder. “If she’s cool with talking tonight, I’ll head out. Otherwise, don’t push her.”
“When did you become an expert on women?”
“I didn’t. I just know, based on everything you said about her today, that you don’t want to screw this up. So, we’re going to do it the right way.”
I let out a deep breath. And just as I was about to respond to him, to thank him for being such a good friend, we heard a loud thud against Natalia’s door at the same time she screamed.
Cole and I took one look at each other and raced up the stairs. I banged on the door. “Natalia?”
Cole’s hand went to the doorknob and twisted. The door opened, and what I saw when we pushed the door open had my blood boiling.
Natalia was on the ground, face down, just a few feet in front of the door, and standing a few feet away, chest heaving, was the guy I could only assume was her ex-boyfriend.
I didn’t think. I just reacted.
Without another thought, I hopped over Natalia and went after him. Cole was behind me; he’d see to it that she was safe while I did what I’d been wanting to do from the moment I knew this poor excuse of a man existed.
My fists flew, and with one perfectly executed swing, he dropped to the ground, whacking his head on the arm of the couch on the way there.
“You should’ve considered yourself lucky that you’ve made it this far without any consequences and stayed away from her.
” I landed another blow to his jaw. “Now, you’re dealing with me.
And you’ll be lucky to leave here in handcuffs instead of a body bag. ”
He spit up blood. “Fuck you!”
My fist connected with his face again. And from that point forward, I didn’t need any more words. My hands did the talking. My feet got in on the action.
Blood sprayed, bones crunched, and it still wasn’t enough.
I got lost in it, in seeking vengeance for what he’d done to Natalia. Something snapped inside me, and I just kept going. I couldn’t walk away, couldn’t allow this asshole to consider the possibility of ever approaching her again. I didn’t feel fatigued; I didn’t need a break.
What I needed was for Natalia to know she’d never have to worry. I needed her to know she didn’t have to be afraid. I needed her to understand I’d do anything to protect her. Love her.
He stopped struggling, stopped fighting back not long after I’d gotten started. But I kept going. It wasn’t until Cole came up behind me and pulled me off. “It’s alright, Reid. He’s not going anywhere. You’re good. He’s down. Go to your girl.”
Chest heaving, my eyes landed on her. She was sitting in the corner of the room, blood on her face and hands. Tears were running down her cheeks.
I went to her and crouched in front of her. “Where are you hurt?”
Natalia didn’t respond. Instead, she burst into sobs, but I had no clue if it was because she was injured or upset with what she’d learned today. Perhaps it was a combination of everything.
All I could do was wrap my arms around her and attempt to soothe her.
I didn’t know how much time had passed, but the next thing I knew, the police were swarming the place, paramedics had arrived, and a frenzy of activity was all around us.
Natalia was my only concern, so when she was loaded onto a gurney and put into the ambulance—her ex was being transported in a separate one with a police escort—I climbed in with her.
As the paramedics, and eventually, the doctors, worked to evaluate the extent of Natalia’s injuries, neither of us spoke to each other.
She answered the questions she was asked, and I did the same.
Beyond that, she’d been poked, prodded, and taken for tests.
I sat there, feeling helpless as we waited for answers.