Page 46 of Runaway Bride's Guide to Love

“Stella.” I don’t know what else to say. I’m literally stunned. Did this asshole not put in any fucking effort?

“I know what you’re probably thinking.”

“What’s that?”

“That I’m a dumbass for staying with him.”

“Not in the slightest.”

She lets out a humorless laugh as she polishes off her sugar cone. “You should. I do.”

“Hey.” My quick word gets her attention. “I need you to stop beating yourself up. You were in love. You thought you were getting the life you wanted. You were going to get married. He hurt you and treated you badly. That’s on him. He’s an asshole. Don’t let his actions make you feel bad about yourself.”

Her chin falls, but I need her to hear one more thing. I take my fingers and tip it up, locking in with her beautiful blue eyes that I could easily stare at for hours and never get tired of.

“I need you to do something for me.”

“What’s that?”

“I know you still need to process what he’s done. And you can do that. Be mad at him and be mad at the world. Grieve how you need to. But I need you to quit looking at this like it’s something you lost and instead start seeing all the things you’ve gained.”

I see the moment my words hit her right where I wanted them to. Something shifts in her eyes. Maybe it’s hope? A glimmer of positivity? Whatever it is, it makes my heart swell that I did that for her.

“I like that,” she says. “If we had a drink, I’d toast to the glass being half full.”

“We’ll save it for the next one.”

I slowly drop my fingers away, but miss the touch of her skin the second I do. I might not be touching her, but I’m still locked in her orbit. The moonlight is hitting her in the perfect way. There are a million stars in the sky, yet somehow Stella is shining the brightest.

I want to kiss her. Fuck, I want to kiss her more than I want my next breath. And by the look on her face, she wants it too. I know we’re both feeling the pull between us. I thought I felt it before, but chalked it up to circumstances. The only problem is you can only have so many circumstances before you realize it’s more than that.

It’s something. Something big.

Something that scares the hell out of me.

guide to love rule #13

Sometimes you just need to scream at the top of your lungs to Taylor Swift to fully heal.

13

stella

The smash roomwas exactly what I needed.

I felt powerful. Strong. A little violent, but in a good way. When I first took the mallet and swung it down on an old printer, I don’t think I’ve ever felt more fierce in my life. When it cracked into a hundred pieces, a noise escaped me that sounded like a beast in the wild.

There’s just one problem: It’s hours later, and I’m still mad. There’s still energy inside me that I don’t know what to do with. It doesn’t help that there’s a thunderstorm brewing, which somehow feels metaphoric.

Well, that and Duncan contacted me today.

So to say I’m ragey would be an understatement.

I knew who it was despite the call coming from an unknown 615 area code number. Something in my gut said it was him. But like a dumbass, I answered.

And then proceeded to roll my eyes for a solid ten minutes.

He asked where I was. I wouldn’t tell him.

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