Show Me the Way (Fight for Me #1)(94)

I choked over a cry, and he kissed me deeper. The only thing I wanted to do was succumb.

Get lost in this man.

In his presence and his power and his overwhelming heart.

Another ripping sob tore from my throat. Unstoppable. Wounds fresh and raw. Too much. “It hurts so bad, Rex. I didn’t mean for it to. I thought I was over it. Bigger than it. And it’s right there. I don’t know how to handle what happened. It’s just . . . I think about it and it hurts all over again.”

Framing my face in his hands, he edged back, confusion a flash across those striking features. “What are you talking about, baby?”

A car engine churned to life from across the street. A reminder of who we were and what we were battling.

I could hear the car crunch on gravel as it backed up, accelerate when it took to the street.

Janel. I knew it was her. It only made me cry harder.

“Janel,” I hiccupped over her name.

He looked over his shoulder. “I’ve been outside pacing your lot for the last hour. I came home tonight, thinking that was the only thing I could do. Condemn myself. Walk away from you and pretend like this thing we’ve got doesn’t matter. I almost gave in because I thought it might be the right thing to do. But it’s not, Rynna. It’s not, because you and me? We’re what’s right. I’m not willing to settle or turn my back or act like I’m not dying for you. I walked out on her and right to you. And this whole time, I’ve been trying to get up the courage. Trying to find the words to convince you that we’re what’s right. Please, Rynna. Please put me out of this misery. I can’t lose you. I can’t lose you, too.”

“Janel.” Another whimper, and I knew I wasn’t making any sense, because none of this situation did.

“She doesn’t matter to me, Rynna. I promise you. Yes, I was waiting for her all those years. Stayed loyal because I had some messed-up notion that one day she was going to come back, and it was on me to keep our family intact. And then there you were, Rynna. My second chance. You changed everything. You became my loyalty. My heart. You and my Frankie. That’s all I need.”

“Janel hated me, Rex. She hated me so much. And what she did . . . I don’t know how to get past it. Forgive her and move on, because I know she’s going to be a part of Frankie’s life.”

He jerked back, holding my face tighter. “What?”

A ramble of incoherent words slid free. “Janel . . . she was the one who hated me so much. I think I pushed you away, clung to your omission, because of her. Not sure how I could handle the fact that the two of you had been together. So I tried . . . tried to hope that she’d changed. For your sake. For Frankie’s sake. But I don’t—”

“What did you just say?” Rex’s words were a growl, menacing and fierce. His demeanor shifted in a flash. From pleading to completely on edge.

“Janel. Janel’s the one who’s responsible for what happened to me. She set the whole thing up. She had Aaron pretend like he wanted to date me. I didn’t know she was your wife, Frankie’s mom. I didn’t know until I opened that door.”

Rex blew back like he’d been struck by a bomb. “Aaron? Aaron who?”

I blinked at him. Aaron didn’t matter in the end. “Aaron Reed.”

Shock blanketed his face before it turned into panic. He began to pace, back and forth, ripping at handfuls of hair. “Fuck. I knew it. I fucking knew it. I knew it.”

I reached for him, his frenzy breaking into mine. “Calm down, Rex. What’s wrong?”

“Aaron Reed used to be my business partner.” His head shook through his stupor. “He and Janel . . . they acted like they didn’t know each other. But he was at the bar with me across town the night I met her. He was the one who’d suggested that bar to meet up at after work. He was the one who noticed her . . .” Rex whipped around, grabbing me by the arms. I wasn’t sure who he was steadying—me or himself. “He pushed me toward her. Told me to go for it. That she looked exactly like my type. And Janel . . . she was instantly all over me. Like . . . she’d been expecting me.”

He pulled away, back to gripping fistfuls of hair. “They were together the whole time, weren’t they?”

Rex punched an aimless fist into the air. “Fuck. They were together the whole goddamned time, and I didn’t have the first clue. Or maybe I did.”

His gaze dropped to the floor, his head shaking as if he were adding it all up. “When Aaron was arrested for embezzling from the company, there was something off. I got this feeling . . . this feeling that there was something more to the whole thing. That he couldn’t have been acting alone. All those documents that had been tampered with. The money that had gone missing.”

“Oh God.” I pressed my hand over my mouth.

Rex looked at me. Panic streaked through his expression. “She left the day before he went to jail, Rynna. He got his sentence, and I thought things were finally going to be okay, and then I got home to find Janel leaving me.”

“Oh God,” I said again. “Aaron . . . he was outside the diner this evening. About a week ago, too. He said something about me getting in Janel’s way.”

Rex stared at me for a beat before his eyes went wide. Then he was bolting out the door and flying across the street.