Chapter 46
“Because he wasn’t you.” Jayna’s words echoed as the ambulance door shut.
The breath Derek had been holding gushed out. He felt lightheaded. Everything had just become so complicated. He didn’t do complicated. Yet here he stood, heart racing and his breathing erratic as he watched the retreating ambulance.
Burke set a hand on his shoulder. “You did good today.”
“Yeah,” was all he could manage. His throat burned.
If he hadn’t followed Sonny… If he hadn’t gone to Jamie … If Jamie hadn’t caused his attention to move to Sonny… If he hadn’t finally made Burke believe in the unbelievable, then the unfathomable would have happened. He would have lost Jayna.
Sonny was a family man and head paramedic. He was, by all appearances, a decent guy. At first glance he was not the sick bastard he turned out to be.
How was it possible that a monster had been walking amongst them wearing a normal human face? Sonny had been about to administer a deadly amount of Midazolam. Derek overheard the two paramedics discussing the drug. Jayna would have stopped breathing within 10 minutes, her heart stopping as well.
And Derek’s world would have stopped.
A world without Jayna would lack color and vibrancy. It wouldn’t be one he’d want to be in. A deep frown creased his forehead. What the hell? Talk about complicated. Was he about to do complicated?
He had kept trying to hold her hand. He needed to touch her. And he hadn’t wanted to let go.
He didn’t want to lose her again .
Poor Lance had looked crestfallen to learn he’d been a pawn in their game. He’d almost felt sorry for the guy.
“Because he wasn’t you.” Her last words raced through his mind again. They had started his heart racing even faster.
Those words had also broken his heart.
He did not deserve them. He wasn’t worthy of them.
He wasn’t that guy.
He’d only disappoint her, and she’d already been through enough. Jayna deserved a man like Lance. A man to build a life with, who wouldn’t carelessly break her heart like he already had done so long ago.
However, Jayna didn’t want a relationship. Sure, she said she did. But the minute she’d gotten Lance, she had that ready-to-bolt look in her eyes. And it wasn’t because the guy had been a murder suspect; she’d had it before learning that. She was Jayna Date and Dash. And he was Two-Date Brennan.
She wasn’t that woman.
And he wasn’t that man.