“Because I care about you,” he retorted, fists clenched by his sides.
“Care about me?” I seethed. “So you cared about me while you were screwing that whore?” Crossing my arms over my chest, I glowered, “Well, if you care about me so much, then where the hell have you been this whole past week? Texts and phone calls don’t mean shit when you betray someone like that. You should have been here, making things right. Why the hell haven’t you been here?” My voice sounded more desperate with each spoken word. Tears stung my eyes as I tried to fight them back.
Chris’s feet were spread apart, fists clenched, heaving breaths causing his chest to rise and fall quickly. “I have been here! I’ve been here all along.”
I snorted, rolling my eyes at him. “Oh, really?”
“Yes, really,” Chris countered. His jaw muscle pulsed as he gritted his teeth
“Really?” I asked again, throwing my hands in the air and looking around as if I were searching for him, but coming up short. “Well, then where the hell have you been? Because I sure as hell haven’t seen you anywhere!” My chest heaved a lot more than I wanted it to. I didn’t want to show him how broken I was or how much he’d hurt me. I didn’t want him to know he’d affected me at all.
But Chris must have seen it written all over my face because he lunged toward me, pushing me back against the bar. Face to face, his nose was inches from mine. He pressed his hand against my chest where my heart slammed beneath it. His eyes were wide, penetrating mine, while his breaths came hard and fast. With a husky tone in his voice, he said, “I’m here, Salem. Right fucking here.” He wrapped his other arm around my waist, clinging to me as if his life depended on it. His breath was hot against my ear as he whispered, “I’ve always been right here.”
I glanced down at his hand over my heart. I wanted to believe him. It felt so good to be in his arms again. I wanted to melt into his arms and never let him go. And yet, at the same time, I wanted to pluck him off of me like a deer tick on my skin. I loved him and hated him simultaneously. Clutching him, I buried my head in his chest, breathing in his strong masculine scent. In that brief moment, my love for him betrayed my hate, and the intensity of my anger started to wane. I glanced down at his hand and felt safe and secure because, there he stood holding my heart, just like he’d done the last few months.
His eyes were glassy as he held me in his arms. He reached up, cupping my face in his hands and gently kissed my forehead. Dragging his lips softly across my skin, caressing my cheek as he brushed by, he made his way down the side of my face toward my ear. “I’ll always be right here, baby. I’m so sorry I hurt you, but I swear on my life I will never hurt you again.”
Just then, with his reminder of why we were there in the first place, the lid that I’d put on the pot of my emotions flew off, and my rage boiled over.
Tears burst from my eyes. “Why?” I roared, louder than I expected to. “Why did you do that to me?” I pounded an angry fist into his chest. “Did that night at my house and all this time we’ve spent together mean nothing to you?” Before I knew it, I was pounding against his chest repeatedly, over and over with every desperate plea for an explanation. “Why did you tell me you love me then hurt me like that? Why? Please tell me, why?”
“I’m so sorry, Salem.” It was all he could muster as he took every blow, allowing me to project my hurt and anger out on him. When my energy was spent, Chris wrapped his arms around me. “Come on,” he whispered. “Let’s get out of here.”
My heaving breaths came hard and fast as I tried to get a handle on my rage. Suddenly, realizing how out of control I’d gotten, I buried my head in his chest, humiliated by my maniacal outburst.
He looked at Paige, who was wide-eyed with shock over the scene she’d just witnessed. “I’m sorry,” he muttered.
Paige, dumbfounded, stammered, “You’re… Chris… King…”
Chris smiled warmly at her. “Yeah. I get that a lot.”
Snapping out of her trance, Paige giggled, clasping a hand over her embarrassed grin.
“Do you need a ride?” he asked her.
She shook her head. “Oh, no it’s okay. I stopped drinking a while ago, and I only had one. Thanks anyway.”
“You sure?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow.
She nodded resolutely. “Yeah, I’m fine. I’ve just been sipping water and keeping my eye on her.” She glanced out the window at Damon, who already had his arm around a beautiful blonde and was laughing it up with Charlie. “Harmless flirting. That’s all it was,” she said, trying to defend me.