Always Into You

Confused choices - Chapter 17

(Tanya’s POV)

The air outside the bar smelled like rain and cigarette smoke, thick with the weight of something i don't understand. I had been walking towards by the entrance for minutes now, my heart is crushing my chest, my fingers curling into fists as I willed myself to move.

Maico was just walking outside the bar.

I had followed him here.

Like some lovedog fool.

Like someone who had just made a mistake and was scrambling to fix it before it was too late.

I had rejected him.

Three months of him being there, of him pulling me back to life, of him making me laugh when I swore I never would again… and when he finally confessed, I had let fear take control. I had turned him down, and the look on his face had been enough to shatter me.

But the truth was, I did like him.

I just didn’t know if I was ready.

Not when my heart was still a battlefield filled with the ghosts of my past.

But I was here now.

I took a deep breath, trying to steady myself, but just as I was about to push the door open

I saw him.

Christopher Hightower.

The world tilted.

For a second, I thought my mind was playing tricks on me. That I was hallucinating. That I had spent so many nights thinking about him that my brain had conjured him out of thin air.

But no.

He was real.

And worse he was looking right at me.

Our eyes locked, and suddenly, I was back in that moment. Back in the past. Back in his arms that night when we danced, when the world blurred, and it felt like we were the only two people that mattered.

My chest tightened.

I hadn’t seen him in months.

And yet, nothing had changed.

He was still devastatingly handsome and very hot, still carrying that untouchable air of power and Innocence, but there was something else now. Something tired. Something desperate.

He had been looking for me.

I knew it before he even spoke.

And suddenly, my heart wasn’t just racing it was at war with itself.

Because just outside that bar was Maico.

And inside, sitting under the flickering light at the bar, was Christopher.

I was caught between the past and the present.

Between a man who had hurt me but still haunted my thoughts,

And a man who had put me back together when I was breaking.

And I had no idea what the hell to do.

Christopher’s POV

I should have said something the moment I saw her.

But for the first time in my life, words failed me.

She was right there.

After months of searching, of chasing shadows, of coming up empty, she was standing in front of me, looking at me like I was something out of a dream.

Or a nightmare.

I felt my breath fall down.

She was different.

Stronger.

Brighter.

And yet, she still had that same look in her eyes, the one that made me feel like the ground was crumbling beneath me.

“Tanya…”

Her lips parted slightly, but before she could say anything.

The bar door swung open.

And Maico stepped out.

Maico’s POV

I wasn’t expecting her.

I should have been expecting her.

Tanya Brixton was nothing if not unpredictable, and yet, seeing her standing there, her face unreadable, her body tense,made my stomach drop.

She had followed me.

And then I saw him.

Christopher.

Of course.

Because life wasn’t cruel enough.

I clenched my jaw. My body still ached from our last encounter, but seeing him now, watching the way he was looking at her, made something sharp twist inside me.

This wasn’t just some coincidence.

This was a goddamn collision.

None of us spoke.

The silence was thick, charged, suffocating.

I looked at Tanya. She wasn’t just standing between us physically, she was caught in something bigger, something neither of us could control.

I exhaled, forcing my voice to stay steady.

“So.” My eyes flicked between them. “Guess I missed the invitation to this little reunion.”

Christopher didn’t acknowledge me. His gaze was still on Tanya, his expression unreadable.

“Tanya,” he said again, softer this time. “You’re really here.”

I watched as she swallowed hard, her fingers twitching like she wanted to reach for something, but didn’t know what.

Or who.

Tanya’s voice was quiet, but it cut through the air like a katana.

“Why are you here, Christopher?”

His jaw tightened. “You know why.”

I scoffed. “Because you’re a selfish bastard who can’t leave well enough alone?”

Christopher’s eyes finally snapped to me, sharp and burning. “This doesn’t concern you.”

I stepped forward. “It does when she’s been spending the last three months putting herself back together, without you, rich boy.”

"Don't call me that" Christopher said.

Tanya flinched.

I immediately regretted the words.

Because now she was looking at me, and there was something else in her eyes now. Something I couldn’t name.

Something that scared me.

“Tanya.” Christopher’s voice pulled her back. “I need to talk to you.”

Her breath hitched. I could see the war happening inside her, the way her body tensed, her fingers curling like she was trying to hold herself together.

And for the first time in my life, I hated that I couldn’t protect her from this.

From him.

“Tanya,” I said quietly. “You don’t have to do this.”

Christopher’s jaw tightened. “But she wants to.”

Tanya inhaled sharply.

And suddenly, she was looking between us.

At me.

At him.

Like she was seeing two different futures unravel before her.

And for the first time, I saw something in her eyes I had never seen before.

Fear.

Not of us.

But of what choosing one of us would mean.

She didn’t say anything for a long time.

Then.

“I…” She exhaled shakily, stepping back. “I can’t do this right now.”

Christopher took a step forward, but she held up a hand.

“Please,” she whispered. “Just… not tonight.”

He stopped.

And I?

I felt something crack inside me.

Because even though she didn’t say it, I knew.

She wasn’t ready.

She couldn’t choose.

Not yet.

Maybe not ever.

The silence stretched, and then.

She turned.

And walked away.

Just like that.

Leaving Christopher and me standing in the middle of a battlefield we had both already lost.