Then she’ll forgive me, and we can go back home.
Put all this shit behind us and continue our lives together.
It feels like an eternity goes by before she answers the door.
“About ti—”
Those hazel orbs widen with shock and for a moment I think she’s going to slam the door in my face…but she doesn’t.
I cut to the chase. “I’m sor—”
“Perfect timing,” she interjects.
It takes me a second to realize there’s someone standing behind me.
I step inside the room as she grabs a large bottle of vodka off a room service cart. “Let me get my purse.”
I follow close behind when she walks into the living room. By the looks of things, it’s clear her grandmother spared no expense.
“I know you’re upset. You have every right to be.”
She snatches her purse off the coffee table without so much as glancing my way.
“Kit.”
Still paying me no mind, she walks back over to the door and tips the guy.
The second he leaves; she makes a beeline for the bar in the living room and starts mixing a drink that contains far more vodka than juice.
I try a different tactic. “I never meant to hurt you.”
Holding up a finger, she takes a long sip, nearly draining the entire glass. “Do you want one?”
The only thing stranger than her question, is the bland expression on her face.
Kit’s the most emotional person I’ve ever met. She feels everything—good and bad—at the highest level perpetually.
I came here fully expecting to have to console her while she cried. After she reamed me out, of course.
Yet, she’s acting like nothing’s wrong. Like she doesn’t care.
“No. What I want is for you to listen while I explain.”
Giving her head a shake, she scrunches her nose. “Yeah, we’re not gonna do that.”
Yes the fuck we are.
“I know you’re upset. But if you would just listen—”
“No!”
She screams it so loud I’m sure the people on the other side of the resort heard it.
Swiping a tote bag off a chair, she takes a deep breath. “I have plans.”
Frustration billows in my chest. “Fuck your plans. I’m not leaving until you let me explain.”
She turns on her heel, dismissing me and the conversation I was trying to have.
I chase after her.
“Goddammit, angry girl—”
A laugh that’s devoid of humor cuts me off. “Angry girl.” Her shoulders rise in a shrug, her vacant expression giving nothing away. “That’s the thing, Preston. I’m not angry. I’m not anything.”
I study her features as I stare her down, looking for a hint that proves what she’s saying is bullshit, so I can call her bluff.
But there’s no sign that she’s upset. No indication that she’s even irritated by my presence.
She seems empty and hollow inside.
Like me.
It’s as if the real Kit is concealed by armor I can’t penetrate.
“Kit.” It feels like there’s glass lodged in my throat. “Please.”
“I know it was a long flight, so you’re welcome to stay and sleep on the couch,” she says in a blasé tone before gesturing to the bar. “There’s liquor over there so help yourself.” Not missing a beat, she advances toward the door. “I hear the casino downstairs is great.” Her steps falter as she pulls a small stack of papers out of the tote bag and turns to face me. “Oh, and there’s one more thing.”
“What?”
She shoves the papers in my hand and only then do I see the faintest trace of pain in her eyes…but it’s gone just as quickly as it appeared.
And then she’s gone.
My chest caves in as I leaf through what appears to be documents and register that they’re divorce papers.
Divorce papers she’s already signed.
The dull ache in my chest spreads when I notice the date next to her signature.
We got married exactly seven months ago.
Seven.
Pain rips through my gut as the realization hits me with a force so great it steals the air from my lungs and sends everything spiraling.
I’ve destroyed everything that’s ever been mine…
Including her.
Chapter 40
Preston
Kit never came back to the room last night.
I waited up, hoping she’d have a change of heart…only to realize the sun had risen hours before and she still hadn’t returned.
I spent most of the morning and afternoon looking for her but came up empty at every corner.
Just when I was starting to think she’d left for good, one of the resort workers told me she’d signed up for some walking tour of the nearby cliffs and waterfalls.
It’s strange given Kit has an immense fear of heights, but at least she’s still here.
Or so I thought. Because when I finally tracked down the tour she was supposed to be on…Kit wasn’t with them.
I was two seconds away from making the tour guide swallow his teeth, but then he told me she’d stayed back at one of the cliffs.
It takes me a half hour to make my way to the one he said she’d be at. Relief washes over me when I spot her…followed by an inundation of remorse.
Hugging her knees to her chest, she’s sitting all alone near the edge of a cliff stationed above a massive waterfall, wearing the same tank top and shorts she was in last night.
The vibrant pink sunset illuminates the two large angel wing tattoos on opposite sides of her shoulder blades that move with every unstable breath she takes.
A stab of anguish cuts through me because she looks every bit as dejected as she did the night we met on the bridge.
And even though the circumstances are different…the same people are still responsible for hurting her.
Only this time, I won’t walk away and leave her crying.
No matter how hard she tries to push me away.
I’m fixing this and getting her back.
I walk in front of her, blocking her view of the waterfall so I have her undivided attention.
However, she’s the first to speak.
“The tour guide said only one out of three people survive if they jump off this cliff.”
Those are shitty odds, but we have much more important things to discuss.
She’s not done talking, though, and what she says next…isn’t something I was prepared to hear.
“That night on the bridge was the worst pain I’d ever felt since my parents’ death. The agony of what Becca did hurt so much, I didn’t think I’d survive it. I didn’t want to.” She curls forward until her forehead rests on her knees. “I went there that night to join my parents, because even though I have no problem falling in love, no one can ever seem to love me back.”
My chest recoils as I register what she’s telling me.
Christ. I had no idea she was contemplating ending it that night.
“Ki—”
“But then you showed up out of nowhere and you looked exactly how I felt…miserable. It was like there was an intrinsic thread linking us together. I assumed it was our mutual pain caused by the same person, and even though I was supposed to hate you…I couldn’t. Because you gave me the one thing I desperately needed that night.” She looks up at me. “You gave me hope, Preston. You made me feel like I was supposed to go on living because someone out there would eventually love me.”