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My heart shatters and I wish he’d stayed and fought for me, even as I’m relieved he’s getting the hell away from me and my toxic life. I knew from the beginning he’d never stay, but I can’t help wishing I’d been wrong.
“You send him away because you want to be alone with me?” Dell asks, his leer exaggerated.
I face him. This is his fault. It’s because of him I had to send Jaxon away and, even if I know that’s not true, even if I know my sins will never let me go, it feels good to be able to blame Dell for all of this. Anger is the only way to deal with someone like him.
I will never let him see me afraid or hurt again. Any good feelings I had left for him are gone. “Get the fuck off my property or I’m calling the police.”
His handsome face twists. “You won’t do that, because I’ll tell your sisters all about what you did with your daddy in Vegas.”
The threat makes a distant part of me shiver, but the pain I feel at losing Jaxon overpowers it. “Tell them, Dell. They’re probably going to find out eventually, anyway. I’m done letting you push me around over secrets that can’t hurt me.” I tap a finger on my forearm. “You, on the other hand, are probably on parole. I imagine a call to the police could do a lot of damage to you.”
He opens his car door and glances over at the security agent, still watching us from her truck. “With lover boy gone, you won’t have anyone to protect you anymore.”
“Stay away from my sisters or I’ll be the only one you need to worry about. Or have you forgotten how convincing I can be?” I press a hand to my chest and let my face twist with the very real fear I feel. “Officer, he threatened to hurt me. He followed me and wouldn’t leave me alone.” I even force a tear from the corner of my eye. It’s easy to conjure. My chest is tight and my throat is thick with unshed tears for Jaxon. “I’m afraid he’s dangerous.”
He pales and takes a step back, but his car’s at his back, stopping him. “You’ve changed, Honey. You aren’t the sweet girl I used to love.”
My laugh feels as bitter as it sounds. “You of all people should know I’ve never been sweet.”
He scowls. “Just get me my money.” He gets into the car and peels out of there like he’s trying to impress someone.
I go straight to my pottery shed, turn up the music until my ears ache, and work until tears stop blurring my vision.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Jaxon
As soon as I step off the plane in Los Angeles, I want to turn around and fly back to Catalpa Creek. Not just because I’m immediately ushered into a car by my security or because my assistant, Heidi, is already talking a mile a minute, but because I feel like I left an organ behind.
It’s my heart. I left my heart in Catalpa Creek.
It sounds so cheesy, but that’s exactly how it feels. Like I have a huge gaping hole in my chest that no one can see, but I can feel it so severely that I want to curl my body around it to stem the blood flow.
I know Honey sent me away to protect me. I saw the hurt in her eyes when she pushed me away, because it exactly matched what I was feeling. But staying and fighting for her would have been the selfish thing to do.
I don’t care about my reputation in the least, but I’ve seen how publicity, especially the wrong kind of publicity, can hurt people and I’m not letting that happen to Honey. If I bring her into my life, even if Dell doesn’t sell her story to the highest bidder, people will dig up the dirt on her, and her sisters finding out the truth about her will only be the beginning.
The world will see her as a criminal and say horrible things about her.
And Dell, seeing me as a ticket to wealth, will never leave her alone.
I hated to leave her with him, but I’ve hired even more security to look out for her and her sisters. She’s going to be okay.
She’ll be even better without me there to tempt Dell to ask for even more than she can give.
I left to protect Honey, so why do I feel like the villain in our story? A far worse villain than Dell?
“Jaxon, are you even listening to me?”
I blink at Heidi. She’s the calmest person I know and barely ever expresses any emotion, but at the moment, she’s grinning like the cat that’s just gobbled down all the canaries. She’s in her forties, but could pass for someone younger than me, with blond curls and glasses she wears only to offset the curls. Her exterior doesn’t match her serious, take-no-prisoners interior.
“Sorry,” I say. “My ears are blocked by my broken heart.”
Her smile doesn’t falter. “Thankfully, broken hearts aren’t my department. Have you checked your messages?”
“I turned my phone off this morning.” Shortly after I left Honey. If she or her sisters or their partners called me, nothing would have stopped me from running back to her.
It takes a lot of work to not be selfish, and I’m a weak man.
