Status: Complete

Before the Fall

Ch. 17

He was frozen, rooted to the ground. He couldn’t speak, couldn’t think. All he could do was stare at her, especially when she looked up at him with those expressive green eyes.

“Nace,” Faye whispered, then broke down, suddenly sobbing, and put her arms around him. He unfroze and returned the embrace, shutting his eyes tightly, lost in the scent and feel of her. She clung for some time, crying while he comforted her.

And so it was several minutes before she noticed the gorgeous redhead standing behind him. Faye composed herself, rubbed her eyes with the heel of her hand.

“Oh, sweetie, you must introduce me to your friend,” the girl said with a sneer. Faye froze. Sweetie?

Nace’s insides turned cold. “Faye, this is my fiancée, Tanya. Tanya, this is Faye.” Oh, this was bad. This was worse than he could have ever imagined. He’d dreamed of this moment, of seeing Faye again, since the day she’d left. But not like this. Faye still hadn’t moved a muscle, but he could tell that she was breaking down inside.

Nace did the only thing he could think of. He pulled a fifty dollar bill out of his wallet and handed it to Tanya. “Go buy yourself something.” She gave him a dazzling smile, one that would probably send countless guys into ecstasy, and strode away, hips swinging. Nace didn’t so much as look at her.

“You knew my parents would do this, Faye,” he reasoned, putting his hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t touch me. Don’t even look at me. Just go,” she choked before her knees gave out. She looked up at him from where she knelt on the ground, looking more pitiful than he’d ever seen her.

“Faye, don’t be like this. Do you think I want her? I don’t. But what else can I do, when the girl I love won’t have me? You walked away from me, remember? You left me.”

“I did. You’re right, I did.” Faye wouldn’t look at him, instead staring intently at her hands, which she was wringing miserably. “I’m a fool.”

Nace tried for a cocky grin, but failed miserably. “Well, I am quite the catch.”

“You are, you are,” she moaned, putting her head into her hands. Nace waited for those seven deep breaths she normally would take, but she wasn’t moving at all. She wasn’t breathing, wasn’t twitching a muscle. Finally, when he was sure she had passed out, she looked at him and inhaled, exhaled. “I’ve been such a fool. And now I’ve lost you.”

“You don’t want me,” Nace reminded her, though it killed him to force the words out. He hated seeing her this way, but his heart was speeding recklessly. Hope, in that moment, was like adrenaline.

“You’re wrong. I want you more than anything. I told you, I was a fool. I didn’t realize, didn’t know that I love you. I didn’t know what I was doing, how stupid I was being. And now it’s too late.”

She looked wretched, but Nace couldn’t hold back a grin. “No, it’s not too late. Don’t ever think that. Stay with me now. Come home.”

“I can’t. Not when she’s sharing your bed. The whore.” Faye looked as angry as she did miserable now, and stopped wringing her hands, opting for clenching them, instead.

“That she is,” Nace easily agreed, thinking that jealousy suited her. Faye froze again, then laughed, and kept laughing.

“Look at us! We’re ridiculous!” she giggled. Nace laughed a little, too, but it was pained. She still hadn’t said the words. And hope, impossible hope, was starting to choke him.

“We are. Please. Stay with me. I’ll get rid of her. You know I never wanted her. It was always you.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard sweeter words. I will. I don’t think I can leave you again.”