Page 45 of Havoc's Fox
“Yeah, but I mean, you and me. Maybe we could spend a little time together.”
Analise gently placed her spoon in her bowl and sat back in her chair. She looked up at Havoc again. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.”
Havoc, to his credit, didn’t lose his shit. He just nodded. “Just as friends, you know? Harley really likes you.” He smiled. “She thinks you’re like her own warrior princess or something.”
Analise smiled sadly. “She’s a sweet little girl. You lucked out in the child department.”
“Yeah, I did,” he admitted. He waited until she looked up at him again. “There’s just so much left unsaid between us.”
“You think so?” she asked.
“Don’t you?” Havoc countered.
Christian who’d been sitting with Addie all evening, slowly stood up, thinking he might have to get involved if Havoc pushed too hard.
Addie looked up at Christian standing beside her, then over at the conversation that was starting to take center stage.
Analise didn’t even realize anyone else was invested in their conversation. Soley focused on Havoc, she shook her head slowly. “I’m very well aware of everything that happened between us, and why. I know what you did, and I know what I did as a result. I’m not sure there’s anything left to discuss, Havoc. There’s nothing that I’m not aware of.”
“Do you know how sorry I am?”
Analise shrugged. “Do you think it matters?”
“Do you know that I still dream of you?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she whispered, looking anywhere but at him and realizing the entire clan was silently watching them.
“It does matter, Analise. It matters. It will always matter.”
“Not a single thing can be undone. It’s all in the past where it should stay,” she hissed at him, focusing on him again.
“But we’re not in the past. We’re both sitting here, now, today,” Havoc insisted.
“I never thought we’d be in the same room again. I guess we lucked out that we’re able to see past all the… well, the past.”
“You’re not hearing me, Analise,” Havoc said.
Analise pinned him with a stare that left no doubt that she did indeed hear him. “Your daughter would probably like you to help her build her first bonfire.”
“We’re not finished, Analise. We’ll never be finished,” Havoc said.
“Havoc, we were finished the first time you chose anyone over me. It was done. And if it wasn’t, it should have been.”
“We were freaking kids. We shouldn’t have had to deal with all we did.”
“It’s not just the cheating, Havoc. It’s the lies, the deception. The selfishness. All you ever did was cater to you. What you wanted. What you needed. What you were going through. I didn’t matter. I was just supposed to standby and understand while you did whatever it was that you needed to make you feel like a man at any given moment. So I’m living my life now. I matter. To me, to those in my life, I matter. I only participate in the things that make me and those I love happy. The rest I leave untouched, it’s not worth even considering. The past is done. I’ve moved on. You’ve certainly moved on. Just let it be so that we might possibly salvage enough of a friendship that we can be around each other for the benefit of our families and clan if nothing else, without animosity.”
“I was an idiot kid. I didn’t think it would be forever.”
“I have learned one thing, Havoc. Everything happens for a reason. Maybe we don’t know the reason at the time it’s happening, but eventually we will. Make peace with it, I have.”
“I had no idea it would cost me the rest of my life!” Havoc said, his voice carrying through to the living room.
Christian and Brandt both started over but Bam stepped in front of them, cutting them off as he moved closer to the table Analise and Havoc were sitting at.
Analise saw her father moving closer, and she saw Christian and Brandt both move quietly up behind him. This was not going to turn out well if she didn’t stop it.
Analise smiled at Havoc, leaned toward him and pressed her hand to his. “It didn’t cost you. It made the rest of your life. If you hadn’t done all you did, you might not have Harley. And she’s worth it. If I had to survive all I did so that little girl could walk beside you all her life, then it wasn’t all for nothing. You’re blessed, Havoc.” She stood up and patted his shoulder in a lingering kind of way. “You’re luckier than most, my friend.”