Page 93 of Unbreakable Thread

“What are you talking about?” I ask in disbelief. “You have always come first.”

She moves her head side to side. “If that were true, you would have returned every call and come to see me. You didn’t even try to get back with me. I took it as a good riddance. ‘Get the fuck out of my life.’ Your head is a hot mess. You’re too much work.”

My head juts back, making a face. “You didn’t call me. And I don’t think you’re a hot mess. I knew and know you are going through a lot.” I pull out my phone. “Here, take it. The only calls from you were when we were together. The text messages I sent were when I wanted to tell you the newspaper article was all fake. There are no messages from you.”

Sol eyes me suspiciously. She scrolls through the phone. She frowns.

“What is it?” I ask.

“My name on your phone isn’t even my number…” She flips it for me to look.

What the fuck?

She keeps scrolling. “Why is my number blocked?”

“Let me see.” Taking the phone from her, I look. My thumb moves quickly through my contacts. Her photo. Her number—blocked. A different number listed under her name. I go to the texts. Every message I’ve sent went to a fake number. Every “call me” and “where are you?” and “we need to talk.”

All of it going to a number that wasn’t hers. She never received any of it. Someone messed with my phone more than once.

I texted her a couple of days ago while I was training in Utah. Never delivered. I figured it was because I was in a remote location. The question is, who was messing with my phone if it’s with me at all times? I unblock her and delete the fake number. “Call me.”

She gets her phone from the bed. She taps on buttons, and then it starts ringing.

I go through her phone. She’s tried calling me multiple times. “When I find out who fucked with my phone, I’ll ruin them,” I seethe. “I’m sorry. I’ll figure it out. But first, why didn’t you come to the house? Every time we ran into each other? It’s not like you don’t know where to find me.” My voice rises now, adding to the list of reasons to be pissed.

She huffs. “I didn’t know you weren’t getting my phone calls. I thought you wanted space. Dammit, every time you’re around, you have a phone call and have to leave. I understand you’re busy now, Max, but…it’s like you’ve pushed me aside.” She shakes her head. “I went to your house.” She exhales. “You weren’t home.”

“I pushed you aside? You packed your shit and left.”

“Because you deserve better than me!” she yells.

The words sit between us. I look at her. “Says who?” My voice comes out quieter than I intend. “I love you. I have never once made you feel less deserving. If I have…tell me, and I will correct it. I’ll make sure to never make you feel that way.” She’s already told me this—that I deserve better. How wrong can she be?

“There have been days I wished I didn’t remember some parts of my past. Maybe just the good ones. But…him beating you… I can’t get that out of my head.” She points at her chest angrily. “I wake up at night with cold sweats, the vision of that monster’s face, hitting you and Drake. Your back is covered with scars that I caused.” Her chin trembles, and tears run down her face.

I stop moving. She’s been carrying this since she was a child, watching something happen that she had no power to stop. I wish I could erase those memories from her head. I’m glad that asshole is dead. I kiss every painful tear.

“You didn’t cause anything.”

“I know that now, Max, but at the time, I was at my weakest. Finding out I was pregnant is what saved me. It gave me hope and filled the emptiness in my heart I was beginning to feel.” She slowly lifts her head to look me in the eye. “What if one day you tire of looking at the past and want someone who doesn’t take you there?”

I look at her for a long moment. The woman who had paid for my father’s recovery without telling me. Who had Mi Tesoro tattooed on her wrist, the name I call her, the same way I have hers written on my knuckles.

“Who isn’t a reminder of what you went through?” she adds.

“Sol,” I say. “You are my past, but not how you think. You are the best part of it. You’re the only reason I have a future.”

Now I know what those nightmares were about. She would whimper in her sleep. It’s my fault. I thought what she needed was space. It only made it even more difficult for her. I should have been persistent in helping her with what she was going through.

Chapter 28

Max

When your insecurity is at its lowest, it becomes a web you struggle to untangle yourself from. I’ve been there plenty of times myself.

The palms of my hands gently brush her wet cheeks, leaving glistening trails across her flushed skin. I cradle her face between my calloused fingers, tilting her chin upward until her tear-filled eyes meet mine in the dim light, ensuring she can both hear and see the raw sincerity in what I’m about to say. “I would never look at you as a haunted past. When I think of those times, I see two kids trying to survive. I think of the smiles you gifted me, the laughter, the sassiness. You befriended me when very few did. I considered myself lucky to crush on a girl who slept in the same room as me. It was like winning the lottery at that age.” I smile. “Those are the memories I live for because you filled the emptiness in my heart. You made me smile and look forward to each day. When the accident happened, you never came back. It’s like a piece of me died. I spent years wondering what happened to you. I was sick with worry.”

I brush the fresh tears away.