“Thank you for the permanent scar,” he whispered, his voice broken and defeated. Without another word, he shoved his hands in his pockets and walked over to his car.

Cupping her hand over her mouth, a wounded cry escaped Emily as she watched him pull into traffic, his tires screeching against the wet pavement. With her heart sinking in her chest, she waved a taxi over. Hands trembling, she pulled the door open, slid in, and let the driver know her destination.

Tonight, sleep wouldn’t be either of their friends.

Tonight, loneliness, hurt, confusion, and pain would visit both Emily and Gavin.

Chapter Nineteen

Time

Gavin tossed his phone next to him on the couch after it’d rang for the twentieth time. Dillon was fast becoming relentless at this point, and Gavin didn’t give a flying fuck. Finishing the last bottle of beer in a six-pack, he mindlessly flipped through the television channels. The cool liquid slid down his throat, working its way into his body. However, the only thing he could taste or feel running through his veins was Emily. No matter how hard he had tried the last couple of weeks, Gavin couldn’t remove her. Nonetheless, he kept his promise. Though it desperately took every bit of self-control, he didn’t attempt to contact her. Still, that didn’t stop her from bleeding through every coherent thought or haunting every sleeping nightmare Gavin had. Emily morphed into an ache unlike anything he’d ever known.

The sound of the clock ticking away on the wall gained Gavin’s attention. He glanced at it and pictured Emily walking out of the church, considering it was the evening of her and Dillon’s rehearsal dinner. Gavin had no desire of letting Dillon know he wouldn’t be attending. None of it fucking mattered. He didn’t know how much more pain his heart could take and showing up at the church or the dinner would surely sink him further. Groomsman or not, he wasn’t going. In less than twenty-four hours, the woman he loved, the woman he saw a life together with, the woman he thought would hold his child in her arms one day would no longer be Emily Cooper. She would be Mrs. Dillon Parker.

All of it was more than Gavin could handle.

Standing from the couch, he made his way into the kitchen with every intention of cracking into a second six-pack. It was then that a knock came at the door. After pulling said six-pack from the refrigerator, he padded over to open it. Taken slightly off guard by his visitor, without saying a word, he walked back into the living room and settled himself onto the couch.

“You look like shit,” Olivia noted, entering the penthouse. “I may be wrong, and tell me if I am, but I’m pretty sure you have the funds to buy a razor blade. Has the man worth millions gone bankrupt?”

“You’ve never been short in the humor department,” he muttered, not looking in her direction as he continued channel surfing. “Shouldn’t you be at the rehearsal dinner?”

After dropping her purse to the ground, she peeled off her coat and scarf. “As much as you should be,” she quipped, flopping onto a leather chair. “You weren’t at the church, and you seriously don’t look dressed for the party. Come on, go take a shower, and I’ll wait while you get ready. Oh, and I’ll drive since it’s apparent you’ve been drinking.”

Shaking his head, he plucked a bottle from the six-pack, popped the top off, and took a long pull from it. He didn’t respond, but he gave her a look that was nothing short of threatening.

“What?” she asked in one of the most innocent tones he’d ever heard her exercise.

“Oh, give me a fucking break, Liv.” He narrowed his eyes on her. “You know I’m not going.”

She cocked her head to the side, her brown eyes wide. “Wow, Gavin, I thought you had a little more fight left in you. You’re a powerful man in every aspect of your life except for when it comes to this? When it comes to Emily, you just throw the towel in, huh?” She gave a casual shrug and crossed her legs. “Hmm, I guess I don’t know you as well as I thought I did.”

“Fight left in me?” he bit out. Clicking the television off, he tossed the remote onto the glass table, its piercing sound making Olivia jump. He rose to his feet. “Why the fuck would I fight for someone who doesn’t love me back? I’m fucked up over what happened. Believe me, you have no clue the ideas that have spawned themselves to life in my head the past few weeks, kidnapping her being one of them. I’ll love that girl until the day I fucking die, but I’m no fucking sap. Your friend’s a little more warped than I imagined.”

Olivia studied him for a moment as he paced the room back and forth. “Warped? You do realize who opened your door showing off pretty red panties the morning after you dropped Emily off, correct?” He shot her an icy look, but she continued. “She’s ripped to pieces, Gavin. You have a long history of fucking women and then leaving them. My friend’s hurt because you fucked around behind her back. Did you expect a different reaction from her?”

Raking his hands through his hair, Gavin squeezed his eyes shut. “I didn’t fuck around behind her back!” When he opened them, he could see the shock on Olivia’s face, but he didn’t give a shit at that point. “You may be correct on not knowing me as well as you thought you did, but you do know the uncaring animal that I’ve turned into the past few years. Why the fuck would I go to her job, trying to get her back? Why would I pour my fucking heart out to the girl? For a piece of ass?” He chuckled, but that chuckle held no humor behind it. Digging into his pocket, he pulled his cell phone out and tossed it to her.

“Damn, Gavin.”

“Damn nothing. Look in my contacts list. There’s no shortage of ass that’s eagerly available to me. It’s plentiful. I make a phone call, and I can fuck for days if I wanted to. Gina came here that night drunk, telling me her father died. Yes, maybe I shouldn’t have let her in. Yes, maybe I should’ve thrown her out onto the street like the animal she turned me into.” Letting out a defeated sigh, he sat back down on the couch with his elbows on his knees as he gripped his hair. “But I didn’t,” he whispered. “I didn’t, and now Emily’s gone. The girl I love doesn’t believe me because I was stupid enough to let the girl I used to love into my house. She fell asleep on my couch with her pants off. I didn’t even want to touch her to get her out of here that night because she wasn’t dressed. I didn’t want my hands touching her because my hands had just touched Emily.”

He lifted his head and looked directly at Olivia where she sat unmoving. “I love Emily. Fuck, I love her enough that I would do it over again—pain and all—just to hold her again. But I didn’t do anything wrong other than let Gina in. So, no, Olivia, it has nothing to do with me being powerful or throwing in a towel. It has everything to do with the fact that Emily doesn’t believe me, and most of all…she doesn’t love me.”

After a few seconds of noticeably trying to take in everything he had said, Olivia stood up and sat herself next to him. She placed her hand on his shoulder. “She does love you, Gavin. She—”

“Come on, Liv,” he interrupted, reaching for his beer. He finished it in one gulp. “She told me she didn’t. Do you need me to quote her words? They’re as fresh as fuck in my mind. Buzzed or not, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“I know what she told you.” She took the empty bottle from his hand and placed it on the table. “But I also know what she told me after you came to her that night.” He went to speak, but she silenced him with a classic Olivia smash of her fingers against his lips. “You’re correct that she doesn’t believe you right now. But you’re incorrect that she doesn’t love you. She said those things to you to try to hurt you the way she felt you hurt her. She’s been a mess, Gavin,” she whispered, her eyes soft. “Her nerves are shot. She’s been depressed, quiet, and throwing up over the whole situation. Even though she thinks she’ll be able to rid you from her mind and fall back in love with Dillon, anytime Dillon’s not with her, she’s crying…over you.”