Page 42 of The Cinderella Prince

“I don’t need help,” he said, a hint of anger coming through the apathy. Who was this person? “I need to go back and live my life the way I was supposed to. This…this was all a mistake, Tristan. And we were blind to think it could work out. For God’s sake, I’m a prince.”

“Are you?” I whispered. “Because you’re acting like any old coward.”

Cedric crossed the room to his suitcase and lifted it. “You can say whatever you want. It won’t change my mind.”

“A coward,” I said louder as Cedric stepped toward me and the door. If there was any hope left in me that he would drop the suitcase and hug me and tell me it was all a bad joke, it was gone when he stared at the knob and waited for me to move.

I stepped aside, but panic ripped through me, and I froze in place when he reached for the knob.

“Cedric, don’t do this. Don’t run away. I know what you’re trying to do, and just don’t,” I blurted.

“Don’t talk about running away,” he said. “You know better than anyone what it’s like to run without looking back.”

The words slapped me across the face as Cedric murmured a goodbye and left the room.

I couldn’t even run after him.

I couldn’t shout or beg him or stop him.

He knew I’d run from home. He knew I’d left it all behind because I didn’t dare go back.

Rage and devastating sorrow mixed in me as Cedric’sfootsteps retreated from the room that was empty of his things.

The avalanche of familiar feelings crashed on me. I wasn’t worth his pain and struggle. I wasn’t worth the fight.

I wasn’t worth it.

I’d lost everything I had ever tried to have. I had failed at everything I had ever attempted. I was a disgrace.

Cedric

I held my breath and smoothed my face as best as I could.

My heart pounded, and I almost wished it would explode and let me be free of the guilt I held down.

The note I had written was still in my pocket, but it was useless to leave it to him now. I had blundered through everything I had touched. And the note wouldn’t explain anything. It would only confuse him more.

Forgive me, I whispered inside myself. I wasn’t sure who I was speaking to, but I spoke anyway.Forgive me, forgive me, forgive me.

Tristan

The banging sound of my shoes slamming against the stairs announced me as I burst through and into the bar. Mama Viv was gone, and I was thankful for it. “How dare you?” Idemanded as Roman moved into the bar from the front door.

“What happened?” he asked, his face contorting. “He just left without a word. What happened up there?”

“How could you, Roman?” I squeezed through my clenched teeth. “How could you betray me like that?” I crossed the bar so quickly that Roman balked, then dug his heels into the floor and leaned toward me. He caught me and held me, although I wasn’t sure what I was about to do. Or had been until he grabbed my wrists.

“What the fuck, man?” he snapped.

“You told him,” I snapped. “I know you warned him, Roman, don’t deny it. He told me. I know you said you’d hunt him down.”

“I never said that,” Roman shouted. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

Angry, hateful tears welled in my eyes as we grappled. “You told him about Jen. You told him something.”

Roman was much stronger than he looked, his arms twisting mine and wrapping around me until I was trapped and couldn’t move. “Calm the fuck down, Tris. I never said anything to him.”

I wasn’t thinking clearly, and I didn’t need to. Roman had betrayed my trust, he’d scared Cedric off, and he’d made me look like a lunatic. As if Cedric hadn’t had enough to tempt him away from me, discovering I was a pathetic mess was just a cherry on the fucking top.

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