She flinched.
And he sighed. Took a breath. “I get it. I do. I just... I just wish it had turned out differently this time.”
The words hung between them like smoke from an explosion.
“Skeet—”
“We’re too different,” he said, stepping back to put physical distance between them. “Too many goals pulling us in opposite directions. I can’t change you, and you shouldn’t have to change for me.”
“So that’s it?” Her voice cracked on the words. “One mistake and we’re done?”
“One broken promise,” he corrected. “But yeah. That’s it.”
“Fine.” She lifted her chin. “Just stay out of my way.”
“You gotmeinto this mess.” The unfairness of the accusation stung, but he was past caring. “You make reckless choices that hurt people who care about you.”
Her mouth opened. “I make the choices I have to?—”
“Yeah, well, I’m done.”
Her eyes filled.
He looked away.
“Right.” She picked up her camera. “I guess I should have expected this. I’m the fool here.”
“Clearly we both are.”
Her footsteps echoed as she ascended the stairs, followed by the sharp slam of a door.
Skeet stood alone in the room, staring out into the night.
“Dude.”
West’s voice came from the top of the stairs, where he and Ham stood watching Skeet like he’d lost his mind.
Maybe he had.
“You want to tell us what just happened?” Ham asked as he came downstairs.
Skeet looked at the men who’d become his brothers, who’d watched him fall apart over a woman who’d never really been his to begin with.
“I need some air.”
He walked past them toward the front door, ignoring their concerned voices, their offers to talk, their suggestions that maybe he was overreacting.
The Bangkok night hit him like a sauna. He started walking with no destination in mind, letting his feet carry him away from the Airbnb and the thousands of shards of his stupid heart, bloody on the floor.
His phone buzzed with texts from the team, but he ignored them all.
He just started to run.
And refused to look back.
TEN
Skeet had simply run out into the night.