A Beautiful Lie (Playing with Fire #1)(97)

He grew bold, stepping up to her and brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes. Parker pulled her head away before he could touch her anymore. Even if what he said to them tonight proved to be the absolute truth, she wasn’t the same person that Milo left all those months ago. She wouldn’t be able to fall back into any kind of relationship with him easily, even one as simple as friendship. There would always be complications between them that no amount of time or understanding could fix.

“Don’t,” Parker warned him.

Milo quickly pulled his hand back and shoved it into the pocket of his pants.

“I’m sorry. It’s just…it’s so good to see you, Parker.”

Parker shook her head and took a deep breath, but Milo spoke before she could say anything.

“I know this is all confusing and you’re pissed and I don’t blame you. But I just want you to know that I love you. If I could go back and change everything I would. It kills me that I had to leave you, to make you believe I was dead in order to make this work. I hope you can see how sorry I am and maybe someday we can get back to―”

“Milo, stop,” Parker interrupted, squeezing her eyes shut to ward off those awful memories and holding her hand in the air to silence him. “Just because you’re here and you’re claiming to be one of the good guys doesn’t mean we can all just go back to the way things were. It’s not the same anymore.”

“But it can be. We were going to get married and have a life together. I still love you. Not a day has gone by that I haven’t thought about you or wished I could be with you. If you can just forgive me, we can go back to that,” he pleaded.

“No, we can’t. Milo, we’re in the middle of trying to take down the leader of this country. Someone who has been exploiting teenage girls for his own gain for God knows how many years. And even if that wasn’t the case, even if we were home and you suddenly showed up out of the blue, it still wouldn’t change anything.”

Milo looked panicked now. He began to pace back and forth in front of Parker while they still remained in the alcove of the villa.

“Okay, I get it. You need time. You need to let things calm down and then we can talk and work things out.”

Parker shook her head in disbelief. He still wasn’t getting it. She knew now was not the most appropriate time to put everything on the table when they had work to do, but nothing would get through to Milo unless she was blunt.

“Milo. I don’t love you. Not that way. Not anymore. Maybe not ever,” Parker admitted softly, trying to soften the blow by easing up on the anger and looking him in the eyes with sympathy. She shouldn’t be concerned with sparing his feelings, but it was in her nature. She didn’t know how else to behave.

Milo stopped pacing long enough to laugh. It wasn’t the laugh of someone who just caught on to the joke. It was the laugh of someone who couldn’t believe what was happening; it was maniacal and disturbing.

“That’s your anger talking, Parker. Once you calm down and realize that I’m here, and I won’t ever leave you again, you’ll come to your senses.”

Milo started pacing again, muttering to himself under his breath. Parker didn’t like the way he was acting. She had no idea what he’d been through or the extent to which his undercover assignment had affected him, but one thing was certain: Milo was not behaving rationally.

Parker slowly reached behind her back to grab her gun when she suddenly realized it wasn’t there. Garrett had taken it from her when she was aiming it at Milo.

“I’m not stupid you know?” Milo said. “I saw the two of you. You were holding hands when you got here. Whatever you’ve done with him while I was gone, it’s okay. I don’t care. You were lonely and he was there. Now that I’m back you don’t have to do that anymore.”

Parker quickly glanced around, wondering why tonight of all nights, there were no other patrons of the resort walking around so she could signal them to get help. She cursed Garrett for his stubbornness and wished he wouldn’t have walked away. She had a feeling he’d be better equipped to talk Milo down from whatever ledge he was standing on, having done it plenty of times while the two of them were growing up.

“Milo, listen to what you’re saying. Nothing is okay between us and it never will be. I love Garrett. He’s not just someone I passed the time with after you were gone. I know this isn’t going to be easy for you to hear, but I’ve loved him from the first moment I saw him. It’s always been Garrett and it always will be. You were my friend, and I thought I was doing the right thing by staying with you and planning a future with you. But it wasn’t fair to either of us when my heart always belonged to someone else,” Parker explained.

“YOU’RE LYING!” Milo yelled as he stalked towards her. “You’re just confused. You’re still in shock.”

Parker moved backwards but found herself stopped by the wall of the villa next to her and Garrett’s.

“Milo, take a deep breath and calm down. I need you to focus on Fernandez and what’s really important here. We can talk about all of this at another time. Right now you need to remember what we’re here for. What you spent all this time away from us for.”

Now that Parker was cornered Milo was able to get closer. He nodded his head, seeming to calm down and agree with what she was saying. Parker relaxed thinking that maybe reminding him about the mission had centered him, but she shouldn’t have let her guard down.