Total pages in book: 190
Estimated words: 181992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 181992 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 910(@200wpm)___ 728(@250wpm)___ 607(@300wpm)
She gave her head a hard, fast shake. “You’re lying.” She slammed her manic gaze on me. “He’s just saying all this to hurt me, right?”
Uh … quite possibly, come to think of it. After all, she’d probably disappear for good if he could convince her of his claims. Dax didn’t exactly have an issue with being deceitful if it meant getting what he wanted.
“That’s all it is, isn’t it?” she pushed.
Digging my teeth into my lower lip, I cut my gaze to him. He wasn’t looking at me. Or her. His attention was on the object he was smoothly pulling out of his pocket.
He lifted it up for her to see. “Maybe this will answer your question.”
Her face scrunched up. “What is …?” She trailed off as she seemed to finally see what he held. And what he held made my breath catch.
He looked at me. “It’s one of your Christmas gifts. I’d just taken it out of its presentation box to get a proper look at it when Sabrina called, so I slipped it in my pocket and came straight here.”
A shaky breath left me as I drank it in. It was a compass. A gold compass practically identical to the one from the soppy movie we’d watched together. Which meant … which meant … which meant the fucker loved me.
I swallowed hard, my throat aching. “Shit, Dax, you know how to hit a girl right in the feels.”
One corner of his mouth inched up, but his smile froze when Mimi let out a mewl. Maybe she’d seen the movie, or maybe she was just coming to realize she’d been fighting a losing battle all this time—I wasn’t sure.
He met her gaze evenly. “My intent isn’t to hurt you. I just want you to face reality so you can move on. There never would have been a ‘me and you,’ even if there was no Addison. But there is an Addison, and she’s mine in a way that no one else has ever been.”
My heart squeezed painfully but in the best way. It wasn’t simply what he said, it was how he spoke with such ease and matter-of-factness; with a complete lack of awkwardness or embarrassment.
“No, Mimi, don’t shake your head,” he went on, pocketing the compass. “Don’t shrug this off and tell yourself I’m lying. Hear what I’m saying: Addison is it for me. I love her. There won’t come a day where I don’t.”
Oh fuck, I might cry.
So might she, by the looks of things. I wasn’t a monster so, yeah, I did feel bad for her. But she’d ignored his rejections, overlooked his I’m not interested signals, and kept up the pressure … thereby pushing him into a corner. His only real option now, if he was to finally get through to her, was to be cruel to be kind.
“But you loved Gracie,” she croaked. “How could you just replace—”
“Don’t insult her memory by using her to put a negative spin on this,” he cautioned, his voice silken danger. “Don’t imply I’m replacing her in a blatant attempt to make me feel guilty. It’s both shitty and pointless.”
Her upper lip quivered. “You don’t feel even the slightest bit bad about loving someone else?” She practically choked on the latter three words.
“Why would I? Gracie wouldn’t begrudge me this.”
Mimi barked a laugh. “Oh, you do like to convince yourself she was some perfect creature.” She shook her head, a cruel curve to the set of her mouth. “She wasn’t. I know something about your precious Gracie.”
He sighed. “If this is regarding her friend Hartman, so do I.”
Mimi froze and stared at him dumbly for long moments. “You know?” she breathed. “But … you never said anything.”
“Neither did you.”
Ugh, who the hell was Hartman? I glanced at Grayden to find him looking equally baffled.
Apparently taking advantage of her state of shock, Grayden gently caught her arm. “Come on, Mimi.”
Her expression dazed, she didn’t fight him as he led her to the door.
He opened it wide but then stilled. He looked from me to Dax, swallowing hard, his eyes pained. There was something else in his gaze, though: resignation. He gave a quick nod and then escorted her out of the restrooms.
Blowing out a long breath, I turned to Dax. “That was uber intense.” I lightly dug my teeth into my lower lip. “And you got me a soppy compass.”
His mouth bowed up. “I got you a soppy compass.”
“You love me,” I whispered.
“I love you,” he confirmed. Trapping my gaze with his, he caught my face between his hands. “And you love me.”
“Yeah, I do. But you weren’t supposed to know that.”
His lips kicked up a little more. “You gave yourself away.”
I felt my brow dent. “When?”
“When I came to you after Thaddeus crashed into your car. I saw it in your eyes. And I realized I felt the same.”