She harrumphed and patted me awkwardly where her hand rested. “I didn’t like the looks of him for you. Something about that face just screams more trouble than he’s worth. I’ve made enough mistakes in the men department for both of us, Royal. Trust me when I say you’re better off without a man like that holding on to your heartstrings.”

“That’s ridiculous and judgmental. You don’t even know him.” He was so much more than a pretty face. The complexities that lived under his artful façade were anything but attractive and that’s what I liked the most about him. His ugliness made him even more beautiful.

“I know men like him and have been victimized by a pretty face more than once in my times, Royal. Your father didn’t win me over with sweet words and grand gestures. He was the most beautiful man I had ever seen and that blinded me to the fact he was married and everything else that was wrong with our relationship. You can do so much better for yourself. I wouldn’t tell you that if I didn’t think it was true, honey. All I’ve ever wanted is for you to be happy.”

I hiccuped on a sob that was trying to force its way out and had to blink to see through the tears that were clinging to my lashes. I hated that both of them had suddenly decided that there was something better out there in the world for me than what I wanted … which was him. “I don’t want better. I want him and he does make me happy, mostly because he lets me make him happy.”

She said my name again, but I was in a daze. There were clues I knew I was missing, a trail of breadcrumbs leading to my broken heart, but I couldn’t focus on anything other than the pain I was feeling to try and follow them. I was shattered, and when I wasn’t I knew I was going to be absolutely furious with myself for taking such a big risk when I knew the outcome was bound to destroy me.

I opened the door Asa had just exited my life through and walked numbly to my car. I wanted to do this night all over again. I wanted to smack Asa in the face for causing a disastrous end to our union simply because he couldn’t help himself. I wanted someone to hold me and tell me this was all a bad dream.

I was going to Dom and then I was going to break down in a blubbering mess to try and figure out how things had gone so horribly wrong in the blink of an eye.

CHAPTER 17

Asa

I had told Rowdy months ago, when he was struggling with putting his feelings for Salem in order, that men who sacrificed, who gave of themselves for others, deserved every bit of happiness the world saw fit to set at their feet. I had only had Royal for a minute, a fraction of a second, but it was time that would matter more to me than all the years and decades I had wasted being a selfish and reckless bastard. What she had created within me was far more powerful and enduring than all the things I had destroyed on my own. For once I had done the right thing without thinking, without latching on to the easy way and just riding out the lie. There was no instinct to pretend—there was only the wish to protect the girl I knew I would love forever. She saw me, all of me, and none of the faces I wore scared her. Because of that, I would never let her know that her mother, the only parent she had, the woman that had raised her and loved her, had also propositioned me for sex. I would be the bad guy in this scenario where I had ultimately done nothing wrong and save Royal the heartache that dealing with that particular revelation would undoubtedly cause. I could be a hero for once even if she didn’t know that’s what I was doing.

It’s funny. It took breaking my own heart and walking away from the one thing I had ever really wanted for me to finally be able to see that I really had moved beyond the guy I had always been before.

Royal had called me every night since I walked out on her at her mom’s place. She never left a message, never texted me or showed up at the Bar, but every night when she knew I was off of work, she called and I stared at the phone, fighting with myself not to answer. I knew she was hurting, confused, and lost. Nash had been by to rip me a new asshole. Even quiet and shy Saint had swung by the Bar to let me know she thought I was an idiot and a dipshit. I didn’t defend myself, couldn’t explain why I had to walk away from Royal even when I had just realized she was what I wanted forever. So I just took the lashes, letting everyone think what they wanted, even Rome, who felt like it was his job to give me the third degree and tell me what an obviously horrible mistake I was making. I put them all off, told them all it was doomed from the beginning, and that I couldn’t believe anyone was surprised that my relationship with the beautiful cop had crashed and burned. I told them she wanted too much, that meeting her mom and pretending to be a normal guy in a normal relationship situation was too much for me. I wasn’t cut out for it. I maintained to them all that when you had lived a life like mine, good things were not part of the equation, and those words tended to shut everyone up. There were too many questions with answers that I couldn’t give, so eventually I just stopped talking about it altogether and the gang got the hint and left me alone about it.