Prologue #6
Now, Asher was sitting in a cell, or maybe a hospital bed, handcuffed to a rail with two broken wrists and a story nobody would believe. And I was gripping the steering wheel so tight my knuckles had gone white, bloodless, the leather creaking under the pressure of my hands.
The car was silent except for the hum of the engine and the occasional sound of Aurelia's breathing beside me, like she was trying not to make any noise that might set me off again.
The streetlights flickered past, casting shadows across the dashboard, across her face when I glanced over.
She sat pressed against the passenger door, as far from me as the seatbelt would allow, staring out the window like the darkness outside held answers the inside of this car didn't.
"You didn't have to hurt him that bad," she finally said softly, arms crossed tight, gaze glued to the window like she couldn't bear to look at me.
Eyes locked back on the road, I asked flatly, "What are you talking about?"
She let out a slow breath, like she was bracing herself. "I saw him when they put him in the car, Dillion. His hands...even cuffed, they looked broken. And his face..." She shook her head, biting her bottom lip. "Why would you do that?"
I scoffed, a dry, bitter sound that barely hid the heat simmering in my chest. "Oh, so you wanted me to let him hurt you?"
"He wouldn't have," she quickly shot back, like she actually believed that bullshit.
I glanced at her, brows furrowed. "He was in your face, Aurelia."
She finally turned toward me. "He wasn't gonna do anything."
That lit a fire in me and something snapped. Seven years of holding back, of swallowing words, of watching her cry over a man who didn't deserve to breathe the same air as her, all of it came rushing up my throat like bile.
"Why you always defending his ass? Huh?" My voice rose, cracking at the edges. Years of frustration, of biting my tongue, of watching her hurt over and over, it all came pouring out. "Every fucking time, Aurelia. Every. Single. Time."
My hands gripped the wheel tighter.
"Every time he screws up, you come to me crying, broken, and I'm the one who picks up the damn pieces. And every time I wanna handle it, handle him, you stop me." My voice was getting louder now, filling the car. "You tell me it's not worth it, to let it go, that you 'got it.'"
I laughed, but there was no humor in it. Just pain dressed up as anger.
"But you don't got shit, Aurelia. You never did."
I tried to hold back, tried to swallow it down like I always did, but the words wouldn't stop. They'd been building for too long, pressing against my ribs, choking me.
"I've swallowed my pride so many times for you. So many times I lost count." My voice cracked. "Tried to mind my business. Tried to respect what you wanted. Stood by and watched you go back to him again and again like some kind of fucking masochist."
The streetlights blurred past, casting shadows that flickered across my face.
"But tonight? That motherfucker brought that shit to me. To my restaurant! The place my grandfather built with his bare hands. The place my father gave his life to. My legacy. And you expect me to what? Just let him disrespect all of that? Let him threaten you in front of everybody?"
I turned my head just enough to catch her in my peripheral, voice dropping to a low, dangerous growl.
"I handled it, Aurelia. And I'm not about to apologize for that.
Not to you. Not to nobody. You wanna be mad at me?
Fine. Be mad. But don't sit there and act like I'm the problem when I'm the only one who's ever had your back.
The only one who's ever seen you for what you're worth when that motherfucker treats you like you're disposable… like you're nothing."
My jaw clenched so tight I thought my teeth might crack.
"I'm so damn tired, Ru." The nickname came out soft, broken. "I'm tired of watching you let him hurt you. Tired of being the one who catches you when you fall, knowing you'll run right back to him the second he says sorry. And you know what's worse?"
My voice dropped to almost a whisper, but every word cut like glass.
"I'm tired of loving you through it. Of wanting you when all you do is want him. Of knowing exactly what you need, what you deserve, and watching you choose less."
My words hung in the air like smoke, thick and suffocating. My heart pounded against my ribs so hard it hurt, but I couldn't stop. The floodgates were open now.
"I've been holding this shit in, Ru. Years.
" My voice cracked again. "And I don't even know what hurts more.
Watching him break you over and over like it's his job...
or knowing that no matter what I do, no matter how much I love you, no matter how many times I prove I'd burn the whole world down for you... "
I had to pause, had to breathe, had to push past the tightness in my throat.
"You'll never choose me."
"Dillion..." she sobbed, her voice breaking on my name. I could feel her looking at me, feel the weight of her eyes burning into the side of my face, but I kept mine locked on the road. If I looked at her now, if I saw her crying, I'd lose what little control I had left.
"Asher's right about one thing. You always run to me. Every time. And he asked you tonight if I'm your man or if he is. Well?" I asked, blunt and bold, adrenaline still buzzing hot through my veins, making my hands shake on the wheel.
Her head snapped toward me, eyes wide and glassy with tears, lips parting like she couldn't believe I was asking. As if she didn't see this coming after all these years, all these moments we pretended weren't what they were.
"Well, what?" she shot back, voice laced with confusion, or maybe avoidance, or maybe fear.
Fuck it.
I was done tiptoeing around what we both knew was there.
Done playing it cool, playing it safe, playing the friend when I wanted to be so much more.
My pulse still pounded from what went down at the restaurant, from the violence, from the adrenaline, from breaking that man's bones because he dared put his hands near her.
And now she was sitting here, acting like I was the one out of line? Like I was crazy for asking?
The light turned red ahead, and I eased the car to a stop. I turned to face her fully, shifting in my seat so she could see all of me, see everything I'd been holding back.
"He's your man... or me?"
"Don't do that!" Her voice rose, panicked.
"Cut this shit out, Aurelia," I pressed. "You want me or not? Simple question."
She blinked rapidly, tears spilling over now, like the question hit harder than my fists hit Asher.
"Dillion, we're friends," she said, soft but firm, like she was trying to remind me, and maybe herself.
I let out a dry, bitter laugh under my breath, shaking my head. "That's all you wanna be? For real? Even after..."
"We agreed not to talk about it," she tried to shut me up.
"You didn't wanna talk about it," I shot back, the truth finally cracking through years of silence. "And I respected that. I been respecting that for damn near a year now. But I'm tired of pretending it didn't happen. Is that what makes you stay with him? The guilt? Because we — "
"Stop!" Her voice cracked, desperate.
"Because we made love?" I pushed through her protest, voice rising. "That night you came over when, once again, he disrespected you?"
She was crying now, but I couldn't stop. The dam had broken and everything was flooding out.
"You remember that night, Ru? Huh?" My voice dropped lower, intimate, forcing her to remember. "He locked you out the house. Changed the locks while you were at work. Turned your cards off. Left you nowhere to go and you came to me."
I could see it all playing out behind my eyes, vivid as yesterday.
"I took care of you 'cause that's what I thought friends did. Held you while you cried. And then..." I had to pause, had to swallow past the lump in my throat. "You kissed me. You initiated it. Not me. You."
Her breath hitched, a sob catching in her chest.
"You kissed me like you'd been starving for it. Like you'd been waiting years for permission. And I..." My voice cracked. "I asked you if you were sure. But you looked at me and said 'I've never been more sure of anything.'"
The words tumbled out now, unstoppable.
"You pulled my shirt off. You told me you loved me, not like a friend. You said 'I'm in love with you, Dillion. I always have been.'"
"Please stop," she whispered, but I was too far gone.
"You screamed my name so loud I had to cover your mouth.
You dug your nails into my back so deep I had marks for weeks.
You came so hard you soaked through my sheets, crying and shaking and telling me over and over that you knew, you knew I was the one for you.
That this is what love was supposed to feel like.
That you'd wasted so much time with him when you should've been with me. "
I had to stop and breathe, had to blink back the burn in my eyes.
"And then..." My voice dropped to almost a whisper.
"Soon as he called you the next morning, you were gone.
Ran out while I was asleep. Left a text on my phone telling me that night was a mistake.
That we had to act like it never happened.
That you're my best friend and that's all we could ever be. "
The confession hung in the air between us, raw and bleeding.
"And I been doing that, Ru. I been acting like it never happened, I never brought it back up.
Like I don't remember every second of that night…
like…like I can't still feel you. Like I don't lay awake at night remembering the way you looked at me, the way you said my name, the way you fit against me like you were made for me. "
"I'm sorry," she sobbed, the words barely making it past her tears. "I'm so sorry, I..."