Page 72 of One Quick Obsession

Shit. Grief slammed into me like a two-ton semi, as I slid out of the truck and ignored Scarlett’s questions.

Michelle’s mother got out of the SUV, her face ragged, her eyes red. Then Michelle’s brother got out of the driver’s side.

“How could you forget? How could you do this to her?”

In two quick steps, Michelle’s mother was there, her palm swiping across my face as she slapped out.

I didn’t move, and I let her have that one hit. After all, I deserved it.

“Shirley. Robert.”

“You should have saved her. You knew what was happening to her and you did nothing. How could you?”

Then she began to scream, and I could barely understand the words. Scarlett got out of the truck, and I nearly closed my eyes in resignation. She hadn’t known the whole story, had only known parts of it, but not all of it.

And now she would finally realize what kind of monster I was and walk away. Maybe that was for the best.

“You forgot her birthday,” Robert snapped as he moved forward and took his mother into his arms. “How could you?”

“I’d say I’m sorry, but you’ve never believed me when I said it before.” The lack of emotion in my voice echoed throughout the area, but I ignored it. Scarlett stood behind me, and as Shirley locked eyes on her, her gaze narrowed.

“You’ve moved on? Just like that. With her?”

I took a step to the right to somewhat block Scarlett. “You both need to go. I’m sorry that it’s Michelle’s birthday. I’m sorry about everything. But it was a long time ago, and there’s nothing we can do now. You coming here in the pain that you are is not going to help you grieve.”

“What do you know about grief? You let our baby die.”

“You knew what he was doing to her, and you left her there,” Robert added.

Each word was like a blow to the chest, but when Scarlett put her hand on the small of my back, bile rose in my throat. I didn’t deserve her trust. Her comfort.

“I thought she was safe,” I said after a moment, not knowing what else there was.

“She wasn’t. And you let her die.” And with that, Robert forced his mother back into the SUV, as he spun out of the parking area.

I stood there, not realizing my hands were shaking until Scarlett wrapped her arms around me.

And that was why I had never deserved Michelle. Or Scarlett. Or a future.

I had been too late before. Hadn’t seen the signs.

And the woman that I had once loved was dead, and her family would never heal.

I’d almost lost Scarlett, just like I had lost Michelle.

I’d nearly been too late.

And I knew there was nothing left, as I wasn’t the man Scarlett needed.

Just like I wasn’t the man I had needed to be for Michelle.

Chapter Sixteen

Scarlett

There is a moment in every person’s life where a transition meant the end, the beginning, or an absence of both.

I hadn’t said a word when that mother and her son had been there. There hadn’t been anything for me to say. Hudson had stood up for himself in a way, and yet hated himself in every other way. I had wanted to do something, to help, but what was there for me to do? The day was Michelle’s birthday, the woman that he had lost. He had lost her long before she had died, but some part of him still reached for her. Still grieved for her. And I didn’t blame him for that grief. How could I? I grieved the person I had been before Ronin, the person I had been before I had realized life wasn’t fair.