Page 77 of Bittersweet Revenge

My stomach heaved. I rested my hands on the ground as my vision turned blurry.

Fuck, I loved her! I loved her with every part of my broken heart, dark conscience, and tainted soul. I shook my head as tears spilled from my eyes, tears that I, for once, wasn’t trying to hide.

I shook my head. I wouldn’t survive her. I couldn't.

I didn't want to.

Her leaving me, I could have accepted, could have come to terms with as long as she was happy. My heart would have kept on going, beating inside her chest, beside her beautiful heart.

I heard her shout my name and this time, I let out a sob. I was losing my mind. Her voice was calling me over and over again and I didn’t want it to stop. I would much rather take this madness than lose her completely.

Suddenly, I felt hands on my cheeks. Hands that forced me to look up. Despite the blurriness of tears, I saw her.

“Esmeralda?” I tried.

“Yes,” she replied breathlessly. I blinked away my tears. She was kneeling in front of me, her eyes reflecting my sadness. “Caleb, it’s me.”

I turned toward her body lying on top of the car. “Am I dead too?” I smiled at the thought; at least I was with her now.

She shook her head, ran her thumb on my cheekbone. “No. I’m here, Caleb. I’m alive.”

“Please, God, don’t let it be a dream, don’t be that cruel,” I let out as a pained prayer with a voice I barely recognized.

I saw her heart break in her eyes as she turned toward the car, her face paling. “That is not me. I–”

I grabbed her face. “I don’t care.” I pulled her to me, giving her the kiss I should have given her before. The kiss that I hoped conveyed everything I felt for her.

“There is a time and place for this, and now is not it,” Archibald warned coldly, interrupting us before I could deepen the kiss.

I pulled Esmeralda into my arms, resting my face in the crook of her neck. She ran her hand in my hair soothingly.

“Take him home. I’ll deal with this,” he commanded Esmeralda.

I didn't like his tone, but I didn't seem to care right now. I was still having a hard time believing I was holding her. For the first time in my life, it was like my brain and heart couldn’t believe they were so lucky, that the warm soft girl I was holding, was really her.

Don’t leave me.

“I won't,” she replied when I expressed my thoughts aloud. “Come on. Let's go home.”

Chapter 16- Esme

It took us over fifteen minutes to get to Caleb’s bedroom.The house was not even five minutes away, but driving had been difficult because Caleb had refused to let go of my hand. He kept looking at me like I was a vision; my heart broke all over again.

I had been coming back early because my car had been stolen by some bitch at school – a bitch who was now dead. Despite the guilt I felt at having the death of a human on my conscience because it was my car that had caused this, I had to let it go for now. Caleb was unravelling and he was my priority. I couldn't afford to care about the dead student right now, not after seeing Caleb so broken when he'd thought it'd been me.

When I'd seen him on his knees sobbing, my heart had split in two. I'd realized that no matter how much he'd denied it, he loved me. In his way he loved me. And no matter how much I wanted to deny it, I loved him too. God help me, I loved him too.

He turned toward me as soon as I'd closed the door and ran his hands up and down my arms. “I’m not a sociopath.”

I frowned. That had come out of the blue. “I never said you were.”

He sighed, finally letting go of me. Some of his tension faded a little.

“Yes, you did. Just like everybody else.” He shrugged as he started to unbutton his shirt. “I might have sociopathic tendencies, or it might just be the consequences of the fucked-up childhood I had, but I do feel... Less often maybe, mostly negatively I admit, but when I feel, it is all powerful, all-consuming, and it swallows everything in its wake.”

“What are you feeling for me, Caleb Astor?” I asked, my voice carrying the tension I felt. His answer was paramount.

He froze. “Everything,” he whispered, as if admitting his feelings could cause him damage.

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