Things We Never Said (Hart's Boardwalk #3) - Samantha Young Page 0,119

you hear me? You’ve never known what it means to be a good man so how could you possibly recognize it in anyone else? You have no honor. And you have no right to demand anything of Michael considering the shit you’ve put him through. Never mind whether you’re proud of him … what have you ever done to make him proud of you?”

Still reeling from hearing her tell his father—his father, not him—that she loved him, Michael’s reaction time was slow. His father had already grabbed Dahlia around the wrist, to spit a retaliation in her face.

One second his father was in front of him, touching Dahlia, the next his face was slammed down on the bar top and Michael was clipping him into cuffs. “You’re drunk,” he said loudly enough so the patrons would understand why he’d gotten physical. His heart hammered with rage. “You can spend some time in county jail getting sober before you get your ass in your car and leave.”

Then he leaned down to whisper darkly in Aengus’s ear, “You ever touch what’s mine again, and that includes Mom, I’ll fuckin’ end you.” He pulled him up, and his dad struggled against his hold.

“Want me to hit him?” Cooper looked like he’d take great pleasure in it.

Michael smirked, but he knew it was more of a snarl. “How about just letting me put him in your office until I can get a deputy out here. I need to get to that trailer.”

Cooper nodded, and Michael shuffled his dad, who fought all the way down the hall. He shoved him inside, and Cooper locked the door behind him. His dad’s drunken yells followed him down the hall.

Fuck, he was shaking.

“You okay?”

“What? Him?” Michael shrugged and then lied, “I stopped letting him get to me years ago.”

“No, I meant Dahlia.”

He glared at the door that would lead him back out to her. “Woman fucks me up.”

Cooper was sympathetic. “Been there.”

Bracing himself, he walked back out into the bar and tried to ignore Dahlia’s big, concerned eyes. In fact, he brushed right past her and out the door. He didn’t think he could talk to her without yelling. Plus, everyone was gawking.

Everything Dahlia said to his dad was great, but she should’ve said it to him. Which made him question the validity of it.

Was it pity?

Did she say that all out of fuckin’ pity?

“Michael!”

He kept striding down the boards. There was too much pain he needed to stay locked up right now, and Dahlia had a habit of opening the door to it.

“Michael.” She grabbed his arm, and something split open inside him as he spun to face her. Her beautiful face was taut with anguish. “Talk to me.”

“About what?” he bit out. “About that awful fuckin’ scene in there? About you facing off to that drunken dickwad because you felt sorry for me?” He bent his head to growl his ire in her face, “I don’t need your fuckin’ pity.”

She was aghast. “It wasn’t pity. It was the truth.” She grabbed at him, but he shrugged her off. A mulish expression fell over her features. “I realized today that what I said to you this morning … it’s … I have to fight it. I was just tired of always feeling guilty, and I thought to be with you would mean always feeling that way, but I need to let that go. I know I need to let that go. Michael, it hurts more to be without you. So much more.”

Everything she was saying should’ve meant everything to him. It was what he wanted. But his dad’s voice was ringing in his head, and now the last few weeks looked different than they had yesterday. What had been a determined pursuit of the woman he loved seemed more like a dog scratching at the door for scraps.

Now he questioned everything.

Did she love him like he loved her?

Would it always be a struggle to be with her, to get her to open up to him?

Would she always make him feel like he was failing … like his dad made him feel?

“I have to go,” he muttered. “I’m on duty.”

Michael was a little woozy, a little light-headed, as he turned to walk away, but he knew she’d let him go. He knew she wouldn’t fight.

“Michael.”

He faltered, hesitated at the plea in his name.

“I know what he said hurts. I understand better than anyone, so when the pain of that awful scene fades away, when you can see me