Chapter 38
Thirty-Eight
AUbrY HOPPED UP, met her stride, and tugged her back into the apartment. “Hold up. I’m not saying the kiss was wrong. I just want you to know your worth.”
“My worth?”
“You’re beloved, treasured . . . and the list goes on.”
“Beloved by whom?” Clearly not him, which made sense given the circumstances.
“By God.”
Bristol burst out a laugh, but his expression didn’t change. “Oh, you’re serious?” she said.
“Very.”
“Look . . .” She patted him on the chest, realizing once again how ripped he was. “I appreciate you worrying about my soul and all that, but you’ve got the wrong girl.”
His hand shifted to hers. “Do I?”
She swallowed at his intense stare. “I’m going to go. I need to get some sleep.”
“I’m sorry if I upset you. That wasn’t my intent.”
No one hurt her, ever. She’d made herself not care. So why were his words like barbed arrows sticking in her chest? They clung to her in a way she’d never experienced before. “I’ve gotta go.”
“I’ll see you in the morning?”
“Dalton’s going on a work trip for a couple days, but I’m sure you heard that.”
“Yes, but—”
She didn’t give him time to finish. Just stepped into the hall, then quietly shut the door to her apartment.
She let out a shaky exhale. Unable to resist, she looked through the peephole, and there he stood in his doorway, leaning against the frame. He rubbed his scruff, then finally shut the door.
She leaned against the back of hers and sank to the floor, hot tears pricking at her eyes. Soon they spilled over her cheeks, but she kept the sobs at bay for fear Dalton or whomever he had listening would hear.
Even when she’d thought Dalton was a good guy, she wouldn’t have shed a tear over him. What did that say about Aubry and how she felt about him?
She cried silent tears, Aubry’s words reverberating through her mind. “Beloved.” She could never be God’s beloved. She didn’t even believe in Him, but something was changing, and she couldn’t seem to stop it. Something or someone was working on her heart, and it terrified her.
Shake it off.
She needed her head to get in gear for Dalton’s surprise. She just hoped it wasn’t a bad surprise. Prayed he hadn’t figured things out, or she was a dead woman.