“Because I fucking love you, and I’m not lying,” he answered, his breathing ragged and harsh. “Tell me right here and now that you don’t love me, and I’ll walk away. I’ll walk away, and you’ll never have to see me again.” With his free hand, he tilted her neck back. He dipped his head and started feathering his lips against her temple, down her cheek, and along the curve of her jaw. Emily couldn’t help it, but a light moan left her lips. “You’ll never have to feel me touch your body again, Emily. You’ll never have to hear my voice in your ears again. You’ll never have to wake up to me by your side again. Tell me right now that you don’t love me, and I’m gone…forever.”
Emily was shaking inside, but she wouldn’t show it. If she let anything slip through, she would break down, and that couldn’t happen. Though every fiber in her body wanted to believe him, she didn’t. This was a carefully thought-out skit that he was trying to manipulate her with. He was an actor on a stage, perfecting his skill, and Emily was his sole audience. Now it was her turn to send his heart straight into the crematory where hers now lie.
“I don’t love you,” she said, lying through her teeth. That lie was literally ripping her apart. Her eyes dripped with tears as she stared into his. “I told you I needed to get you out of my system, and I did. That’s all that night meant to me.”
Another lie.
However, there would be one truth that left her lips. “And I don’t believe a word that you’ve said.”
Gavin winced and held back stinging tears. Her parasitic words—each one of them—sucked the air straight out of his lungs. She took his heart, ground it up, and turned it into crimson paste right before his eyes. Struck nearly fucking speechless, he took a step back and released her from his hold.
“Thank you for the permanent scar,” he whispered, his voice broken and defeated. Without another word, he shoved his hands in his pockets and walked over to his car.
Cupping her hand over her mouth, a wounded cry escaped Emily as she watched him pull into traffic, his tires screeching against the wet pavement. With her heart sinking in her chest, she waved a taxi over. Hands trembling, she pulled the door open, slid in, and let the driver know her destination.
Tonight, sleep wouldn’t be either of their friends.
Tonight, loneliness, hurt, confusion, and pain would visit both Emily and Gavin.
Chapter Nineteen
Time
Gavin tossed his phone next to him on the couch after it’d rang for the twentieth time. Dillon was fast becoming relentless at this point, and Gavin didn’t give a flying fuck. Finishing the last bottle of beer in a six-pack, he mindlessly flipped through the television channels. The cool liquid slid down his throat, working its way into his body. However, the only thing he could taste or feel running through his veins was Emily. No matter how hard he had tried the last couple of weeks, Gavin couldn’t remove her. Nonetheless, he kept his promise. Though it desperately took every bit of self-control, he didn’t attempt to contact her. Still, that didn’t stop her from bleeding through every coherent thought or haunting every sleeping nightmare Gavin had. Emily morphed into an ache unlike anything he’d ever known.
The sound of the clock ticking away on the wall gained Gavin’s attention. He glanced at it and pictured Emily walking out of the church, considering it was the evening of her and Dillon’s rehearsal dinner. Gavin had no desire of letting Dillon know he wouldn’t be attending. None of it fucking mattered. He didn’t know how much more pain his heart could take and showing up at the church or the dinner would surely sink him further. Groomsman or not, he wasn’t going. In less than twenty-four hours, the woman he loved, the woman he saw a life together with, the woman he thought would hold his child in her arms one day would no longer be Emily Cooper. She would be Mrs. Dillon Parker.
All of it was more than Gavin could handle.
Standing from the couch, he made his way into the kitchen with every intention of cracking into a second six-pack. It was then that a knock came at the door. After pulling said six-pack from the refrigerator, he padded over to open it. Taken slightly off guard by his visitor, without saying a word, he walked back into the living room and settled himself onto the couch.
“You look like shit,” Olivia noted, entering the penthouse. “I may be wrong, and tell me if I am, but I’m pretty sure you have the funds to buy a razor blade. Has the man worth millions gone bankrupt?”
“You’ve never been short in the humor department,” he muttered, not looking in her direction as he continued channel surfing. “Shouldn’t you be at the rehearsal dinner?”
After dropping her purse to the ground, she peeled off her coat and scarf. “As much as you should be,” she quipped, flopping onto a leather chair. “You weren’t at the church, and you seriously don’t look dressed for the party. Come on, go take a shower, and I’ll wait while you get ready. Oh, and I’ll drive since it’s apparent you’ve been drinking.”
Shaking his head, he plucked a bottle from the six-pack, popped the top off, and took a long pull from it. He didn’t respond, but he gave her a look that was nothing short of threatening.
“What?” she asked in one of the most innocent tones he’d ever heard her exercise.
“Oh, give me a fucking break, Liv.” He narrowed his eyes on her. “You know I’m not going.”
She cocked her head to the side, her brown eyes wide. “Wow, Gavin, I thought you had a little more fight left in you. You’re a powerful man in every aspect of your life except for when it comes to this? When it comes to Emily, you just throw the towel in, huh?” She gave a casual shrug and crossed her legs. “Hmm, I guess I don’t know you as well as I thought I did.”