Paris
I HURRIED TOWARD the elevator and stabbed at the button over and over until I could hear the car arriving.
“Paris, come on. I’m sorry,” he shouted. “I was a dick.”
I turned around and tears started streaming down my cheeks. “Yes you were. And for the record, my father died last night. I came here this morning because I needed you and instead I find you passed out on the floor.”
He rushed toward me, his beautiful features etched with remorse. “Fuck, Paris, I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you.”
I needed him.
I hated to admit it, but I needed him.
Why did he have to be so reckless?
Despite my agitation over his poor behavior and self-destructive path, I fell into his arms and sunk into his embrace.
“What’s going on down here?” asked a female voice that wasn’t mine.
I jerked my head toward the stairs just as Sophie Barton took her first step toward us. She was wearing nothing but a lace bra and thong, her long, bare legs all I could see.
I felt sick.
Cheated.
Scorned.
I had no idea what she was doing there and right then I really didn’t care.
This was high school all over again.
Tyler and his reckless behavior with no regard for who he annihilated on his path to self-destruction.
I think whatever parts of my heart had been repaired, broke apart right there, splintering into irreparable pieces.
Hurt and angry, I looked up at Tyler with nothing but disappointment in my eyes. “How could you?”
Disappointment—it was the story of my life.
He looked shocked to see her and started shaking his head. “It’s not what you think.”
I pushed away from him and stumbled in disbelief. “I don’t want to hear it.”
Gently, he tried to grab my hand. “Paris, listen.”
Quickly pulling his dog tags from my neck, I tossed them at him and ran as fast as I could into the open elevator.
The doors started to close, and through the crack between them I saw Tyler rushing for me. “Don’t go, Paris. I love you.”
Finally, he’d said it, but it was too late.
“I love you, too,” I thought as the car descended but disappointment was all I felt.
I sagged against the wall. I knew we would end. Knew it all along. Knew Tyler and I would never have a happily-ever-after.
Stupid, stupid, stupid girl.
Out in my car, I took a deep breath and then put the vintage Jag in drive. I saw Tyler running out into the cold in only his boxers before I pulled away.
I didn’t stop.
Didn’t want to hear a word he had to say.
Disappointment was all I felt.
Refusing to look in the rearview mirror before I turned the corner, I gripped the wheel tightly.
The disappointment I felt was my own fault. I’d set myself up for it just like I had my entire life.
Those damn expectations.
I should have left the bar low and never allowed myself to get invested in him. I’d let my guard slip, but he’d never lowered his wall.
I needed a do-over.
And I was going to get one.
With a coat of steel, too.
Tyler and his screw-ups were his own, but I wasn’t going to let him off the hook that easy.
This time Daddy wasn’t around to banish me and I wasn’t going anywhere.
Tyler and I were still married, for the time being, anyway, but the dynamics between California Jane and Highway 128 were about to change.
It was time for me to put my big girl panties on and take control of what was mine.
Hey, you know what they say . . . all was fair in love and war.
Wasn’t it?
TO BE CONTINUED . . .
Stay tuned for the final volume of Tyler and Paris in ReWined Volume III.