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Ainsley staresout the window in silence as we drive away from the apartment building. I watch her out of the corner of my eye, fighting the urge to reach out for her. We’re in a different place than we were when I treated her like shit before. It was so long ago that it feels foreign.
We’re completely disconnected, but it’s not a clean cut. It’s sharp and jagged and it fucking hurts like hell.
It doesn’t take long to get to the dingy shopping center that I told Raina to meet me at. I see her black car from across the parking lot as I pull in.
“What are we doing here?” Ainsley asks quietly, staring in confusion out the window.
I ignore her, driving past two stores as I turn the car down a row of parking spots. There’s an empty one right beside Raina’s Porsche Cayenne. Ainsley whips her head to the side, her eyes boring holes as I put the car in park.
“What the fuck is this?” she barks, raising her voice as she stares at me with her eyes wide. A shallow breath escapes me as I finally look over at her. “You’ve got to be kidding me? You really called her.”
Any response gets caught in my throat. My face remains impassive but it doesn’t come close to reflecting the emotions that run rampant through my body right now. A wave of pain flashes through Ainsley’s brown eyes. I watch as her face transforms, a look of betrayal washing over her expression.
My jaw tics and I leave the engine running as I turn away from her and climb out of the car. Raina gets out at the same time, a small smile on her face that doesn’t reach her sad eyes. I walk around the back to get her bag from the trunk as I hear her door slam shut behind her. Her footsteps are heavy on the pavement as she rounds the back, stopping directly in front of me.
“What is she doing here, Killian?” Ainsley demands as she stares me down. As I’m pulling her bag from the trunk, I feel the weight of the door land on my arms as she slams it down onto me in an effort to halt me. The sharp metal cuts into my arms as it scrapes against my skin, instantly drawing blood.
I grip the handle of her bag tighter as I free one of my arms and push the trunk door back open. I can’t look at Ainsley, I can’t find the words to say to her right now. All it will do is cause more setbacks, because I’m so fucking close to shoving her back into the passenger’s seat and driving as far as I can from this place.
“Ainsley.” Raina’s voice is soft and gentle. “Come on, sweetheart. It’s time to go home.”
“You fucking set me up,” Ainsley growls at me as she wraps her arms around herself in an attempt to hold herself together. “You were never going to come home with me, were you?”
I swallow hard and hand over Ainsley’s bag to Raina.
“Are you okay?” Raina asks me quietly, her eyes scanning the open wounds on my arms. “They look deep, you might need stitches.”
“I’m fine.”
Raina nods, not pressing the issue as she knows that I’m no longer her problem. “Ainsley, let’s go, okay?”
Ainsley balks, shaking her head at Raina. “Fuck that. I don’t know what plan the two of you concocted behind my back, but it’s not fucking happening.”
“Go with her, Ainsley,” I tell her, my voice low.
“I’ll go with her when you look at me and answer my question.”
I run a frustrated hand through my hair, feeling the blood run down the length of my arm. I need to hold firm and stand my ground. I can’t let Ainsley manipulate me into taking her back with me. I can’t let this plan be derailed when it is in her best interest, even if she doesn’t see that now. It kills me to give her what she wants, but she’s leaving me no other choice.
Closing my eyes, I turn around to face her. I can feel her stare before I lift my eyelids. Her eyes burn holes directly through mine, staring straight into my tainted soul. I stare back at her and she takes a step toward me.No.I resist the urge to put my hands out and stop her. I can’t falter, I can’t let this facade crack or else she will know the truth.
All she can ever know are the lies.
Her feet don’t stop until her toes reach mine. She tilts her head back, looking up at me with her arms wrapped around her chest. I tip my chin down, staring back at her. Her eyes bounce back and forth between mine in a panic. There’s a mixture of pain, anger, and betrayal swimming in her brown irises. I focus on the small golden flakes to avoid losing my fucking composure.
“Were you ever coming home with me?” Her voice is small, a complete contrast to the way she challenges me like we’re about to go into one-on-one combat.
She’s a goddamn liar, too.
I swallow hard over the knives lodged in my throat and shake my head. “No.”
Her nostrils flare and her chest rises as she inhales sharply. “This was all part of your plan then, wasn’t it? You made me love you and then you broke me, Killian. And now you’re just getting rid of me after you got what you wanted from me.”
Goddamn her. I didn’t just break her. I fucking broke us.
“Yes.”
