On Dublin Street The Bonus Material - Samantha Young Page 0,40

taught me?”

What, Liv? Give it to me. Hurt me like I’ve hurt you.

“You taught me to believe in myself all the way through. You taught me that I’m worth more than what I see in the mirror. So today, as you try to teach me the opposite lesson, I say fuck you.” She smiled through the tears falling down her cheeks. “I deserve to be loved. All or nothing.”

Christ, she was magnificent. His girl had come along way. And she was one hundred percent right.

There was no way he’d ever deserve her.

But that didn’t mean he wanted to lose her from his life and Nate didn’t need to be a genius to know that was where this was going. He had to save their friendship somehow. He had to remind her he wasn’t a bad person, that he hadn’t meant to trick her into feeling… so much for him. “Liv, I never made you any promises, you know that.”

It had the opposite effect of what he wanted. It only infuriated her. “Stop playing dumb. You’ve been in this with me for the last six weeks! This wasn’t just a casual fuck, Nate. It’s me!”

She was slipping… slipping through his fingers.

Just like Alana.

“You promised…”

Liv sagged, stumbling back from him wearily. The urge to reach for her was so great he had to clench his hands into fists at his side. “You’re right, I did.” She nodded, lifting those beautiful eyes of hers. The accusation in them burned him. “I didn’t expect you to blur the lines, though. We blurred the lines. At least I can admit it. But if you admit it, you have to admit what a selfish bastard you’ve been, and I don’t think you’re going to do that.”

Finding himself afraid more of her hate than of her love, Nate attempted to make her see sense. “You’re wrong. I admit it. I thought we could be best friends and have sex. It didn’t work. And I kept coming back and making it worse because I didn’t want to lose your friendship. I’m sorry. But you know me. You know I don’t do relationships. You know that. Don’t hold it against me. Just be . . . my bloody friend.”

The look of incredulity on her face chipped at another piece of hope. “I just told you that I’ve fallen in love with you.” She started crying harder.

Nate’s whole chest and gut seemed to be shredded. That pain only worsened when she said, “You expect me to be able to be around you now?”

He was losing. “Liv, don’t do this.”

“I have to. I’m sorry. For the sake of my sanity I have to. You walk out that door, Nate . . . if you walk out that door . . . don’t ever come back.”

Fuck, fuck, fuck! “You don’t mean that.”

Her sad eyes tore through him. “Oh, come on. You just told me you don’t love me and you never will. I doubt you’ll even miss me.”

Babe, you have no idea. He’d never begged a woman for anything in his life before, but to keep Liv, he was throwing his bloody pride out of the window. Surely, she had to see that that meant something. “Olivia, don’t.”

She grew still at his plea, her eyes searching his face. “I love you, Nate. Do you love me?”

I can’t. You’d ruin me.

He couldn’t give her what she wanted.

An unbearable grief gripped him and he couldn’t fight the tears that sprung to his eyes. This was it. He’d lost her. “I never meant to hurt you, babe.”

Fresh tears spilled down her cheeks. “I guess that was goodbye.”

13

Marco’s POV - The Truth

Fall FROM INDIA PLACE

The sounds of the site often played in his head as Marco tried to sleep at night. It became a buzz of machinery, men yelling, and harsh, loud noises that could dull over time with familiarity. But working construction meant always being aware of your surroundings and what each noise meant.

Marco watched as his boys carefully took hold of a window that had been craned up to the third level of the building they were constructing. He gave Andrews, the guy operating the crane, a chin lift in acknowledgment of a good job, and was about to head up into the building to oversee the window fit when he heard a male voice yell in the distance, “Marco? Where the fuck is Marco D’Alessandro?”

His whole body tensed with the unmistakable aggression in his seeker’s voice. He turned and began making his way