Page 42 of Love Me

“You sure sounded like you enjoyed it.” Stay mine a bit longer. You give crumbs to a starving man.

“Whatever. Now that we got that out of the way…”

“Sure. Go back to your boyfriend. He can taste the man you’ll never be able to deny.”

“So sure of that?”

The anger owns me again. The nonchalance in which she reduces our connection to insignificant stabs me with vicious strokes, butchering my insides. I drop her, and she falls on her knees.

“You brought war to me when I only wanted to give you peace. Buckle up, Sky, we’re just getting started.”

“Don’t call me that.”

Even after we kissed, she reminds me she’s not mine.

Message fucking received.

My lips still tingle. Kaden sets my entire core ablaze. I am anchored in a place of absolute wonder and surrender for a few divine seconds. But I can’t be that pathetic lovestruck girl again. His back is to me, and panic settles in my core.

My heart bleeds with weakness for him. If he wants to obliterate the meaning, I want to obliterate everything and stand proud.

“His kisses taste better.”

Words tumble out of me. A lie that burns my tongue but strengthens my defense.

He stops, his back straining.

“I hope you fucking drown in them, then.”

The trapped air whooshes out of my lungs. I place my hand on my heart, urging it to calm down.

Screaming on the inside, my body shakes.

Water drips off me as I run up the stairs, my vision blurry. Everything is a damn mess.

I must get my control back. On my way out, I almost bump into Abigail, who looks at me as if she knows the battle ravaging my insides.

She crosses her arms, watching me intently. I can’t stay here a moment longer, or I’ll succumb. My heart filled with need for him would consume me.

I sidestep her, but she grabs my elbow and holds it.

“Open your eyes. You can’t see the truth right in front of your face.”

“Don’t.”

“Just because you left––”

“It was not my damn decision.”

She shakes me, urging me to wake up. “Yes, and don’t you want to find out why Kaden did that?”

“Because he never loved me.”

Incredulity brims in her eyes. “Bitterness will lead to more suffering, and none of us needs any more of that.”

“If you have something to tell me, stop talking to me in riddles.”

“We don’t trust you.”

---