You Will Be Mine..Again Ch. 04

"Where's mine?" Mara asked, looking at him.

"You know where the rest of them are," he said unperturbed, and she growled.

"I swear that's why I switched sides," she grumbled getting up and walking towards the counter.

Gale dove in, relishing in the fluffy eggs. She tried, unsuccessfully, to engross herself in her food so that she wouldn't be fazed by him sitting next to her.

"Good?" he asked, and she nodded. "I found this little diner. Imagine their faces when I told them how much food I wanted." He chuckled and Gale nodded.

"Um, what happened last night?" He paused. "After," she quickly cleared up.

"You fell asleep against me, and I carried you to bed. I fell asleep with you." She sighed. "Gale, you don't have to feel all weird."

"I don't. I mean, you just caught me when I was vulnerable and horny, that's it," she swore, clearing her throat.

Patrick's eyes widened and, to her surprise, he chuckled. "I caught you when you were vulnerable?" Gale couldn't even look at him; she kept her focus on her plate as she poked at the food. "Gale, come outside with me." He rose and offered his hand.

"I want to finish my food."

"Gale, come outside with me, now," he murmured, in a low, even tone that let her know he meant business.

She would go outside with him. Not because he told her to, but because she wanted some fresh air. Yea, she would keep telling herself that. She followed him outside and noticed the vein on the side of his forehead pop. Oh, he was mad. Good, anger was good. That way she wouldn't have to think about last night.

Once they were far enough away from the hotel, he turned to face her. "What do you mean I caught you when you were vulnerable?"

Though he kept his voice low and appeared calm, she noted that his vein jumped.

"We were talking about sex and everything. I haven't had sex for awhile, so, yes, I was a little horny."

"No, that's not you, Gale. You don't just give yourself to someone unless you want to."

"You're right, I wanted to."

"You wanted to have sex with me. Don't give me any bullshit about 'you just wanted to have sex' because you could have sex with any man, including your husband, but we both know you wanted to because it was me."

"Oh, don't be so proud of yourself," she offset, folding her arms underneath her breasts. "We just did what we did because we got caught up in the moment. Nothing has changed between us. We are not together, there isn't even an 'us.'"

"Gale, I regret everyday what I did to you. Every day," he reiterated, gravely.

"It's because you are guilty."

"No, because I was a coward."

Coward? What did he mean by coward? "What are you talking about?" she asked seriously, and he sighed rubbing the back of his neck.

Patrick knew he needed to tell her, but he didn't know how to say it without making it sound as bad as it sounded—was, now that he thought it over again. "Remember when you came to meet my family?" She remembered it very well actually. She'd been so nervous when she'd met them. His mother had been pretty nice, trying to calm her nerves down. His father however, he'd stared at her with no emotions and was quiet, too quiet. She'd felt like he didn't really care for her, but she hadn't understood why. And Patrick had told her not to worry about it.

"I told my parents about our engagement and my dad blew up. He didn't want me to marry you. I told him that I didn't care about what he wanted and that I was going to marry you. He threatened to pull my trust fund and kick me out the family. That was including the deposit we'd made on the house. He said he had friends here, so he could, and would, mess up any chance for a new position for you. He said he would leave us broke and with nothing if I married you."

Gale's heart stopped. "Why?" She felt her tears on the brink of falling.

"Gale, I don't want to..."

"Why? What did he say?"

He sighed, running his hand down his face. "He said, girls like you we bed, but we don't bring them into our world. He wanted me to marry the other girl because if our families merged it would be a great business deal."

Gale's lips quivered, but she wasn't going to cry in front of him. She'd be damned if she let him have anymore of her tears. She swallowed hard. Now it made sense. All those things that he'd spouted, it was from his father. She thought knowing why he'd truly left her would make her feel better, but it didn't.

"Gale, I'm so sorry. I didn't want to hurt you, but I couldn't let what you'd worked so hard for die. I wanted to give you everything that I could and take care of you. I couldn't take care of you with nothing. I love you too much to do that to you."

"But you could stomp on my heart, say those awful things, and marry someone else." She swallowed and Patrick looked like he was ready to die. Good.

"It's not like that," he tried to assure her. "I wanted to protect you." She nodded and started to walk off.

"Don't leave, Gale, please. I thought I was doing the right thing for you. I just wanted the best for you."

"Or was it the best for you? I know what it's like to be almost homeless and have no money. I had to help my mom take care of my younger sisters. Nothing about your money ever attracted me to you. What I felt was for you, the man. I mean, look at what you have built on your own and what I've built on my own. We could have done it because you had the drive to do it. I think I understand why you did it, but the right thing would have been for you to have believed in us."