of his is a sucker punch to the gut, and I jerk out his hold, my blood on fire. “Is that why you’re here? You thought I was with another guy?” I throw out my middle fingers to him. “Screw you! You don’t want me, but no one else can have me either?” A strong sigh escapes my lips, and I groan, fighting to restrain my tears.
He winces at my truth, and with hesitation, he comes closer. I shiver as his thumb tenderly brushes my cheek, ridding me of the tears I’m fighting to stop.
“You’re beautiful.” His voice cracks, the stench of whiskey escaping his mouth. “So damn beautiful and pure, so fucking full of light.” He squeezes his eyes together. “I’d kill that inside you, do you hear me? I’d burn you out, be another person in your life who failed you—something you never deserve.” He caresses my cheek, moving down to my jaw before tipping his head down and kissing a tear away. “I wish I were a better man for you,” he says against my skin. “Someone who’d help you shine, but all I’d do is put you out.”
I wrap my hand around the back of his head, holding him in place, and he rests his forehead against mine.
“Why are you so convinced you’d put me out?” I whisper. “That you wouldn’t be good for me?”
“I destroy everything. It’s who I am.”
I pull back, and this time, it’s me cupping his face, his scruff abrasive against my palms. “Whatever it is, I can deal with it. I will deal with anything for you.”
“You can’t.” He shakes his head and releases a heavy breath before pulling away, causing my arms to fall limp at my sides.
As I peer up at him, I read his eyes, and they tell me everything I need to know.
He’s not here to be with me.
I take a step back and hold out my hands. “No, this isn’t fair to me anymore.”
“Georgia,” he says around a sigh.
“It’s not fair!” I scream. “You can’t keep showing up when I’m trying to move on! Stop railroading your way back into my heart, only to crush me over and over again.”
“I’m sorry,” he whispers.
“You’re sorry?” I snort, shaking my head. “That’s rich. Tell me your truths, tell me what has you so shaken up that you’re afraid to open up to me, to give us a chance?”
He stares at me, more defeated.
I scoff, now staring at him in disdain. “Enough. We’ve played this game for too long. I’m done.” A hard sob escapes me. “Just set me free! Let me go!”
“Georgia,” he pleads, stepping closer. “Come back to my cabin with me—”
My hand connecting with his face echoes through the empty street.
His eyes are shut as he processes what happened, but he doesn’t flinch.
Doesn’t feel his face as if it didn’t faze him.
“Really?” I shout. “You came here for a booty call? Do you think I’d ever do that again after what you did?”
“I’m sorry,” he says, pained.
“You’re not,” I hiss, pushing him away from me. “You’re never sorry, Archer. From the beginning, you’ve done nothing but play with me. Fuck you.” Shove. “And your games.” Shove. “And your bullshit.” Shove. “And your lies.”
“Georgia. Please,” he begs.
“No.” I dash up the stairs and turn to face him. “I’m done.”
He’s saying my name as I swing open the door and walk in, tears pricking at my eyes as I lock the door behind me.
Grace is waiting and pulls me into her arms as I sob into her shoulder. She leads me into the living room, and I collapse on the couch.
Lola walks in, holding a bottle of vodka. “Time to drink away those feelings for him, babe.”
I take a shot, wishing it’d erase him from my brain.
I take another, wishing I’d never parked and blocked him in.
I take another, wishing I’d never asked him to leave the bar with me.
25
Archer
“Set me free.”
“You’re never sorry.”
“I’m done.”
I shut my eyes.
Georgia’s words have been replaying in my mind.
Haunting me.
Rubbing guilt inside the wounds already inside me.
It’s what I wanted all along, right?
For Georgia to decide she was done with me.
When I’d made the mistake of asking her to come back to my cabin, I’d succeeded in doing what I’d wanted to do when I found out she was Cohen’s sister.
Make her never want to see me again.
The problem is, what I wanted then isn’t what I want now.
While that moment helped heal her wounds, her scars of us, it only stabbed