Broken Course (Wrecked and Ruined #3)(52)

When I chuckle, she stills in my arms. She peeks up with a small smile.

"Welcome back."

They are two simple words, but they hit me harder than thirty-three years of vowels and consonants combined. I have absolutely no way to stop the words before they tumble from my mouth.

I gently cup her face in my hands and bring my lips to hers. "I love you."

Her eyes go wide, but she doesn’t immediately respond. "Stop," she whispers as the tears pool in her eyes. "You don’t owe me that."

"No, I do owe you something, but that’s not it. I’m telling you because it physically aches to try to keep it in any longer. I love you, Sarah."

"Leo, please don’t. You don’t know all of me, and I want to be able to say it back, but I need to tell you some things first." She nervously sits up and pats around the bed until she finds her T-shirt.

"See, this is the other part that physically hurts to contain." I run a hand though my hair and let out a loud sigh. "I know about your past."

"What?" she questions, clearly confused.

"I know about the wreck, your head injury, Brett, your suicide attempts, and the reason for your stay at Building Foundations," I rush out as she throws a hand up to cover her mouth. "I know about it all, but I don’t care. I love you anyway," I finish, and she stumbles.

I snag a pair of shorts off the floor and pull them on. She backs away as I round the bed, but I don’t stop advancing. Cornering her against the closet door, I gently brush the hair off her neck and whisper in her ear.

"I don’t care, ángel. You aren’t that woman anymore. So please believe me when I say I am absolutely and unquestionably in love with you."

When her shoulders relax, hope springs to my chest.

Until she explodes.

"Oh my God!" She pushes me, catching me off guard and causing me to rock back a step. "Oh my God. That’s how you do it. You… You…" she stutters and begins snatching up her clothes off the floor. "You don’t say the right things to calm me. Fuck, you manipulate my past to make them the right things! It’s all lies!"

"Sarah. I’m not lying about anything."

"I have to get out of here."

"You’re overreacting. Listen to me. I’m not perfect either," I call after her as she rushes from the room.

She begins shoving her clothes in her oversized purse. "How long have you known? Did you already know on my birthday when I went through Manda’s box?"

I nod and she chokes out a sob.

"Of course you did. You know you could have told me then. If there had ever been a f*cking moment to tell me that you knew my life story, that would have been it. Before I shared one of the most special moments of my life with a f*cking liar."

"I was worried you were going to react like…well, like this. I wasn’t ready to lose you." I toss my arms out to my sides in frustration.

"And what about now? You ready now?" she asks, snatching her keys off the table.

I step in front of the door to prevent from her leaving. "No! I’m not ready. And truth be told, I don’t think you’re ready either."

"Fuck you, Leo. You can stop pretending you know what I need."

"So what exactly are you mad about? The fact that I knew or the fact that I didn’t tell you."

"All of the above!" she shrieks, stopping in front of me.

"Please just talk to me. You aren’t being rational here."

"Bullshit. This might just be the most rational I’ve been since I fell under your spell." She pushes past me and storms down the stairs.

"Can I please have a goddamn minute to explain?"

"Sure. Build a time machine, because I’ve given you all the minutes you’re ever going to get from me."

She swings open the garage door and Johnson steps out of the guard station.

"Everything okay?" he asks.

Sarah starts to breeze past him but freezes just a few steps away. With a humorless laugh, she spins to face him and levels him with a glare.

"You son of a bitch. That was confidential! You had no right to tell him!" she yells.

Johnson shakes his head and turns to me. "I’m not getting involved in this. I highly suggest you start f*cking explaining things to her."

"He didn’t—" I start, but I’m immediately interrupted.

"You know what? I’m done. Fuck you both. Aiden, you’re an *. I never would have told him you were gay. Oops. I guess it just slipped." She spins on a heel and walks to her car.

She doesn’t spare another word for me. I watch helplessly as she drives from the garage. I want to chase her down the street, force her to listen to me, but I have a feeling none of that would help my case. I can’t fight with her until she cools off and is ready to listen. I’ll give her some time. I don’t believe for one second that Sarah’s really done, but more than that, I’m not done. She just needs to organize her thoughts. It’s going to hurt like a motherf*cker to sit back and let her figure this out. She doesn’t even have all the facts. But if it ultimately ends with her in my arms, I’m more than willing to endure.

"Well, that went well," I say to Johnson, who is suddenly enthralled with the cracks on the concrete.