Leveled: A Novella (Saints of Denver #0.5)(97)

“Why are you so mad at me?”

His expression turned vicious. He stepped out of the car and stood a foot away from me. “Why am I mad?” He glowered. “Why am I mad?” He blinked a moment before throwing his arms out and shouting, “You left me!”

Uh…what?

His jaw ticked. “You didn’t even say goodbye, just packed a bag and ran. You left me. You left us,” he panted. “I loved you.”

My heart sank. “I loved you, too. But when push came to shove, you didn’t show me at the time I needed it most. Your mother said some vile things to me, and you said nothing.”

He dipped his chin, shaking his head. “I was a kid, Mina. You were my girl. She was my mom. We both knew what we were doing was wrong. Why else would we have kept it hidden? We knew we shouldn’t have been doing it, but we loved each other. Nothing else mattered.” He sighed. “If you’d have just given her some time to cool down… She was shocked.”

I gritted my teeth. “I was seventeen years old. She called me a tramp. She had hate in her eyes. And you…you wouldn’t even look at me.” I told him the honest truth. “You were a coward.”

His hands came up to rest on his hips. He nodded slowly. “Yeah, maybe I was. But I would’ve given up everything for you. I loved you that much. I would’ve dropped everything. My football scholarship, my family, none of it mattered. If you just asked me to pack a bag, I would have come with you. We could’ve been together,” he finished on a whisper.

“You don’t know what you’re saying,” I told him. “I would never wish the life I’ve lived upon someone I loved. I wouldn’t even wish it upon someone I hate.” I leaned against his car and looked out into the street. “I was starving, James. Literally starving before Lev busted me stealing his brother’s wallet. I wasn’t ready to die. I just wanted to get something to eat. Stealing that wallet turned out to be the best thing that happened to me. It changed my life.”

James huffed out a breath, leaning on the car in the space next to me. “I would’ve always provided for you. You never would have gone hungry if we’d done that together. But you didn’t give me the opportunity.”

I changed the subject. “I heard you got divorced.” I turned to him. “What happened?”

He looked at me, those baby blues full of sadness. “I was still in love with another woman. My wife resented that so she left me.” He blinked slowly, reaching out to take my hand. “It’s only ever been you for me, Mina. Only you.”

His hand was warm on mine and a sudden rush of emotion hit me. I squeezed his hand and spoke quietly, “You need to move on, James.”

“Like you’ve moved on?” he uttered sternly as he released my hand.

I nodded. “I moved on seven years ago.”

He puffed out a long breath. “That sucks.”

No, it didn’t suck. It was wonderful. I had Lev, and he gave me things no other man could, not even James.

There was nothing more to say. I held out my hand. “I hope you find what you’re looking for, James.”

He took my hand, shaking it lightly. “I already have, but she doesn’t want me anymore.” He shrugged. “That’s life, I guess.”

It was life, unfortunately.

Just when I moved to let go, James pulled me forward so quickly that I was thrown into his body. His arms came around me and his lips came down on mine hard.

Wide-eyed and my body rigid, my mouth remained slack as he groaned into my lips.

Well, that certainly brought a new definition to the saying ‘stealing a kiss’.





Chapter FortyThree

Mina



The rest of the afternoon went off without a hitch. Maggie and John apologized for James’ abrupt departure. They apologized even more so for what happened that night seven years ago. I told them that it was long forgotten and that I wished them well. And best of all, Maggie left a moment and came back with the leather-covered photo album I’d left behind. Flicking through, I could see it was untouched apart from some new additions at the end where Maggie had added some photos of us as a family. I couldn’t wait to show the photos to Alessio. We left close to five p.m., and Maggie asked if we could get together sometime for lunch. I hugged her tight and told her that I would love to, even though I was somewhat sure that wasn’t going to happen.

As we drove home, Lidi fell asleep, which gave me the perfect opportunity to speak to Lev without distraction. “What did you think about Maggie and John?”

He thought about it. “I think they regret causing you pain. They seem like nice people.”

“And James?”

His jaw tensed. “He was an ass.”

I agreed in a sense, but now I had to tell him the awkward part.

“He kissed me today.” I turned to look at him. His hands had tightened around the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles turned white. “After I followed him out, we had it out. He was angry with me for leaving. He told me he was still in love with me. That it was why he got divorced.” I paused before landing the biggest blow. “He told me to leave you today and asked me to marry him.”

At the last part, Lev turned to me, his face slack. He gathered himself before clearing his throat and asking, “And what did you say to that?”