I looked up at him, holding on to something fragile and impossible to name. Hope, maybe. A sliver of it, already cracked down the middle.
I hoped he would say one thing for me.
Just one thing.
"It's not what it looks like."
That would have been enough. Enough to prove that the years I'd spent loving him, giving everything I had, weren't completely worthless.
But he didn't.
He rushed past me and pulled Aileen behind him, shielding her with his body.
His voice dropped. Gentle. Tender.
"Are you okay? Don't be scared. I'm here."
It was a softness I had never once heard from him.
Then he turned to me. Shoved me so hard I stumbled backward.
His voice came out vicious, his finger jabbing at my face.
"What the hell is wrong with you? Get lost! I'm telling you right now, you and I will never happen. Aileen is the only woman I love!"
His eyes looked like he wanted me dead.
The pointed fingers, the shouting, the contempt from every direction. Each one was a knife sliding between my ribs, and the pain was blinding.
He wrapped his arm around Aileen and her son, guiding them away, shielding them like something precious.
Aileen glanced back at me over his shoulder.