CHAPTER 13
KILLIAN
Iwitness the exact moment Noah recognises my voice coming from behind him.
His entire back goes rigid, and I imagine he’s probably wondering just how much of that conversation I heard.
The answer is, too damn much.
My eyes dart back and forth between the pair as I wait for one of them to explain what the fuck it is I seem to be missing.
“Well?” I prompt, crossing my arms over my chest.
Daisy resembles a deer caught in the headlights of a semi-truck. “K-Killian,” she stutters.
“Hmm?” I raise an eyebrow at her.
She looks at Noah. “Ah-ah,” I shake my head. “Don’t look at him.”
Her eyes, that she hasn’t once trained on me since she returned, snap back to me, focusing on my chest as I take a step forward, widely avoiding the shit-covered filly Noah is still holding onto. “Tell me what he’s talking about, Dais.”
Daisy’s mouth opens before it closes again, and I feel my patience begin to snap.
A deeply unsettling feeling begins to swirl within me as her eyes dart back to Noah once more before coming back to me, glistening with unshed tears.
“I went to find her,” Noah speaks up from behind me, his voice lacking the confidence it had five minutes ago.
Ever so slowly, I turn to him. “Come again?”
He dips his head in shame before admitting, “I went to Montana to find Daisy.”
My stomach drops.
My voice is unrecognisable when I ask, “when?”
My hands shake at my sides as I wait for his answer. I can almost see the wheels turning in his head. The question on how honest he should be right now circling his brain.
“When, Noah?” I hiss through gritted teeth.
“About a year and a half after she left.”
A disbelieving laugh escapes me. “You knew?”
“Killian,” Daisy whispers from behind me, but I ignore her as I storm toward Noah and grip him by the front of his t-shirt.
“You knew where she was all that time, and you didn’t fucking tell me?” I scream in his face.
The filly behind him becomes unsettled and Daisy quickly moves past us, taking the reins from Noah and escorting the horse back to her stall.
Once both of his hands are free, Noah pushes against my chest, forcing me back a few steps. “I didn’t tell you to protect you, man.”
A steady pounding forms in my temples as I shake my head at the stranger impersonating my best friend. “To protect me? How was that you protecting me, Noah? You fucking knew I was looking for her. You saw the shit I went through. Why the fuck would you do that, Noah?”
I feel unhinged. I barely recognise the man in front of me as he opens and closes his mouth, devastation marring his every feature.
“Because I told him I didn’t love you anymore,” Daisy’s shaky voice echoes in the silence around us.
It’s funny, isn’t it? How you can feel the moment your heart sinks. How it drops right into your stomach without the organ ever actually moving at all.
I didn’t love you anymore.
Those five little words crumble the remaining pieces of my heart.
But she doesn’t stop there.
Tears fall down her face in a steady stream as she steps closer to me. “He begged me to come home with him. I couldn’t.”
My chest heaves with broken breaths as I look at her, my eyes pleading. “Why?”
“I just told you why.”
My eyes burn and I squeeze them closed. “You didn’t love me anymore,” I whisper, more to myself than anyone else.
When I open them again, she nods.
I stare at her, watching silently as she tries to convince herself she’s doing the right thing by being honest.
Except she isn’t being honest.
“You’re a goddamn liar,” I point at her before spinning on my heel and taking off in the direction of my truck.
She may not love me now, but I don’t believe for one goddamn second that’s the reason she left.
Noah may have been able to fool me for almost three years, but Daisy has never been capable of lying. Running from the truth? Yes. But lying, no.
One way or another, I will find out what she’s hiding.