As Alek’s anger slithered into a pocket in his heart and scabbed over, a cold chill swept through him that had nothing to do with the December night. How the fuck had he buried Sheppard so deep that he hadn’t even thought about him in the last couple of hours?
Maks clapped him on the shoulder. “Of course, she couldn’t come to you. It was human nature for her to want to hurt you back. I’d have fucking killed you, probably twice, for inflicting pain like that on me. I’m sorry, but as much as I love you, even I can’t make light of what you did. With a particular type of woman, I understand having to resort to something harsh to get rid of them. But Sacha? No. We know it, and so do you. You’ve always known it, and that eats away at you because there’s nothing you can ever do to change how hard you hit at her. Seriously, she’s fragile enough that all you had to do was tell her your feelings had died, and she’d have believed it. That’s kind of sad considering the truth is you’d give your life for hers.” He paused for a second. “Am I getting through to you? Because I’m tired of talking.”
Alek stared out at the sprawling grounds beyond the garage. They were miles from any other homes. The moon wasn’t full, but it was bright enough to bounce off the patches of snow and illuminate the area. Wandering over, he made a snowball from the fluffy white stuff hanging over the lip of the empty fountain. When he tossed it up, it rained down in a powdery mist after it hit the top tier that was shaped like a huge leaf.
“I’ve been trying not to think about the smile that was on her face when she walked into my office that night. It wasn’t her usual I’m-so-happy-to-see-you. It was different. Vibrant. It was fucking electric.” He kicked at some ice and nearly drown in the regret that rose in him. His fading anger was making room for the pain. Something he’d been trying to avoid. “Now that I know what it was about—a fucking baby, Maks—I…” He shook his head, at a loss as to how to describe how much more tragic it made something already so unbearable. “I ruined one of the most incredible moments of our lives, and I can’t change that.”
How would she have told him? What would she have said?
“All of you think Sacha is this docile, fragile little thing who can’t take what life throws at her. She’s not, you know. She’s strong, like Sydney said, and resilient. Think about it. Her parents—the only family she ever had—get killed. She grieved, and then stepped up and got past it. On her own, she moved to the other side of the world to start a new life. She hooked up with me, feared who we are, yet got past it. I fucked her over, left her pregnant and alone, yet, once again, she was getting passed that, too.”
“Careful, brother,” Maks murmured. “You make it sound as though you actually respect her.”
“I do. I respect the fuck out of her, and couldn’t have asked for a better mother for my daughter.” He shoved his hair off his forehead and turned. “That doesn’t mean I’m not fucking furious at what I mis—”
His gaze clashed with Sacha’s shocked eyes. She stood still as a statue a few feet away from a self-satisfied Maks.
“F-forgive my interruption,” she murmured as she moved to the limo. She fumbled open the door and bent to reach for something that was on the floor. Lekzi’s diaper bag was in her grip when she straightened. “The baby needs to be changed.” Away she scurried, head down, hair hiding her face, her ass looking downright edible in those yoga pants.
“You’re such an asshole,” he murmured to Maks though his attention remained on Sacha. The moonlight glinting off the caramel highlights nestled in her sable hair was gorgeous. “Sacha,” he called before she could reach the door.
She stopped on a dime and looked back over her shoulder. He felt the punch of that shy look through his entire system because it was the same one she’d given him when he’d had her bent over the table in her apartment. She’d been so wet. So ready for him. She’d have taken him and he’d have filled her body. He would have loved her so fucking hard.
“Yes, Alekzander?”
He blinked into focus to find her waiting on him while he fucked her in his head. “Nothing. Go on.” He didn’t even know why he stopped her.
Something skittered across her face, but he couldn’t identify it in the fifty feet separating them. And then she was gone.
“Asshole or not, she needed that,” Maks said in a pleased tone. “Did you see how surprised she was to hear you respect her? As the mother of your child, that knowledge should always be a given. She still has no idea how you feel about her, does she? But then, she never did.”