The Lies That Shatter by A.V. Asher

Chapter Twenty-Three

She’d only been six minutes away.

Six bloody minutes.

Alec followed Noah into the house. The main door led to a small foyer. A staircase opened up to the right.

Noah stopped. “We’ve rented this entire place. Me and one of my guys are in the downstairs unit. You and Sadie have the second story to yourselves. When you’re ready to leave, give us a knock and I’ll take you wherever you want to go.”

“Aye.”

Noah gave him a quick salute, opened the door to his unit, and disappeared.

Alec was alone, the world muffled by his racing heartbeat. A thousand questions filled his mind.

How the hell was this supposed to go? What would he say to her?

What the fuck was he waiting for?

Alec took the stairs two at a time, his hand trembling as he reached for the door. He turned the handle and stepped inside, his gaze roaming the flat.

A small entryway lead to a living room and kitchen combo. Wide double doors were open to a balcony, the echoes of the ocean surf reached his ears. Cool sea air filtered through the room, billowing out the curtains with the current.

“Sadie?” Alec called, completely unsure of what he should do.

A movement from the balcony caught his attention, and Mercedes stepped into the room. She was still in the skirt and pressed white shirt she’d worn in court, but the stiff jacket was gone and her feet were bare.

Alec stood frozen in place. She’d stolen his ability to breathe. The green of her hazel eyes overtook the amber, and he felt her drinking him in.

“Alec,” she said softly.

Fucking hell.

He strode across the room and pulled her into his arms. Mercedes didn’t resist him, molding her body against his. She tightened her arms around his shoulders, nestling her head against his neck.

“You feel so good,” she whispered as she ran her fingers through his hair.

The fire he thought had died with her charged to life. Energy surged through him, blinding him with need. He was already losing himself in her touch. He burned for more of her. For all of her.

Alec turned his head into her, his cheek grazing her neck. Her breath caught as he nuzzled her, her fingers tightening in his hair. He trailed his mouth along her jaw, aching to hear that sweet moan she always made when he kissed her. When his lips brushed hers, she leaned away.

Disappointment coursed through him.

Her eyes were dark with desire. “Have you ended it with her?”

Fuck.

The veil of reality dropped over him. The tightness in his throat was suffocating. “No.”

Mercedes flinched and stepped out of his arms. “Okay.”

“Okay?” Months of depression and pain flooded through him. “Is that all you have to say to me?”

“What do you want me to say, Alec? You’re with someone else.”

“And why is that?”

Mercedes didn’t answer him. She walked a few steps away from him and crossed her arms over her chest.

“I’ve heard she’s nice.” Her voice broke.

The heat of anger rose through him. “Aye. She is nice. She wouldn’t let the fucking government tell me she was dead for nearly a year, destroying my world and my fucking sanity.”

Mercedes winced, her fingers tapping faster. “You’re angry and you have every reason to be. I’m so sorry for what they told you.”

“Well, they told me exactly what you told them to tell me.”

Her brow furrowed, and she shook her head. “I didn’t.”

Alec ignored the lie. “How could you do that to me?” His voice thickened with emotion. “How could you put me through that?”

“I didn’t, Alec. I swear.”

“I carried your fucking ashes to your funeral!” He was shouting now.

Tears gathered and slipped down her cheek. She opened her mouth as if she were going to speak but nothing came out. “I’ve been consumed with guilt and grief for you, so much that Declan and Cressida followed me everywhere for months, so I didn’t off myself.”

Her tears were flowing freely now, but Alec’s pain hadn’t finished unleashing. “You did that. You let them do that.”

Mercedes shook her head.

“I saw the agreement, Sadie. You gave them permission to fuck us over.”

“What?”

The confusion on her face angered him more. “If you loved me, you never would have signed off on that.”

“I do love you. And I didn’t sign off on anything. I’ve never lied to you.” At his scoff, she said, “Why don’t you believe me?”

“Because you’re a fucking ghost, Sadie!”

“I’m not,” she whispered. “I’m standing right here.”

“Are you?” Tears filled his eyes. “I don’t think I know who you are.”

Mercedes stepped up to him, her gaze holding his. “Yes, you do. You’re the only one who does.”

Christ, what the hell are you doing?

Mercedes wiped away her tears and pulled in a shaky breath. “I made the mistake of not fighting for us once before. And I told myself that if anything ever got in the way, I would go to war for us, if I had to.” She tilted her head and studied his face. “But I look in your eyes, and I can see that you’re done.”

The finality in her words brought him back to reality. “Sadie . . .”

“No, I get it. Why would you want all this when a normal life is staring you in the face?” Mercedes looked at her dancing hands. “You should have let me go at the hospital. It gave me hope, and I can’t rely on hope. I knew then, and I know now. I can’t give you the life you deserve.”

“Shit, Sadie . . .” Alec reached for her, but she backed away.

“You should leave.” Mercedes’s voice trembled as she spoke.

Anxiety raced through his body. He couldn’t leave her, not when he’d just gotten her back.

“Sadie, I . . .”

“Alec, please just go.” Her expression filled with torment, and he could see she was barely holding herself together. “I have court in the morning. And you have someone waiting for you.”

Alec fought the urge to beg her to let him stay, to give them another moment to work it out. But her face had become unreadable and withdrawn. There was nothing more she wanted from him.

“Okay, if that’s what you want.” At her nod, he moved to draw her into his arms for one last embrace. She stiffened, and he stopped.

As much as it tore him apart, he walked away. He wrenched the door open and looked at her one last time. She wiped her cheeks with the back of her hands, her gaze fixed on the floor.

Shutting the door quietly behind him, Alec walked down the steps in a haze of pain. He barely remembered knocking on Noah’s door.

When the big man answered, his deep brown eyes scanned Alec’s face. Then he sighed and pulled his keys from his pocket. “Where am I taking you?”

Alec was struggling to hold his composure. “To my hotel, downtown.”

The ride was a bit of a blur. Alec replayed their meeting over and over in his head. Misery crawling through each scene. When Noah stopped the car in the hotel drop-off area, Alec nearly asked him to drive him back.

Instead, he thanked him and got out of the car. Once he was alone, he looked up at the skyscraper, his pulse banging in his chest.

Alec pulled out his phone and dialed Declan’s number. He answered immediately. “Are you okay?”

“No,” Alec choked out.

“Where are you?”

“I’m at the hotel. I can’t go in.” He didn’t need to say anything more.

“Stay where you are. I’m on my way.”

After Alec hung up, he texted Kristin, letting her know he wasn’t with Mercedes anymore, but that he was going to stay at Luke’s again. She responded immediately, asking him to come to her room so they could talk. He knew he should, Kristin had to be worried sick about all of this. But he didn’t want to see her, especially not alone in her room. She’d want to kiss and hold him, and the idea of her touching him made his stomach coil.

He sat on a nearby bench and let the gravity of what had happened wash over him.

Mercedes was alive. He had touched her. Her scent lingered on his clothes.

But the pain in her eyes and the tremor in her voice haunted him the most. A stab of regret buried itself in his chest.

Alec had done the one thing he’d never thought he’d do. He’d hurt her.