The Biker Alpha Who Became My Second Chance Mate Chapter 174

Tristan

"Everything comes out wrong with you lately," she said, and the exhaustion in her voice scared me more than the anger had.

"I'm tired Tristan, I'm so tired of trying to prove to you that I can take care of myself and the babies. You need to know that am not Jess." her words made me pause, my hands fisted.

"I'm sorry, but I'm tired. I too have gone through some trauma, I'm scared too. But God knows I don't let it get in-between us." I couldn't say anything, this was the first time she was bringing up Jess in our discussion.

I'd caused this, I'd take whatever she saying. I'll take it all.

"I've never questioned you, even when you had to place your life on the line. I didn't think it was the right thing to do, but I trusted you. So why can't you trust me Tristan. Why?"

"I love my kids, and I'm going to protect them."

She moved toward the stairs and panic seized my chest.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Away from you," she said without turning around. "I need space, I need time to think, I need to not be looking at your face right now."

"Athena please," I said, following her toward the stairs.

She stopped and turned to face me, the look on her face made me freeze.

"If you want to end our relationship because I saved your life," she said slowly, each word deliberate and clear, "then I don't mind, if that's what this is really about then it's over, we're done."

The words hit me like bullets and I felt something crack in my chest, felt pain radiating through every part of me.

"No," I said, but it came out barely more than a whisper. "No that's not what I want."

"Then what do you want?" she asked, and I could hear the brokenness in her voice now. "Because I can't keep doing this, I can't keep walking on eggshells wondering when you're going to decide I'm not good enough, when you're going to look at me like I'm the enemy."

"You're not the enemy," I said desperately.

"Then why do you keep treating me like one?" she asked.

She didn't wait for an answer, just turned and walked up the stairs and I watched her go, watched her climb each step like she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders.

When she reached the top she disappeared down the hallway and I heard a door close with a soft click that sounded final.

I stood there frozen, staring at the empty staircase, feeling like I'd just watched my entire future walk away from me.

My legs felt weak and I had to grab the banister to keep from collapsing.

She said it was over.

She said we were done.

The pain in my chest intensified and I struggled to breathe around it, struggled to process what had just happened.

I turned to Orion and Sarah, looking for help, looking for anything that might tell me how to fix this.

"Please," I said, and I didn't care that my voice was shaking. "Please help me, tell me how to fix this."

Orion stood slowly and I felt a flash of hope that maybe he'd intervene, maybe he'd go talk to Athena and make her understand.

"I tried to warn you," was all he said as he walked past me toward the stairs. "I told you not to let your anger make you do something you'd regret."

He climbed the stairs without looking back and I turned to Sarah desperately.

She was staring at me with something that looked like disappointment and it made me feel about two inches tall.

"Sarah please," I started.

"If you don't fix whatever you broke," she said, cutting me off, "I'm going to make sure I support whatever decision she makes, I'm not going to sit here and watch her be treated like this."

Orion raised an eyebrow at that but said nothing.

"Do you remember her last night?" Sarah continued, her voice getting harder. "Do you remember how she looked when you were saying all those hurtful things to her? Because I do, I remember exactly how broken she looked."

She moved closer to me.

"You should fix whatever you broke Tristan, and you should do it fast because my patience with you is running very thin."

She walked away toward the kitchen and I stood there alone in the middle of the living room feeling more lost than I'd ever felt in my life.

I stayed frozen for a full minute, my mind racing through everything that had just happened, everything I'd said and done to get to this point.

Then I moved.

I practically ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time, my heart pounding in my chest as I rushed down the hallway toward the room where Athena had gone.

When I got there I pressed my ear against the door and heard it immediately.

Crying.

She was crying on the other side of that door and it was my fault, I'd made her cry again, had hurt her again, had proven that I was exactly the kind of man who didn't deserve her.

I pressed my forehead against the wood and closed my eyes.

"Athena," I said softly. "Baby please open the door."

The crying continued but she didn't respond.

"I'm sorry," I said, speaking through the door. "I'm so sorry for everything I said last night, for the way I looked at you, for making you feel like you did something wrong when all you did was save my life."

Still nothing.

"Please just let me in so we can talk about this," I tried again. "Please give me a chance to make this right."

"Go away," her voice came through the door, thick with tears. "I don't want to see you."

The words hurt but I deserved them, deserved worse than that after what I'd put her through.

"I'm not going anywhere," I said, settling myself against the door. "I'm going to stay right here until you open this door and let me apologize properly."

"Then you're going to be waiting a long time," she said.

"I don't care," I said. "I'll wait forever if that's what it takes."

Silence fell and I waited, counting my heartbeats, listening for any sound from inside the room.

Minutes passed.

Then an hour.

Then two.

I stayed pressed against that door, occasionally trying to talk to her but mostly just sitting there letting her know I wasn't leaving, that I meant what I'd said about waiting.

My legs were cramping and my back was sore from sitting on the hard floor but I didn't move, didn't even consider leaving because the alternative was losing her and that wasn't an option.

Around noon I realized she hadn't eaten anything, hadn't come out of the room once since she'd gone in there.

Concern overrode my determination to wait her out.

"Athena," I called through the door. "You need to eat something, you need to think about the babies."

No response.

"I know you're angry at me," I continued. "And you have every right to be, but please don't punish yourself and the twins because of me."

Still nothing.

Fear crept into my chest, cold and insidious.

"Please baby," I said, my voice cracking. "Please just come out and get something to eat, I'll leave if that's what you want, I'll go downstairs and stay out of your way but please don't hurt yourself."

I waited but she didn't respond and the fear grew stronger.

"I'm begging you," I said. "I'm begging you to take care of yourself, to eat something for the babies if not for yourself, if you don't want to see me I'll leave right now, I'll go to a hotel and give you all the space you need but please come out and eat."