But she wasn’t a fool. It was like a vacation fling. She’d had her fun, but it wasn’t a life she could have. She’d worked so hard to get out from beneath Tanner’s thumb, and even now, years later, she still wasn’t fully free.
She couldn’t turn around and risk it all again. It just wasn’t the life she wanted.
So Trent, Garrison and Connor had driven her back, not arguing when she’d said it was time for her to go. The set of their jaws and lack of conversation said they didn’t like it one bit.
She sat in the front passenger seat, her legs to the side, out of the open door. Connor stood beside her, outside the car.
“So, it’s safe?”
He nodded and pressed a new set of keys into her palm. “Good as new. Slider has been fixed, all the locks replaced, and we had a camera system put in.”
“And the blood?” She gulped as she struggled to not think about the sight of Spike there on the floor.
“Already handled. Got a good cleaning crew who handles such things to take care of it all. The house looks just like it did before.”
She pressed her lips together, trying to talk herself into going in, into doing what she needed to do.
Because she didneedto, right?
“We could come in," Garrison said. “At least walk you in, maybe even stay the night if you wanted.”
And that tempted her so much. She could say yes, lean on them, make everything so much easier. They were always willing to help her, to take her burdens.
Except that wasn’t fair, not to any of them. She’d made her choice, and no matter how much it might hurt, she couldn’t drag this out any longer.
She shook her head. “It’s probably best if I do it myself.”
Connor caught her chin, bringing her gaze to his. “You decide what you want—you always have. We’ll go, but you know, you can always call.”
She nodded. “I know.”
Trent spoke from the back seat. “We’re at the club most weekends, you know, if you ever want to come visit?”
Connor cut him a sharp look, but Trent looked as sorry as he ever did—not at all. “Just making conversation,” Trent said.
Garrison let out a sigh, as if he couldn’t blame Trent but also wished he’d behave better. “You want to get back to your real life—I get it. I just want you to remember that what we had wasn’t so bad, either. You don’t have to give up your life to add us in. Why don’t you just call us, huh? Maybe we can stop in, visit? Even go on a date, like normal people?”
She blew out a slow breath, because while sheknewwhat she needed to do, walking that path was a different thing. Telling them they were done was something far harder than knowing it in her head.
“You don’t have to know right now,” Connor rushed out, as if he saw the hesitation on her face and would rather leave with a maybe rather than a no. “We’re not going to call you, won’t pressure you. It’s got to be up to you.”
Sunny slid from the car, her feet hitting the dirt and reminding her that Connor was a lot taller that she was. Still, he didn’t reach for her, didn’t crowd her. She moved past him, forcing herself to walk even though it was the last thing she wanted.
Still, this had all been temporary, right? It had been to try this out, to test something during the time they had to be in her life anyway.
Now she knew.
She refused to look over her shoulder, to see them sitting there, because she knew that if she did, she’d never leave. She would see them and doubt the choice she’d made.
And she really needed to go. Sunny needed to let go of this insanity, to go back to what she’d had planned.
At least this way they wouldn’t see how much it hurt her to leave.