In a voice thick with panic, she croaked, “Mark, what are you saying?”
Instead of shying away, he faced her fully. His eyes were sad, but there was also a determination there that scared her to death. “You’re such a beautiful person, Angel—both inside and out. And I feel more for you than I could have ever imagined. If I didn’t, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. But I do, and I can’t let someone who I care so much for suffer because of me. And that’s what it would be. I can threaten and lay down the law at every turn with my parents, but eventually they’ll manage to get you alone and unload some more vile accusations on you. With me, you’ll never get away from that. You’ll bounce back and forth from one bad situation to another. Eventually, you’ll grow to hate me for doing that to you, and that would kill me, baby.”
With tears rolling down her cheeks, she cupped his face as she shook her head. “No—baby, no. I could never hate you. God, I—I love you. I would deal with anything as long as we’re together. Please . . .”
He put his hands up, rubbing the tears from her face with his thumbs, only to repeat it again as they continued to fall. “Shhh, Angel, don’t you see it’s because I love you that I’m doing this? Baby, parts of my life are ugly, and they’re not going anywhere. One of the things that I love so much about you is that you’ve always seemed so bright I could have sworn you were lit from within. But after my parents left this morning, that light was so dim that it was almost nonexistent. And I won’t be the one to extinguish it forever.”
“Mark,” she cried, “you don’t have to do this. I can be stronger. They just surprised me today. I promise you, I’ll be okay. Just—”
“But you shouldn’t have to be,” he interrupted. “That’s the point here, baby. They’ll always catch you by surprise because you can’t and shouldn’t have to plan to be attacked.” Before she could argue, he lowered his head and locked his lips on her. Even as she responded to the frantic touch of his mouth, she knew it for what it was—good-bye. He was sitting here with her after professing his love, but he was already gone. Men like Mark didn’t make decisions lightly, and he’d decided to sacrifice his happiness, thinking he was saving her own.
He got to his feet and lowered her back into the chair. “Denny’s here to take you home. He’ll have your car delivered later. He’ll give you his card so that you can call him if you need anything at all.” Then he drove the final arrow into her heart. “Take care of yourself, Crystal.”
I’m no longer “Angel” to him. He’s letting me go.
She reached out and grabbed his hand before he could walk away. “Don’t do this to me—to us,” she begged, as she tossed her pride aside.
For a brief moment, she saw past his blank expression to the pain that blazed from his eyes. He cupped the side of her face, stroking her cheek. “Can’t you see, baby? I have no choice. This is hurting me too, but it’s better this way. I’m giving you a future of happiness and laughter instead of a life spent looking over your shoulder.” When she opened her mouth to protest, he put a finger to her lips, silencing her. “Don’t, Angel—this is hard enough already. Please just go with Denny.”
“I love you,” she whispered as he pulled his hand away. He closed his eyes and looked unsteady on his feet as he walked away.
Crystal was dimly aware of Denny showing up at some point and helping her into the car. He cursed under his breath, and she had no idea if it was directed at her or Mark, but she couldn’t find it in herself to care either way.
As she walked numbly down the hallway toward her apartment with Denny keeping a firm hand on her back, she was surprised to see her sister standing in front of her door, looking at her in concern. “Mark called me,” Ella answered her unspoken question as she got closer.
Crystal winced before focusing on finding her key in her purse. Ella took it from her hand and opened the door. Denny followed them inside and insisted on doing a walk-through of the apartment before coming back to her with a card in his hand. The look of sympathy on his face was almost her undoing. “I don’t need that, Denny. I’ll be fine,” she insisted as he tried to give her his contact information.
He put his hands on her arms, pulling her gently against his chest. “I know you will,” he murmured, “but humor me anyway. One night you might need someone to buy you a beer while you talk about what a dumbass my cousin is.”