Conviction (Consolation Duet #2)(18)

“But I am hurt.”

“Well, so am I.”

The silence lingers between us. Years of love and trust are gone. They’ve washed their way out into the sea, leaving behind shells of who we were.

Aaron blows out the candles, and I can’t help but feel like the light inside of him just went out too. He walks over, grabs the dishes, and starts to head inside. I turn toward the ocean and wait for the calmness it usually brings, but instead, I feel cold and alone. Both of us have had to deal with so much in one year.

The plates crash to the ground, and when I turn around, Aaron is already in front of me. He grips my face, and before I can say anything, his lips press against mine. My mouth stays still and he pushes hard. It’s painful, like this entire situation. He holds me against him as my hands shove against his chest, Aaron just holds me closer. His tongue sweeps against the seam of my lips, and I turn my head. As our lips break apart as he stares down at me.

“Why can’t you love me again? I would do anything for you.”

“Then tell me the truth.”

“You want to know everything?”

I stare at him, waiting. “I don’t think we can ever move forward if I don’t know everything.”

“I told you everything that matters.”

“That’s just it. Everything matters.”

“I choose you, Natalie. I’d choose you every day until the day I die. I want you. I need you. And I don’t know how else to make you see that. Everyone and everything else is in the past.”

“And so are you. You’re living in the past where I’m your doting wife. I lived the last year of my life knowing what it’s like without you. I found out the truth about who we were—hell, who I am. I’m not the same woman you fell in love with. I’ve changed.” I touch his arm and he flinches. “I’m not that girl anymore, Aaron.”

“Fine.”

“Fine?” I ask skeptically.

“It’s done, Lee. You want me to go back to her?”

“I thought it wasn’t about her?”

“That’s right,” he sneers. “It’s about Liam.”

I don’t say anything as he turns and heads into the house.





We don’t mention the kiss. We barely acknowledge each other’s presence. It’s awkward and it’s as if we’re walking on eggshells. I cleaned the stuff from outside while Aaron looked through photo books of Aarabelle.

“Do you want to sleep in the bedroom? I can take the couch,” I offer.

“No, I think I’m going to head to Mark’s. Maybe spend the night there. Jackson offered the condo he owns as well.”


“Oh,” I reply. I can’t fully explain why this bothers me at all. I should be happy, but it saddens me it’s come to this. He just got home, and I’ve already displaced him. “You can stay here, Aaron. I mean, if you want to spend time with Aarabelle. I know things are . . . strained . . . between us, but this is your home.”

“My home is where you are. You’re not here with me,” he says and then goes back to the picture book.

The reactions play out in my mind, but my mouth stays closed. I could tell him he’s wrong, but he’s not. I could give him false hope, but I won’t. “I don’t know what to say.” Which is the only honest thing I can reply.

He closes the book and I sit next to him. “You can say you’ll try. Maybe you can forgive me, see how much I love you. Are all the years of marriage worth so little to you?”

I look over as tears begin to fall, painting my face with the pain in my heart. “It was never easy for me to let you go. I struggled so much with it. Even at my angriest, I never wished you dead.” Aaron brushes the tears from my face. “But you hurt me so badly. Even if you had only slept with her once, you did it on one of the worst nights of my life. She loved you, Aaron. I could see it in her eyes. She came to your memorial.”

“She’s irrelevant to me. It’s you who has my heart. It’s you who has my world.”

I don’t acknowledge his statement, because right now, I don’t believe him. I know what it’s like to be someone’s world.

The bruise on the side of his face is starting to fade, and my hand reaches up to feel it. I try to remember what his skin felt like beneath my fingers. How his clean shaved face would allow the pads of my fingers to slide down with no resistance. The way our bodies would come alive at each other’s touch. His head leans into my hand as if I’m comforting him. How long did he endure pain? How much was he awake for, and how did he suffer?

“Did they torture you?” I don’t respond to his statement because all I can think about is his marred skin. The way the Aaron I knew is gone in every sense of the word. His body, which was once strong enough to lift me even when I was pregnant, doesn’t look like it could lift much more than Aarabelle.

His eyes close. “I can’t talk about that. I was badly injured and barely holding on. It wasn’t until the end that anything really happened, and then Charlie got word out.”

“But they hurt you. Why did she wait so long?”

Aaron grips my hands. “I think it looks worse. Remember I was in an explosion. Some of these are injuries that didn’t heal right. There was a medic on site of the extraction and he said I’m really lucky. She had a job to do, exposing me would’ve sacrificed everything she’d worked for. Her helping me was a huge risk. I respect her mission. I feel like I need to tell you something.”