Page 3 of Love Me

I jut my head back in surprise. “What about me?”

“It’s my fault you don’t have that job offer waiting for you after you graduate next semester.”

“Fuck that job,” I say through gritted teeth. “You think I would still want to work for that family after what that son of a bitch did to you?”

Her ex.

Slater Cullen.

The bastard who dared to put his hands on her.

His family is well known in the field of architecture. I was supposed to go to work for their company once I completed my degree. Since I put their son in the hospital, that deal is off the table.

Due to my family’s influence, I got away with only a few years of probation and some anger management classes.

“But you’ve been blacklisted,” she replies. “And for some reason, you won’t take the job your uncles keep offering you at Townsend Real Estate.”

I tighten my fists at my sides. “It’s complicated,” I tell her.

She shakes her head. “It’s not. I have to move to New York to start my career and make connections so that I can open my art gallery within the next five years. That’s how I’ll pay back the sacrifices my mom made for me. And my dad.

“I owe them this. To stand on my own. And I won’t be the weight on anyone I love anymore.”

She looks me directly in the eyes as she says this.

I know what she’s not saying. I step away from her. That dark cloud of anger that comes over me when it feels like life is spiraling out of my control takes over.

This is the real reason she’s leaving.

My inability to control my anger, the rage that sometimes takes over. Like when I put her ex in the hospital.

I inhale deeply, trying to get enough oxygen into my lungs. It’s useless.

She’s leaving.

And I know it’s not solely because of this new job opportunity.

It’s because of me.

She’s blaming herself, but the truth is, this is my fault.

She feels like a burden because of me. My uncontrollable temper got us here.

The words of my biological father come rushing back to my mind.“You’ll never amount to anything.”

He was never one to mince words when it came to how he felt about me.

A mistake.

An affair baby.

An accident he never wanted.

All things he would tell me when my mother wasn’t around. Though I've only seen him a handful of times since I was young, his words stick.

“Diego?” Monique calls, pulling me out of my thoughts.

I look over at her.