Banking the Billionaire (Bad Boy Billionaires Book 2)(112)

Fifteen minutes later, I damn near hit a few pedestrians as I parked illegally in front of the tattoo shop. I was out of the car and striding through the entrance within seconds. The bell above the door rang erratically, and Frankie looked up from behind the reception desk, his eyes wide with both recognition and shock.

“Cass?”

My mind wouldn’t let me do anything other than yell over him. “Take this f*cking ring back!”

I yanked at it frantically, trying to free it from my finger, but it hung like Walter had hung on to Stan’s cage. At this rate, I’d be raw and bloody, but I was obviously beyond the point of caring about anything.

The one thing I cared about didn’t want me, so I wanted this reminder gone. Pulling and pulling, each yank opened up some untapped well of emotion, and by the time it even came close to coming off, I was sobbing.

“Come here,” Frankie said, taking me by the elbow and gently leading me to a chair in the back. He went into the bathroom and came back out with a tissue, offering it to me with a kind smile. “Take a minute and calm down,” he instructed gently.

I wiped at my eyes and found myself irrationally cursing his steely ways. “Fuck you for being so steady right now.”

He smiled, and it honestly surprised me how receptive I was to it.

“Feel better?” he asked softly, and I shrugged.

“A little.”

“Good.”

Now that I wasn’t so agitated, the ring slipped free of my finger with ease. I closed it in my fist and concentrated on giving it up. Every cell in my body was shouting its refusal. I clamped the ring harder in my hand until I felt the sting of the diamond pressing into my palm.

Eventually, I took a deep breath and found the strength to shove the ring toward Frankie. “Give this to him.”

He shook his head. “I think you should give it to him yourself.”

A thousand emotions pulsed through my veins until my ears buzzed with the erratic pounding of my heart. Why wouldn’t Frankie just take the f*cking ring? Didn’t he understand? If I had to be the one to hand Thatch back the ring, my f*cking ring, it would be the final straw. Having to face him and face the truth that we were really over would destroy me.

“I can’t,” I spat. “It rips my heart out to see him, so you can take the ring or I’ll flush it down the toilet!” I shouted, throwing it to the floor when he still didn’t hold out his hand.

His expression remained neutral. “Do you want to hear what I think?”

“No,” I answered obstinately. His eyebrows went up in challenge, and I folded like a poker novice. “Yes,” I admitted.

“Go on, sit down,” he directed, and I had no qualms with following his orders. I was dog tired from the long day, but mostly, I was exhausted from having to remind myself a million times a day, every goddamn day, that I couldn’t call Thatch or text him or do anything that revolved around him because we weren’t together anymore. Our breakup felt like a constant one-hundred-pound weight on my shoulders.

“You scared Thatch last week.”

“I know. And hurting him burned a hole through my heart. But I’m really not interested in being the ghost of his ex-girlfriend.”

“Well, I’m glad to know you’re so sympathetic—”

I cringed. “God, I’m so sorry,” I found myself apologizing. “That was a really dick thing to say.”

Frankie nodded. “Yeah, it was, but it’s okay,” he accepted. “And this has nothing to do with Margo.”

Thatch had said the same thing. I wasn’t sure I believed either of them.

“Sure, that’s how she died,” he went on, and my eyes widened. He nodded again. “Yeah. Jumping off a cliff into a shallow pool of water, right after Thatch begged her not to.”

His words hit my chest like a bullet, and I inhaled a shaky breath.

“So it is about her,” I said on a whisper.

He shook his head. “No, it’s not. There, that day, the moment. Yeah, he remembered. He’s the one who spent thirty minutes trying to revive her, so I know he remembered.”

A single tear cut down my cheek as my heart broke for them. For Thatch—the man who deserved so much better than me—and for Frankie, so willing to open his arms to me even when I was yo-yoing between manic and a Grade A bitch.

“But you scaring him was all about you.”

I shook my head and wiped at my eyes. “I don’t get it.” But God, I wanted to. Even though, deep down, I probably already knew the answer.

“You’re the exact woman he’s always wanted, Cassie. Always. But that day made him afraid to want it. Afraid to think of what he might be putting himself through for the rest of his life. He knows you’re going to be wild and untamed, and he loves it. Until he feels like being so accepting of it might be the reason he loses you.”

“But what do I do?” My voice was barely audible.

“What you do is always up to you, Cassie. You’re the one who needs to decide what’s really important to you.”

I already knew the answer to that.

Moving to the corner of the room, he picked up the ring and dropped it in my hand. “And if you really think it’s over, you need to give him the ring back yourself. He’ll be here tonight at nine.”