Free OtherSide Of Fear (Outside The Ropes #3) by Ashley Claudy Page B

Why are you pushing me away? Do you not remember what it was like when we were apart? What could be worth that again?” I grabbed his hand from my face, holding it in my own, thumb running over the smooth, warm band around his finger—our promise to each other. I clung to it, to him, fear gripping me with the memory of the past.
    “I remember.” He closed his eyes and exhaled. When they opened, the new resolve shinning in them scared me, anchoring me in place. “And I’d keep you from all that. I don’t want you hurt.”
    Yanking my hand away, I pressed it to my chest and sat up straight. “You’re hurting me. You’re throwing me right back into that pain. But it’ll be worse this time because now I know what I’ve lost.” My head was swirling. I could pass out. “We made promises to each other, to be together through everything. That was only months ago. What has changed?”
    “I have.” He stood up, and the sudden shift made me fall back to look up at him. His throat moved as he looked around the living room, avoiding me. “It has to be this way. I’ll leave now, give you time to pack.”
    And just like that he pulled his emotions back in, sealed them up, and walked away, each step grinding on my heart. He walked to the bedroom, but I was stuck on the floor, too stunned to move. I hadn’t thought it would come to this, us splitting up. Not even when he left Vegas. I hadn’t thought this would be possible.
    And I still didn’t know why.
    All thought ceased. I rose to my feet and followed him to the bedroom, a woman possessed. My steps were quiet, I was floating. I stood at the doorway and watched him stand over an open case on the bed, fingers moving over the phone in his hand, and I snapped.
    He looked up as I yanked the phone from him. He hadn’t expected it and released it easily.
    I wanted to read what he was typing, but he was already grabbing my arm to get the phone back, so I threw it. It hit the wall with a thump and then bounced over the floor several times.
    “What the fuck?” He released my arm to step past me and retrieve the phone. Lifting it up, he showed me his shattered screen. “Look what you did?”
    I was back to trembling, but I didn’t care. I shrugged. “I don’t fucking care about your phone! I care about us. Why are you doing this?” I stepped towards him, and with every step he held himself higher, straighter, harder. “You want me to leave? Well until you tell me the truth, I’m not going anywhere and neither are you.”
    He narrowed his eyes, walking past me to his suitcase. “You can’t stop me, Regan.”
    Sprinting, I knocked his suitcase off the bed and kicked his clothes around the room. No sane thoughts emerged from the storm within me.
    “Stop.” He yanked my arm back, pulling me away from the suitcase just as my foot connected with a pile of clothes.
    Rolled up jeans tumbled across the floor. A stack of crisp hundred dollar bills and a brick of coke just as thick as the cash spilled out, tumbling over the floor.
    The air was sucked from the room, freezing us in the moment.
    Gage released my arm, scooping up his money and drugs in an instant. He lifted his suitcase, righting it on the bed, and began tossing his clothes and things back in it.
    “Is that what this is about?” I scoffed, gesturing to his case. It couldn’t be.
    He continued packing, not pausing as I spoke.
    “Are you really not going to tell me anything? You’re going to leave me now, with no explanation? How can you say I meant anything to you and do this?”
    His head bowed over the case as he zipped it up. “I can’t.” Squeezing his eyes shut, he took a few deep breaths, then lifted his case in one hand and turned. “I’ve got to go.”
    “Fine.” I stepped in front of the door, blocking his exit, my spinning emotions firmly settled on anger. “Don’t tell me. But I’m not going back to Dexter’s. I’m going to find my own answers.” I stepped closer to him, close enough to