An Unwanted Second Chance (JB Tirado) novel Chapter 46

Chapter 46

Kent stayed away from Riley for the rest of the day. He felt like a complete ass, knowing that she was feeling sick without him nearby, but he was unable to bring himself to go back to her room.

His conversation with Max played over and over. Max wanted her to accept him before he told her everything. It would have been so simple to just let things progress with Riley in her bedroom. It was next to miraculous that he had been able to pull away when he did.

He had suddenly understood what she meant about a slippery slope. He had assumed that she had some type of relationship with her previous mate, and something had occurred that hurt her deeply. She had said things that led Kent to believe her last mate was controlling and didn’t let her do things she wanted to. That’s why she wasn’t willing to rush into anything with him.

And he wasn’t going to push her. He didn’t want her to feel forced or trapped with him. That would spell doom for them long term.

Kent forced himself to stay away, going to the training academy, letting Pax blow off steam in the woods and

staying in the dining hall until it closed. By the time he had returned to his floor, he could feel her illness

through the bond. He tried to ignore it, despite Pax pleading with him to go check on her. He showered and

threw on a pair of pajama pants and a gray shirt, laying down in bed.

He wasn’t sure how long he laid there, feeling her struggle through the bond before he finally broke. It wasn’t

like her illness was her fault. She had no control over it.

He grabbed his pillow and a spare blanket from the closet and marched down to her room. She didn’t answer

when he knocked, but she had left the door unlocked for him again.

“Riley,” he said, stepping into the room. She didn’t answer as he shut the door. He could barely make out the

outline of her buried under the blankets on her bed. But he was positive she was awake.

“I know you’re not asleep,” he sighed.

She poked her head out of the blankets to look at him. “What?”

I don’t want to leave you alone,” he admitted. “I know you’re feeling pretty sick right now.”

She watched him, not saying anything.

“I’ll sleep in here on the floor,” he said as he started walking forward. “Hopefully just being nearby will help with your symptoms.”

He threw his pillow on the floor and laid down, tossing the blanket over himself. Despite the soft carpeting, it was not the most comfortable place to sleep. But he had experienced worse, so he threw his arm over his face and tried to focus on his breathing.

“You don’t have to sleep on the floor,” she whispered, looking over the edge of the bed at him.

“I’m not getting in that bed again,” he muttered.

“But I feel bad that you’re sleeping on the floor. That can’t be comfortable.”

“I’ll be fine. I will not get in that bed.” His words were sharp and clipped, even though he didn’t mean to sound

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<Chapter 46

like that.

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Riley didn’t argue further. He heard her roll over. After a moment, a surge of loneliness came over him, a deep sadness that he immediately knew wasn’t his own. He tried to ignore it, tried to suppress the guilt he felt because he knew it was his fault. He tried to take deep breaths, to focus on falling asleep.

But it was useless.

“Stop,” he snapped from the floor.

He heard her shift. “Stop what? I’m not doing anything.”

“Stop feeling that way,” he grumbled, fully aware that he sounded like a first rate jerk.

She shifted again. “I’m not feeling anything. I’m just trying to sleep.”

Lie.

no befor

He laid there for another minute before he gave up. Neither of them was going to sleep like this. He walked

around the bed, throwing his pillow down and laid down next to her, conscious to leave plenty of space. He

threw his arm over his face the same way he had on the floor.

“Feel better now?” he muttered.

She curled up in the blanket again, not saying anything.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered after several minutes.

He pulled his arm away from his eyes, but didn’t look at her. He couldn’t understand why she kept saying sorry for things that weren’t her fault.

“What are you apologizing for now?” he snapped.

She rolled over and looked at him, but he kept his gaze firmly on the ceiling.

“Everything,” she whispered. “For letting myself get carried away earlier. For leading you on. For not being

what you needed.”

Her voice cracked on the last word and he turned his head sharply to look at her. In the dim light he could

just make out the tears in her eyes. She immediately rolled away from him, rolling inward on herself as

though to protect herself.

Now he really felt like an asshole.

“Hey,” he said quietly, “come here.”

She didn’t move, keeping her back to him. He reached out to pull gently on her shoulder, but she didn’t budge. Finally he scooted across the bed until he was close enough to pull her against him, her back flush against his chest like it had been in the morning. He wrapped his arms around her tightly.

“You’ve done nothing wrong,” he whispered in her ear. “This is complicated and that’s not your fault. You’re not leading me on. You’ve never made it a secret to me how conflicted you’ve felt. If anything, I feel like I should apologize. I feel like I’m putting pressure on you and that’s not fair to you. I want you to be able to make your own decision.”

She twisted in his grasp so she was facing him. He could see the tear tracks and reached up, gently wiping her face.

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Chapter 46

“You’re too good to me,” she whispered.

He frowned. “Why do you say that?”

She bit her lip for a moment before speaking.

“Paul used to tell me how much worse I made his life sometimes. He would tell me how uncomplicated things were before he met me, how having a mate wasn’t worth all the stress he felt.”

“I think we’ve established that he was terrible,” Kent commented.

She smiled meekly. “He was. Whenever I did something he didn’t like, he would get so mad at me. He would

scream and call me names and throw things.”

Kent froze, watching her. It had never occurred to him that things might have been that bad. He had heard of men out there who mistreated their mates, but he could never fathom it. He had loved Lily too much to bear the idea of her hurting, let alone to be the one who hurt her.

Suddenly another thought occurred to him.

“Did he hit you?”

Riley didn’t answer. Instead she buried her face into his chest, her breath coming out as a shudder.

“I’ll f*****g kill him,” he breathed, wrapping his arms around her, pulling her tightly against him as though he could protect her from her past. “What was the name of your old pack? I’ll go there tomorrow.”

He felt her smile slightly into his chest. “Stop it.”

“I’m serious.” He gently lifted her chin so he could see her face. “I’ll beat the s**t out of him. Who the hell thinks they can treat anyone that way, let alone their own mate?”

“It was nine years ago,” she whispered.

“I don’t f*****g care.” He leaned in to kiss her on the tip of the nose. “I’ll still punch him and see how much he

likes it.”

She smiled slightly again and it made a warmth bloom in Kent’s chest.

“I would never hurt you,” he whispered.

“I know that.”

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