“W-What?”
“I have been home for two hours.” She then opened the front door. “Get. Out.”
His jaw hardened and he dropped the duffel bag on the floor. “Not a fucking chance of that happening.”
“You don’t get to tell me no. This is my house. Get the hell out of it.”
“You don’t get to dump me without telling me why,” he yelled.
“Oh, now we’re in a relationship? How convenient you suddenly remembered.”
He didn’t even know how to argue with her right now. She was making no sense. “Of course we are. What have we been doing the last month?”
“Hell if I know.” Her shrug even had a cold edge to it. “Fucking? That’s all you said you were capable of, and tonight you proved it in spades.”
Of all the men he’d ever taken a punch from, Julie’s words had the power of all them combined. Dazed, he stepped back. “What the hell did I do that has you so upset?”
“The fact that you can’t even see it is the issue, Tommy. How long did it take before you realized I was gone?”
“I tried calling—”
“Thirty minutes ago! I’d been home for an hour and a half. I left, and you didn’t even notice.
Not that you noticed me before that, mind you.”
Had she really been gone that long?
“Did you know I talked to Brody?” she asked.
“What the fuck was he doing there?”
When her shoulders slumped and she closed her eyes, he realized that had been the wrong answer.
“Get out,” she whispered.
“Julie, just listen.”
Opening her eyes, she charged forward, her calm appearance shattering, and he finally saw just how angry she was. Her chest heaved and fury jerked her motions. “No! I’m no longer going to listen to you or my stupid heart. The one time I let it take control, the one thing I knew would happen, sure enough, it happened.” She pointed her finger at him. “I allowed you to hurt me, just as I always knew you would. I told myself not to trust you, but did I listen? Oh, hell, no.”
“What are you talking about?”
“For a fighter who makes his living anticipating his opponent’s next move, you’re pretty damn clueless, you know that?”
He flinched back. He didn’t know this Julie, who was so hurt she was going out of her way to hurt back.
She laughed, a short, hollow sound as she raked her hand through her hair and stared at the ceiling. “I am such a fool. I thought you’d changed. But no, you’re still the same old good-time Tommy. The man who gets so wrapped up in the lifestyle, he only thinks of himself.”
“I have changed.”
“No, you haven’t.” The words were said so calmly, with so much conviction behind them, he realized that whatever he’d done tonight had destroyed everything.
“You’re the same Tommy, and I’m the same idiot Julie. The little fool in love with a man who has always put the party before anything or anyone else. I’ve already gone down that road with you once. I refuse to do it again.”
He felt like he’d been slammed to the ground. Stunned. Unable to breathe. “Y-You love me?”
She sent him a disgusted look, but if the disgust was meant for him or herself, he couldn’t tell.
“I’ve been in love with you since we were ten years old, Tommy Sparks. It’s only taken twenty-three years, but thank God I’m finally over you. Thank you for helping me move on.” She stepped back to the door and motioned with her hand. “Now get out before I call the cops.”
He took a step forward, swallowing hard. “Julie. I love you, too.”
“Yeah, well. You have a real funny way of showing it.” Dead eyes met his. “Did you even really want me there tonight, or did you feel obligated to ask me because you had secretly started calling me your girlfriend?”
“I wanted you there. I wouldn’t have asked you if I didn’t. What’s this shit about secretly?
You’re my girlfriend. Period.”
“Really? Is that why you hadn’t told Mike…or anyone else at the gym we were even dating? Is that why you spent the entire night totally ignoring me instead of being proud to have me by your side? Is that why it took you an hour and a half to realize I was even gone?”
Silence descended between them. Tommy struggled to find words. But it all came down to one thing: Julie was right. He’d been completely submerged in the moment. He’d been entirely content just knowing she was there, having no clue that, with his inattention, he was hurting her more and more with every passing second. And his utter failure rang clear. He’d made her feel totally unwanted—when nothing was further from the truth.
Julie jetted out a breath. “That’s what I thought.”
“No. You don’t understand.”