Page 97 of Love Me

“Then why are you engaged to Abi? Why are you planning to marry her, hmm?”

He gets out of the bed and cups his neck. Torment is clear in his stiff position.

I crawl off the mattress and dig my finger into his chest. “I deserve to know if my love was one-sided.”

He steps back as if I slapped him.

“Was? So you don’t love me anymore, Celine?”

My name out of his mouth sounds broken, ending in despair.

“Why would I?”

“It’s a lie,” my soul screams. In an instant, he’s in my face, snatching the necklace away and ripping it from the safety of my neck.

Kaden flies down the stairs and gets in his car. Wearing only shorts and a tank top, I race after him and climb into the passenger seat.

He speeds away, tires screeching. Tension radiates off of him, scorching me.

When we reach the forest, he parks, not even cutting off the engine.

“Kaden, what are you doing?”

His silence wrecks my sanity, leaving me alone in my mind, poisoned with darkness.

“Kaden?”

“They couldn’t break me, but they were right that you’re my weakness.”

“What? Kaden, what does that mean?” But I know what he wants to do, and he can’t.

I am short of begging because it seems I am not getting through to him.

He climbs out and thrusts his arm forward before he curls his hand in a fist. It’s too dark to see where he hurled the necklace. The only thing left of us was now lost in the forest’s thickness, swallowed by the night.

On shaky legs, I get out of the car. Tears flood my eyes.

“What did you do?”

I press my hand against my chest, a futile attempt to heal the hurt he caused with my own palm.

“You don’t love me. You doubted my love. We have nothing left, Celine. Fucking nothing.”

He throws the keys at my feet and turns, leaving me with too many memories for a grieving heart to handle.

With trembling hands, I start the engine and drive back.

I cry the entire drive, and I cry some more when I close the bedroom door behind me.

***

When the sun starts its ascent, I put my hair in a messy bun and change into a pair of jeans, tucking my sweater inside the waistband. Picking a pair of sunglasses on to cover my bloodshot eyes, I square my shoulders.

On campus, I park next to Dane, and he says, “No glasses are big enough to hide that you look awful.”

“Thank you, I appreciate the honesty.”

“What are friends for?”

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