HeartBeat

Chapter 30

Chapter 30

Ava

"Charlotte, wait!"

Oh, for fuck all. I release my hardened features, and turn my seemingly pitiful looks onto Liam, whose face is filled with regret and concern.

"Two wrongs don't make a right. I'm sorry. My answer to blackmail was blackmail. That was a dick move. You don't have to tell Chase if you're not ready."

Is this fool serious. I almost narrow my eyes, but I refrain.

"I should tell him the truth. I don't want you to think I'm a bad person Liam." I'm moments from choking him, so he dies quietly.

He comes forward and reaches out to take my hand. The action causes me to flinch, minuscule enough that the fool in front of me doesn't take notice. His eyes are soft when he gazes at me. My own widens, straining from taking action, but mostly at the softness Liam Dorsett confronts me with.

He shakes his head. "You have your reasons. Don't do anything you're not ready to do." I can't hide my bemusement.

"But I blackmailed Mr. Scott." I say normally. Liam is unaffected by the change.

"Yeah. That's fucked up. And I let my...feeling for him, cloud my judgment. I should have talked to you, we could have talked it out, without me threatening you with someone you cared about. Two wrongs don't make a right. I'm sorry Charlotte." I freeze, too stunned to speak.

His forgiveness. So easily. I can see his sincerity. His regret and shame.

"I hurt you. And I don't want to do that. To you or Chase. Just please don't out Conner and me. I don't want him to get in trouble. Whatever his past is, I want his present and future to be a happy one. He's a good man."

I refrain from saying it's unlikely, because I was about to fill the man with such regret, for his flapping mouth, but I'm too captured, by this human male. I had compared him to a naïve puppy earlier. A gullible creature who flung threats to a larger predator. Now he's here with sincerity glowing from him, as well as apologies and selflessness.

"You don't have to tell Chase anything, and I won't tell Chase anything. "He gives a gentle tug on my hand. "I hope this doesn't ruin my chances at being your friend, even when I was a dick. I really am sorry Charlotte." I stare at him for a moment, as something sinks within my chest, something pleasant. Yet it warred against something equally as unpleasant, causing my stomach to roil.

I somehow identify the emotion quickly, maybe because Liam expressed it on his face so well. All pretense falls away from me for just a moment, as I let myself feel the horrible emotion. How long has it been since I felt it, this way, for someone I barely acknowledged, for someone I only seconds ago contemplated murdering.

This guilt.

I sigh, and ignore it, the feeling, after I let myself sink into it deeply. Those human emotions, for another person, that didn't count as anything to me.

I look away.

"Its okay. Your forgiven. I...I'm sorry as well." I say with sincerity that quietly shocks me.

I return my gaze. As his sad puppy look leaves, and changes so quickly that I almost think its fake, only it seems too bright to lack sincerity, his grin.

"So were cool. Friends?" His grin turns sheepish, and his eyes widen with hope, so much of it. So real.

I swallow, leaning back at the sight, of it unrestrained.