Chapter 62

- WARD -

I push myself up on my elbows and look down at her. She shakes her head and smiles, and if somehow that'll disguise the fact that she has tears on her cheeks.

"What is it?" I ask softly, brushing my thumb along her jaw.

She shakes her head once more, and when she looks up at me again, I see that familiar guilt in her eyes.

"What?" I continue to stroke her cheek, but my stomach clenches before she's even said a word.

"You shouldn't have come with me," she whispers. "You shouldn't have given all that up for me."

And there they are. The words I'd been afraid to hear. They aren't a surprise, but that doesn't mean they don't tear me up from the inside out.

But I force my voice to be light.

"Given up what?" I ask. "A shitty job at a place I hated?"

"You didn't hate it," she says. "Not all of it. And your father - "

"Carolson was never going to give me the time of day. You know that. As far as he's concerned, he's already done his duty by me."