And I felt fucking amazing, finally saying out loud to his face all the pent-up emotions I’d been holding inside, letting fester and grow, making me feel depressed and worthless, when all this time I’d had the power.
It was liberating.
“Go,” I said, gesturing back where he came from. “Be wildly happy with Alec or don’t. I genuinely don’t care. I gave you two years of my life and all you gave me back was heartache and crashing my moms’ wedding.” I shook my head, weight lifting from my shoulders already. “We’re done here. Don’t look for me. Don’t talk to me. You go your way and I go mine. That’s it.”
Gobsmacked. That was the only word to describe the look on his face as he stared at me in utter disbelief. His gaze traveled behind me briefly before meeting my eyes again, but I didn’t give him a chance to respond. I turned and headed back up the stairs, snatching up the blanket on my way.
I opened the cabin door, completely forgetting that Beckett was still asleep?—
Only he wasn’t.
He stood just inside, wearing nothing but his boxer briefs and a look on his face that made my breath catch.
He’d heard.
His eyes moved over me, assessing, checking to make sure I was okay. Then they shifted past me, toward Peter, and his face hardened in a way that had my cock reacting.
I hadn’t needed saving this time, but damn, there was something deeply satisfying about a man who would’ve shut that shit down if I’d asked.
“Good morning,” I said, smirking slightly.
“Morning.” His voice was calm, but it was at direct odds with the tension in his body as he stared Peter down, daring him to say something else.
I didn’t bother looking, having said everything I needed to and pushing Peter out of my mind once and for all.
The sound of retreating footsteps finally hit my ears, and as Beckett met my gaze again, his entire face changed. Pride was evident in the spark in his eyes and the way his mouth curved up on one side.
And for once, I didn’t make a joke to fill the space or feel the need to explain myself.
Beckett stepped closer, still silent and watching me like he was seeing something new and liked it too much to hide. The heat in that look slid over my skin until it warmed my insides, and I dropped the blanket I’d had clutched to my chest.
I was suddenly aware of his clothes on my body, the way he was practically naked in front of me. The fact that I’d just told my ex to go to hell before walking straight back in here to the man who’d helped me remember I was worth more.
Beckett reached for me, hooking his finger in the waist of the track pants and tugging me forward. I went without hesitation, knowing already from the look in his eyes that the conversation outside might have ended, but whatever was about to happen between us had only just begun.
24
BECKETT
I’D NEVER BEEN prouder of someone I had no right to want this much.
Sawyer stood in front of me wearing my sweatshirt and track pants from last night, his cheeks flushed, eyes still sharp from what he’d just burned to the damn ground outside.
And make no mistake, he’d burned the last of his relationship with Peter to ash.
I hadn’t heard all of it, but I’d heard enough. Enough to know Peter had finally pushed too far. My instinct had been to go out there, but Sawyer hadn’t needed me. Not for that. He’d stood there in my clothes and handed that man every ugly piece of himself back.
That victory belonged to Sawyer, and I wasn’t about to take it from him.
Peter’s footsteps faded down the path, and Sawyer didn’t look back. That might’ve been the thing that did me in the most. Not the words, not the fire, not the way he’d cut clean through Peter’s bullshit, but the fact that when it was over, he’d come straight to me.
His chest was rising and falling a little too fast, all that adrenaline still flowing beneath his skin, and I drew him incloser.His hands landed on my bare chest, still cool from being outside, and my stomach tightened beneath his palms. Of course he noticed, because his mouth curved.
“You heard.” Not a question.
“Enough.”
“And?”