Free Collateral Damage by Kaylea Cross

them. Tears glistened in her eyes and guilt slammed into him, upping the pressure of the vise currently crushing the tattered ruins of his heart. “How many times do I have to say I’m sorry before you believe it? That I acknowledge I made a terrible mistake and have done everything I know how to fix it? How can you just freeze me out after that and walk away from everything we had?”
    Hurt and resentment swelled inside him, mixing with the anger in a toxic, chaotic mess. “You walked away first,” he shot back. “That was your choice.” Then I made mine.
    It was a low blow, even if it was true. But he refused to feel guilty about it, even under the circumstances. He hadn’t wanted to have this conversation, but she’d insisted, and he wouldn’t lie to her about the way things stood.
    Honor’s chin came up, her tears evaporating as her eyes sparked with fresh anger. “I did,” she admitted quietly, her control merely emphasizing the loss of his own. “I did walk away and it was the absolute worst mistake of my life. I’m sorry , Liam. See? I’m a big enough person to admit it to your face. Are you?”
    He made a scoffing noise and glanced away, panic clawing at his insides as he felt his traitorous heart soften. He could not let her back in, no matter how sincere her apology seemed. He’d never survive the next time she decided to cut and run. “The truth is, you probably did us both a favor.” It’s what he’d kept telling himself all this time, but even to his own ears his voice sounded raw.
    “What?” At her stricken tone he couldn’t look at her because despite everything that had happened and the way she’d ground his heart into dust beneath her heel, some part of him still desperately loved her and wanted to be with her. “How can you say that?”
    Jesus. Liam resisted the urge to press the heels of his hands against his eyes. He didn’t want to hurt her further but she was giving him no choice because he refused to lie to her and give her false hope. “Because our issues would never have gone away and there was no getting around that. You know that as well as I do.” He’d just never wanted to admit it back when they’d been together.
    “You’re wrong, because they already have.”
    At the quiet sincerity in her tone his gaze snapped back to hers, the knot in his stomach twisting even harder at the grief and pain on her face. “What do you mean?” he couldn’t resist asking. Goddammit, why did he suddenly want to believe her so badly? Why couldn’t his stupid heart realize it was over and there was no going back?
    “I mean I made my decision clear to my family and now I’m living with the consequences.”
    His heart thudded in his chest, the bubble of hope a painful pressure beneath his ribs. “What decision? What consequences?”
    For a long moment she just stared at him, until he was sure she wouldn’t answer. “I told them I’d made a mistake when I ended things. I told them what I wanted, that I chose you over them,” she said finally. “And ironically, now I’ve lost all of you.”
    As her meaning penetrated the swirling fog of emotions roiling inside him, Liam could only stare at her in shock. He’d been desperate for those same words two years ago, and they’d never come. They were the last thing he’d expected her to say now. The seething anger drained away, only to be replaced with wariness. And guilt. Had he lost the chance to have everything he wanted because of his stubborn refusal to listen?
    Her lips twisted in a bitter smile. “You don’t believe me.”
    He wanted to. Stupidly, desperately wanted to believe that she’d been willing to change that much, that she wanted him enough to make that kind of sacrifice, but…
    She gave a humorless laugh and turned her head away. “Whatever. Think whatever the hell you want then, it doesn’t matter. Believe me, Liam, I’ve done my penance—a thousand times over. I’ve said my piece and laid myself bare to