Page 59 of Wild Heart

Time passed—I didn’t know how much—and I eventually decided I needed to return to the festivities. So, I took another minute or two to clean up my face and make myself look presentable again. Then I unlocked the door and opened it.

Tate was standing there, looking horrified, devastated.

I looked around, noting we were the only ones there. So much for not having to be alone with him.

“Years. For years, you never got my name. Why this year?”

“I didn’t mean to upset you, Ava.” He sounded tortured, like this hurt him more than it hurt me.

“Why would you get me that gift?”

“Why not? What should I have gotten you?”

Shaking my head, feeling wave after wave of disbelief and sadness wash over me, I said, “Because it implies there’s something more here than we both know there is. You should have just gotten a coffee mug or something like that.”

“So, something not special?” he questioned me.

“Exactly.”

“Why?”

My eyes narrowed on him. “You know why.”

“Ava, I want to fix this between us.” His voice was in tatters. He was pleading with me. “Please give me the chance to make things right.”

“I’m not ready for that. I can’t handle that. Not now. Not yet.”

“When?”

I swallowed hard, taking in the sight of his handsome face. “When it doesn’t hurt to look at you and know I’ll never have the life I always dreamed of having.”

He stepped forward. “Why can’t you?”

Tears filled my eyes. “Please don’t do this.”

“Do what?”

My throat ached, my voice barely a croak. “Tate, I’m begging you. Please let me heal from this.”

“I’m trying to make that happen.”

I held his stare, a single tear rolling down my cheek. “And I’m asking you to stop.”

Swiping at my cheeks, I turned and walked away, ignoring the way my heart yearned for me to step forward into his arms.

16

TATE

“Can I talk to you?”

That voice.

That sweet voice being that close to me and saying those words was wholly unexpected. My body tensed as I attempted to discern if I was imagining things.

When my head tilted slightly to the side, and I saw her standing there, looking at me with sorrow in her eyes, it was a wonder I could remain standing.

As much as I hated seeing the sadness in her expression, I was relieved to no longer see the disgust and contempt for me, or worse, the fear.