I don’t say anything, so Jacey continues.

“If something doesn’t change, you’re going to end up sad and alone, Dominic. I don’t want that for you. It doesn’t have to be this way, you know. There’s something between us… and I know you can feel it too. We have the opportunity for something real, Dom, even though we’re pretending that we don’t. We really do.”

A sharp rap on the window interrupts her, interrupting the moment at the same time. A worker hands me the clipboard to sign out, and I scrawl my name. I fire my engine back up and drive toward Chicago and try to ignore my pounding heart.

There can be no more pretending now. Jacey just confronted things head-on.

We’re quiet now. Awkward. Tense.

I can feel Jacey staring at me from time to time, waiting for me to react to what she said, but I don’t say anything and she doesn’t either. As I pull up to the curb, I make no motion to get out.

“I’m sorry,” I tell her tersely. “I can’t do this right now. I’m tired. Good night, Jacey.”

I’m once again trying to delay the inevitable.

She starts to get out, but pauses, looking into my face. With a cool hand, she traces my cheekbone, and I fight the urge to close my eyes and lean into her hand. But I don’t. I remain rigidly in my own seat.

“Dom, if you ever want to talk about it, I’m here,” she says quietly. “I’ll never breathe a word to anyone, I’ll just listen.”

Her face is so sincere, so genuine… it’s all I can do to remember to breathe. She doesn’t ask for anything, she’s just concerned about me.

“Thanks for the offer,” I tell her. “But…”

“I know,” she interrupts. “But you’ll pass. Why don’t you come in, Dom? We don’t have to talk. We can just watch a movie or something. I don’t want you to be alone.”

I don’t bother telling her that I’m always alone, even when I’m surrounded by people. Instead, I just shake my head.

“Not tonight. I think I’ll just go. Happy birthday, Jacey. I’m glad you got to see your brother.”

Jacey hesitates, then gets out, closing the car door. She stands there, gorgeous and quiet in the night. As I stare at her, I know what I have to do. I swallow hard. If I don’t do it now, it will be too late and I’ll have crushed her.

For once in my fucking life, I’m going to do the right thing.

The decent thing.

“Jacey, I can never give you what you want. You want someone who can open up and discuss feelings, someone who will be an active participant in your life. That’s not me and it never will be. We need to pull the plug on this thing now, because once again, you’re falling for the wrong guy.”

Jacey sucks in her breath and she’s frozen for a second. But then she leans down, staring in at me, and there’s something pained in her eyes.

“What are you afraid of, Dominic? Really? What are you afraid of?”

I stare at her, long and hard, before I answer.

“Everything,” I admit.

And then I drive away.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Jacey

How is it that I’ve fucked up so badly once again?

I’ve opened myself up to someone who is emotionally unavailable and has more baggage than he can even keep track of. He’s detached. Distant. Unable to give me what I need, and, what’s worse, has never tried to hide it. He told me all along.

But still, I fell for him.

Still my heart breaks because he’s gone from me. Because I honestly thought that he was different. That deep down, he was a good guy and I could save him. Once again, I thought I could save someone who is apparently unsaveable.

I’ve done this to myself.

I grab a pair of boxing gloves and start swinging at a bag. I catch the attention of Jake and Tig and they come over to observe. Tig watches while Jake holds the bag.

My foot is still sore, so I can’t kick, but I take can out my aggression in punches—so that’s what I do, until I’m dripping with sweat and I’ve taken all of my frustration out on the bag. When I’m finally spent, Jake stares at me.

“Anything wrong, Jacey?” He’s hesitant, and I have to smile.

“That apparent?”

“Uh, yeah,” he answers. “I thought you were going to punch the bag off its hook. I’m just glad it was the bag and not me this time.”

I chuckle, but I don’t answer as I pull off my gloves. There isn’t a women’s locker room, so I have to wait to shower and change until I get home. After I grab my bag, I pass Dom and Joe in the hall.

“You heading out to California this weekend?” Joe asks Dom. Dom nods, and my heart breaks again because it’s a reminder that we’re truly separate now.

Separate lives. Separate people. We’re nothing to each other.

“Yeah,” Dominic answers. “And I know, don’t be late on Monday or don’t bother coming back.”

Joe chuckles, and part of me is happy that he is finally warming up to Dominic. But the other part of me is crushed because Dom barely looks at me. It’s been two days since my birthday, two days since Dominic broke things off. He’s been virtually silent ever since.

No texts, no calls, and almost no communication at work.

He’s like a wall… vast and silent.

Joe continues into his office, but Dom doesn’t turn around to talk to me.

Again.

Surprising myself, I decide I have to let it go. One thing I’ve definitely learned in life is that you can’t make someone love you. Or like you. Or want to be with you. It’s a lesson I’ve learned hard and well, but it doesn’t take the sting out of the rejection.

When Dominic almost reaches his car, I call out to him.

He turns around. He doesn’t say anything, but he looks directly at me, a question in his famous green eyes.

“Fuck you,” I tell him stoutly. Because even though I know I have to let it go, it still fucking hurts.

The corner of his mouth twitches, but he doesn’t answer. He just drops into his Porsche and drives away, leaving me standing here alone.

It seems fitting. It pisses me off even more that I can’t be mad. Dominic told me from the beginning not to get drawn in, not to get attached.

I’ll crush you without meaning to, he’d said. How he can’t see that Sin wrote that song about him, I’ll never know. He must be fucking clueless.

I sigh and head home to get ready for Saffron.

As I drive past a tiny little bar on the way, I glance at it, briefly tempted to stop. Not to get a drink, but to soak in the attention that I know I would receive there.

Seeing the eyes on me, the guys who would inevitably hit on me… it never fails to bolster my self-confidence and make me feel better.

But not this time. My hands grip the steering wheel and I force myself to drive past.

I’m going to break old patterns. I don’t need another guy to make me forget Dominic.

I don’t.

My heart hurts, but I’ve got to do the only thing I can, the healthy thing. I’ve got to keep going and keep putting one foot in front of the other, instead of dive-bombing into the nearest bed.

I can do this. I can stand alone.

Before I know it, all of this will be a distant memory…

Kaylie touches her lipstick up in my mirror and turns to me with her ass cheeks hanging out of her little Saffron shorts. Part of me dies inside, because I know that Gabe and Brand and even Dominic are right. This is no way to make a living. I have to admit that part of the reason I’ve worked at Saffron is to bolster my confidence.

It’s a façade. These guys lust after me, and it makes me feel like they really want me. They don’t. They want to fuck me, and there’s the difference.

I need to find my self-respect again, which means getting another job ASAP.

Kaylie scrunches up her nose. “So, let me get this straight. You’ve been hanging out with Dominic Kinkaide for weeks now. And you haven’t fucked him—although he took you to his Hollywood Hills house for an entire weekend? And now it’s all over and you aren’t seeing each other?”