The buzzer goes off and I wipe the sweat from my brow before I pull out the can of spray paint. In big pink letters on the hood, I spell out what must come first. ME.
I drop the bat on the pavement and walk past Reed without a word. Everyone else is standing around like I’m Negan from The Walking Dead.
Haven’t they ever seen a woman let off a little steam before?
Chapter Thirty-Three
I’m not even to the street before Reed’s hand is clasping my arm.
“Hold up. Let me explain.”
I stop and turn, showing him my tear-stricken cheeks. There’s no more hiding how much this man means to me. How much what was said hurt me.
“Come here.” His arms tighten around me and I bury my head in his chest. “He’s making it sound bad, but it’s not. I promise.”
I look up at him, waiting for an explanation.
“Come.” He leads me to that same park again, sitting me on a swing this time. “He’s right on one thing. I saw you first. That night you met Pete, I was there.”
I try to remember him being there, but I was enamored with Pete immediately and I was in college and drinking, so the details are fuzzy.
He sits down in the swing next to me. His large body and the small swing gives him the illusion of a giant.
“I pointed you out, but you were having so much fun with your friends I didn’t want to be that douche who approached you and took you away from them. My eyes were on you the entire night. The more attention I drew to you, the more Pete was intrigued. I went to the bathroom and by the time I came back, you were talking to him and laughing at something he said. I paid my share of the tab to my other buddies and left.”
“Why didn’t you say any of this before?”
He looks at his feet digging a hole into the wood chips. “How does it sound?”
“Sounds like you had a reason to chase me.”
He raises his eyebrows. “That’s not why I’m dating you.”
A small smile creases my lips. “I know.” I do. Deep down I know Reed and he wouldn’t use someone to seek revenge on Pete.
“You do?” The chains creek as he turns the swing so he’s facing my direction. “Have I always been attracted you? Yes. Even when I shouldn’t have been? Yes. I like to think fate interceded and gave us a second chance. If I’d barged my way in there that night, Jade might never have been and she’s the true light in your eyes. As much as I was pissed at Pete and hated him asking me to stand up there to watch you marry him, it wasn’t for naught. It was for Jade. I’d never wish things were different.”
I lean forward and place my hands on his cheeks and plant a kiss on his lips. “You truly are a prince.”
“I only want to be your prince.”
I sit back, twisting the swing.
“Vic?”
I have to do what’s right. “You have to go to New York.”
He shakes his head and I nod mine.
“You do. You have to do it for yourself. You’re right, I have Jade. Reed, you’re something out of a fairy tale. As selfishly as I want to keep you in Chicago with me or pack up Jade and move to New York...I can’t. I know you’re not Pete, I do. But I can’t give up on myself. This time around I have to pick me. I choose me.”
He exhales a long, ragged breath.
“I’ll support you. We’ll do long distance until your graduate. We’ll spend the summer getting Jade acquainted. You can search for a job. It won’t be like it was with Pete. I’m your biggest supporter. You can have your independence and me. I promise.”
Tears burn in the corner of my eyes and I do my best to keep the tears from falling. “I can’t.”
He stops fighting for a moment though I know the lawyer in him is thinking up his next argument and it’s only a matter of time. He wants to win this case and I wish he could, too, but he needs to go to New York and I need to stay here. There’s no way around it.
“We could do long distance. I can fly back every weekend,” he says, desperation in his voice.
“That’s not a relationship, you know that. Even when you do come back, I’ll have Jade with me every weekend.”
“Why are you fighting this?” he stands up, pacing in front of me, threading his hands through his hair.
“I told you, I need to choose myself and you should do the same.”
He falls to his knees in front of me, wood chips flying, his hands resting on my thighs. “I’ve fallen in love with you, Victoria. Can’t you see that? I love you and I want you in my life.”
My hand runs down his cheek. “You want me in your life on your terms.”
His head drops to my lap and my fingers thread through his hair one more time, attempting to memorize the sensation since it may be the last time I get to do this. He stands up again without warning, the adoring expression he usually bears while around me gone. “I’m constantly being punished because of him.”
“That’s not it.”
“It is. You can’t open up and let happiness in, even when it’s the real thing because of everything he put you through.” He’s back to pacing, with each step taken farther from me.
“I can’t go to New York and leave my entire life behind.” My eyes burn as the tears finally escape and roll like a river down my face.
“That’s just an excuse. New York is your way of pushing me away again. Fine”—his hands fly up in the air—“you win. I fold.” His expression slices me open, flays me and opens all my wounds for his inspection. “Bye, Victoria.”
His back hunches as he walks away in the direction of where his car is parked. I watch him climb in and drive off. He doesn’t squeal his tires, or stick up his middle finger, but just as easily as he walked back into my life, he leaves it yet again.
Chapter Thirty-Four
The next day, I’m in a taxi with Pete and Jade. Jade wanted to spend as much time with her dad as possible, so I agreed that we’d go with him to the airport. Ok, so it was partly so I could make sure he actually got on the plane.
“I’m going to miss you, Daddy.” Jade nuzzles into her dad.
He kisses her head. “I’m going to miss you too, but I’ll be back soon. Promise.” His eyes glance over her head to me. “Maybe you can come out this summer.”
“And play at the beach?”
“Yeah.” He raises his eyebrows.
I look out the window not answering him. He’ll fight me if he really wants her, but as soon as he’s back in his office, his attention will be consumed, so there’s a chance it won’t happen anyway.
The taxi pulls up to the curb at the airport and we all climb out, Pete paying.
“This is where we say goodbye, Bug.” My hands slide down her long hair, fisting it in a ponytail and releasing it.
“Can’t we go in with him?” she whines.
“They won’t let us past security.”
She pouts. Pete grabs his bag out of the trunk and sets it on the curb, then crouches down with his arms out. “I’ll miss you, Bug,” he says, holding her tight.